Ah the good old days.
I was working with the Texas  .Instruments 99/4a speech module in those days
And then came CP/M.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:44 PM
Subject: Re: Votrax synthesizers


> Yah, the first computer we used that old Votrax on was in fact, a
> Tandy TRS 80 with a wopping 128 k of memory onboard, no hard
> drive, but 2 5.25 floppy drives.  That was back in 1981 or so and
> we used it to access the UC Library Melvyl catalog using a 1200
> baud modem.  Hot stuff for those days, so we thought.  Jim WA6EKS
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Paul Shelton <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Sun, 19 May 2013 21:34:46 -0500
> Subject: Re: Votrax synthesizers
>
> When I was in college a friend and I built a speech synthesizer
> for the
> Radio Shack color computer based on the Votrax chip.  I still
> have the data
> sheet from Federal Screw Works; and yes, we made it cuss.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]
> To: <[log in to unmask]
> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:39 AM
> Subject: Votrax synthesizers
>
>
> You know the crazy thing about that old Votrax is that, working
> in a college environment, the students tried a lot of inventive
> things with that old thing, including trying to make it cuss.
> Turns out that the manufacturer of the Votrax was a firm called
> Federal Screw Works.  In order to get the thing to sware you
> would have to misspell the word you wanted it to say.  Enough
> said about that.  I'll leave the rest to your fertile
> imagination.  73, Jim WA6EKS
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Russ Kiehne <[log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date sent: Sun, 19 May 2013 07:26:36 -0700
> Subject: Re: Need opinion
>
> I still have a votrax pss.  I don't know if it still works!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Gammon
> Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 6:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Need opinion
>
> Man, I think it's amazing how ye'all get your nickers in a knott
> when it
> comes to synthesized speech.  I come from the days of the old
> external
> speech box made by votrax and I appreciated that.  However,
> having said
> that, I do appreciate the new higher quality voices but am not
> partial to
> one over another.    73, Jim WA6EKS
>
> ---Original Message-----
> From: Butch Bussen
> Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2013 5:08 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Need opinion
>
> I like the voice on the book sense much better.  If you're not
> needing
> small size, I also have a bookport dt (desktop) which has a
> great
> text
> to speech.
> 73
> Butch
> WA0VJR
> Node 3148
> Wallace, ks.
>
>
> On Sat, 18 May 2013, Howard Kaufman wrote:
>
> I hate the stream voice so much, that I take my bookshare books,
> open them
> in k1000, and save them with the voice I like, as mp3 files.
> Then I play
> them on the player.  I absolutely love my milestone 312, but I
> don't think
> the synthesizer is much better than the stream is.  I think most
> of the
> book
> reader devices, try to sound like voice-over, which is awful if
> you read
> at
> any speed, because it mumbles.
>
> Synthesized voice choices are as personal as anything, one is
> beloved by
> one
> person and hated by another.  Personally, the old doubletalk
> speech is the
> best.  That's for me, and people here will insist I am as crazy
> as a loon.
> Get voice samples of the TTS engines, or do what I do, and
> convert text to
> mp3 and play that.