VAX firmware update: MIDI voices and live text output

The VAX firmware update brings full-range MIDI voice selection and live text output to Kraftor. CC16 selects all nine DECtalk voices across values 0-127, with each voice keeping its natural settings until you adjust them. Spoken sentences are also sent over USB serial for display in Console.

The remote controller in this demo is my new Teletype. It plays Kraftor running the VAX firmware, triggering saved DECtalk phrases over MIDI and shaping their voices with the controller knobs.

VAX now sends the spoken sentence back over USB serial. Console receives the text, removes the DECtalk commands from the display, and turns the words into large text with visual effects. The performance in the video is live.

The updated VAX Designer runs in your browser. Write a sentence, choose and shape its voice, audition the result, then save it to Kraftor. Saved phrases can be played over MIDI without the Designer connected.

Console is an optional visual output. Its word slicing follows an estimated speech rate rather than detecting words in the audio.

VAX firmware and tools · Teletype MIDI controller · Console software