Sino vox : now with keyboard input

Two updates to the Sino vox firmware :

  1. update : in  the number function, it is now possible to trigger the speech from the main button
  2. new: keyboard mode

Connect a USB keyboard to the USB port using the gender changer adapter.

Do not use this port to power something apart from a standard keyboard.
The maximum current that can be provided is 300 mA.

I you need a keyboard, check out this Wireless Keyboard.

Keyboard

 

​Text Operation:

Type the text and press Enter to start the speech. (The Function button is also active)
Use the Backspace to delete the last character.
Use Escape to erase the string and start over.

Use the five potentiometers to alter the Speed, Voice, Pitch, Volume, and Language (Pinyin or English)

The busy signal goes up while a key is pressed. (if you want to trigger external sounds, for example)

Firmware

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Sino Firmware + TRS MIDI

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Sino Firmware + USB MIDI

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more info in the user manual



New add-on voice: SPO vox

 

My first speech synth that got me hooked about them: the SPO256-AL2!

Back in the day, in the mid-’80s there was only one place to get electronics components: the Tandy Radio Shack store.

They would sell chips in individual packages accompanied by a printed datasheet (I still have mine).

They were selling the SPO256 Narrator which became quite popular and was used in many commercial speech synthesizers that were interfaced with microcomputers.

Soon I found a schematic to build a talking printer! It was entertaining to hear it speak for the first time!

Today I decided to create a new add-on board for Emy.

The chip has a great potential for making sounds: it sounds metallic, it can hold a phoneme until the next one and the pitch can be driven by an external oscillator.

(in fact, the most difficult part is finding these chips!)

After a few iterations on the breadboard and ad few revisions of the board itself, I came up with a design that add 2 new functions to the chip:

  • pitch control via the external oscillator
  • volume control via a digital potentiometer driving an OP amplifier