SpeakJet vox

Firmware

     

    Quick user instructions

    ⚠️  make sure to orient the module as shown in the image gallery

    Phoneme

    The user can use the rotary to choose a group to play: Vowels/Voiced/Voiced Stop/Voiceless/All Allophone/All Effects/DTMF

    Using the switch position to set the priority to:

    • the gate signal. The gate going high will trigger the speech and it will be stopped with the gate going low (Gate mode). try to play with the duty cycle of the gate or the clock signal.
    • optimized transitioning (Queue mode). Play with the Speed function to fill up the buffer and ear the transition work. The green led and the AUX jack will turn on and off reflecting the buffer half-full status.
    • to the allophone timing itself (Speech mode)

    Number

    There are three modes to generate numbers: CV controlled, Looping or Random.

    SD DIC

    The code will read a phonetic file and allow the user (or the code in the loop and random mode) to choose a line from that file.

    Example of the file content:

    along: \UX \LO \OH \OH \SLOW \NGO
    alpha: \AY \LE \FAST \FF \UX
    alphabet: \AY \LO \FAST \FF \FAST \AX \STRESS \SOFT \BE \EY \SLOW \TT
    already: \AW \LE \FAST \RR \EY \DE \IY
    also: \SLOW \AW \SLOW \LO \SLOW \SO \OWWW
    although: \FAST \OH \SLOW \LO \DH \SLOW \OWWW
    always: \SLOW \AW \LE \WW \EYIY \SLOW \SE

    User control

    The potentiometer P1-P5 affects the pitch, rate, bend, repeat, and volume.

    While playing with the interface, the display contextually shows the information about the changes made (rotary, switch, and potentiometers)

    A long click brings the user back to the main menu.

    A double click in the SD DIC mode brings the user to the file selection menu.

    There is a screen saver that will activate after 10 minutes. Turn the rotary to reactivate the display. 

    Midi control

    • Channel filter
    • MIDI note ON to play a phoneme
    • Velocity
    • Pitch
    • Speed (CC 5 – Portamento time)
    • Bend (CC1 -Modulation)

    SD Card

    Here are some files to get you started  …

    Phonetic files

    Some dictionnaries to help you building your own speech files

       

      Ableton MIDI Effect Rack

      You can also sequence the chip by sending phonemes from the piano roll 

       

      Media




      Sino Vox

      It generates speech from plain English or Chinese by reading files on the microSD card.

      Timing

      Real-time
      The various voice parameters are applied just before triggering the speech and are ineffective while speaking.
      They are applied to the next utterance. The best is to fiddle a bit with the knobs for the desired effects.
      While playing with the interface, the display shows the parameters changes.

      Firmware

      SD card

      Here are some text files to test the various voice options (including text in Chinese Pinyin)

      MIDI

      You can use a midi sequencer to store letters as MIDI notes. 

      (C#6 is letter a) The speech starts when Sinovox receives the “.” character (MIDI note A#1). The space character is the MIDI note G#0

      Pitch bend can be used to set the pitch from 0-10.

      The MIDI clock is present on the Busy jack.

      You can use a custom MIDI track in Ableton live to ease the process of “typing” text.

      Ableton MIDI rack

      Media

       

      Voir cette publication sur Instagram

       

      Une publication partagée par Jean-Luc Deladrière (@polaxis)

       

      Voir cette publication sur Instagram

       

      Une publication partagée par Jean-Luc Deladrière (@polaxis)

       

      Voir cette publication sur Instagram

       

      Une publication partagée par Jean-Luc Deladrière (@polaxis)

       

       

      Voir cette publication sur Instagram

       

      Une publication partagée par Jean-Luc Deladrière (@polaxis)

      Jean-Luc Deladrière · Sino Vox

       




      Terminal patch




      Robovox

      Robovox’s design is inspired by the Patent “System for and method of synthesizing singing in real-time”  filed on 03.05.90 by Florian Schneider, Gert Joachim Ott, and Gert Jalass.

      It describes a musical instrument that can produce a speech and sing in real-time via MIDI controls.
      A magical speech synthesizer chip lives at the heart of the instrument: the Votrax SC-02 invented by Richard T. Gagnon.
      The Votrax SC-02 chip can generate speech by stringing phonemes together.
      The Votrax SC-02 contains registers that allow software control of the speech rate, pitch, pitch movement rate, amplitude, articulation rate, vocal tract filter, and of course, phoneme selection.
      Most of these functions are implemented in the MIDI control software.

      In Robovox, we also implemented an undocumented function of the chip: the internal audio carrier can be replaced by an external one to produce vocoder-like effects.
      The result is simply excellent.  You can also use this feature as an effect to apply to the carrier! Check this demo where I play with the pitch of the external carrier with a Genki ring (@ 0:48) (sorry for the lousy audio -video sync) 

       

      Specifications

      Hardware

      • Add-on board to fit on KraftorEmy or Emy Terminal via the MikroBUS port
      • Host the vintage SC-02 Votrax speech chip
      • Audio carrier input for vocoder like effect

      Midi controls

      • MIDI note ON note OFF mapped to the SC02’s phonemes
      • Velocity
      • Pitch (coarse control by clocking the chip)
      • CC2 Note Pitch (fine control using the chip inflection/pitch register)
      • Mod Wheel mapped to filter
      • CC 64 sustain ON/OFF to choose between the internal and external carrier

      Emy / Terminal EMY Firmware

      The code runs on Terminal or Emy. It comes in 2 versions, depending on how you want to sequence it. You can drive it either as a USB MIDI instrument or via a classic MIDI serial TRS connector. The code also allows CV controls so it can be used in a Eurorack setting

       

      Sequencing the chip

      VST-Plugin

      The chip is quite easy to sequence with the help of a plugin that works almost like the original Atari software used by Kraftwerk.

