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.