🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <732@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> bkc@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Brad Clements) writes:
>I just returned from my local Radio Shack store, where I was looking
>over their speech synthesisor and controller chip. I didn't bye the
>set because they require a 3.12 Mhz and 10 Mhz crystal, both of
>which would have to be special ordered and might take over a month
>to get.
>
>What I'd like to know is if anyone has experience with these chips.
>How well does it sound and how well is the text converted to speech.
>Has anyone incorporated a 'exception EPROM' with their own special
>words to alonomes (?) conversions etc?

I used these two chips to build an RS-232 speech synthesizer for a school
project a few years back, and was reasoanably pleased with the results.

I recall using a 3.58MHz color-burst crystal rather than the 3.12MHz one
specified, and it worked fine.  And while I used the recommended 10MHz
crystal, I believe it just sets the speed on the controller chip and 
should work at a nearby frequency such as 8MHz (not guaranteed, just a
guess).

When it worked, it worked well.  Creative spelling often allowed it to
pronounce almost any word correctly.  Unfortunately it badly slurred r's
as I recall (ie, "three" came out as "thlwee") but this is so obviously
wrong that I'm sure I damaged the chip slightly during handling (since
I never bother with any precautions).

I intended to do more with it, such as programming my own EPROM, but
somehow just never got around to it....

______________________________________________________________________________
  ___   ,               ,                                           ,;,;;;,
 /   Y /|              /|              Charles Flaig                ;/@-@\;
|      |/     __, ,__  |/              flaig@csvax.caltech.edu       | ^ |
|      /^\   /  | | |  /  /\  /\                                      \=/ 
 \____/|  \_/|_/\_/ \_/ \_\/_/_/_/     "What, you think they PAY me for this?"