      Ableton MIDI Effect Rack

      You can also sequence the chip by sending phonemes from the piano roll (here: UH R A N E U M )

      I made a MIDI effect rack for Ableton to simplify the introduction of text

      Media

      Here are a few Kraftwerk covers made by Andrew Shaw. These are astonishing variants of the original ones: respectful to the original songs but with their specificities or identities.

      Andrew is using the Robovox precisely as Kraftwerk used to do: first by finding the correct phonemes to be uttered, then launching them in perfect timing and duration, and finally tuning the pitch to have the chip sing in tune!
      ( all parameters sent live to the Robovox from within the DAW)

       

       

      Jean-Luc Deladrière · Robovox



      Terminal

      The casing allows adding any of the Vox modules inside just by removing four screws.
      As with Emy, Terminal can be used in a CV-controlled environment or act as a MIDI instrument.

      You can install the various firmware on the SD card before powering the device.

      A pair of shunts allows the user to connect Terminal either as a MIDI USB unit or as a host for a USB keyboard for text entry.

      On request, a serial TRS jack MIDI Type B connector can also be added.
      (note: not all firmware are supporting MIDI yet. MIDI support is under development)

      Please  check this page for more information: https://www.polaxis.be/

      Features :

      100 % Emy compatible, including adding additional voices
      USB port for power or MIDI or USB connection
      Optional TRS jack MIDI Type B connector
      USB host connector for computer keyboard
      Shunts (must be removed when connecting a keyboard, otherwise, they must be placed vertically)
      Line in & out stereo jack 1/4″ (line in only used for the Robovox module)
      Trimpot to adjust the audio level input (only used for the Robovox module)

      Terminal in action




      Custom sound




      Repair and Service




      Emy Blank Panel

      See the assembly manual 




      VAX vox

      What is Dectalk

      Dectalk was a speech synthesizer and text-to-speech technology developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1984, mainly based on the work of Dennis Klatt at MIT.

      The Dectalk Express what connected to the serial port and would speak what was being “printed.”

      Dectalk Express

      The synthesizer can process text and produce speech with nine different voices. The Dectalk engine includes a parser that gives users fine control over the synthesized speech’s quality, pitch, and intonation. Dectalk can also be programmed to play phonemes and sing with quite a realistic expression.

      [hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,15> yu<1200,14>_<120>]
      [hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>_<120>]
      [hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,22>th<100>dey<600,19>xdih<600,15>rdeh<600,14>ktao<600,12>k_<120>_<120>]
      [hxae<300,20>piy<300,20> brr<600,19>th<100>dey<600,15> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>]

      The command syntax for musical coding sequences is:

      [phoneme<duration, pitch number

      Timing

      Latency
      There is a latency of 200 ms between the trigger and the start of the speech. This latency is very consistent, allowing the speech to stay in the tempo even if not precisely on the beat. The firmware uses the gate going down to stop the speech, preparing the chip for the next utterance, so when sequencing some stutter-like speech in a loop, they still fire up in sync with the tempo.

      Real-time
      The various voice parameters are applied just before triggering the speech and are ineffective while speaking. They are applied to the next utterance. The best is to fiddle a bit with the knobs for the desired effects.

       

      Firmware

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      Vax Firmware 82.59 KB 11993 downloads

      <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRFPTD7IZa6LTllEF1t8CG9W-ElWvVldzN8lV7fzbhOAP0ufKlmD3N8Zy6aMXTGe_iwAE3ItMIzO_xz/pubhtml?gid=1359627519&single=true&widget=true&headers=false" width="600"...

       

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      DECtalk user guide 1.08 MB 7886 downloads

      A very useful guide to help you using the DECtalk command and building your own very...

      Text files

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      Apollo 11 complete transcript 709.93 KB 8104 downloads

      Credits here I modified the script so the various callsigns use differents DECtalk...
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      Long text 73.41 KB 9385 downloads

      These text files with a .spk are to be read by the SD reader mode in VAX. The text...
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      Singing demo 0.61 KB 5642 downloads

      ...
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      Designing Voices 0.73 KB 4872 downloads

      Load this file to learn how to design your own voices by tweaking the various voice...
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      Spell mode demo 2.71 KB 7675 downloads

      2 files to show how to use the spell mode : one with a list of  three letter acronym...
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      Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" - pseudo singing mode demo 0.00 KB 42 downloads

      Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" First 3 lines in normal text to speech mode,...
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      Oblique Strategies 3.58 KB 5927 downloads

      Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies Original 1975  version (113 lines) ...

        Songs

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        Songs 3.89 KB 7851 downloads

        A few songs to play with VAX ... Daisy Imperial March The Star-Spangled Banner USSR...

          Media

           




          Emy Panel




          Kaiwa Alternative Voice : F4 (Kaiwaii cute female)




          Kaiwa Alternative Voice : M6 (male)