Aria (firmware)

Installation

Proceed like a purchase (this is a Free downloadable product)

1.Save the firmware file to an SD card with a name like “Aria.bin”.

2.Load it from the Code > Flash menu.

3.The firmware will be copied as “firmware.bin”, and the system will reboot.

4.The original firmware file remains on the SD card under its own name.

This process works for EMY, Mea, Kaiwa, Sino, and Vax, allowing easy switching between firmwares.

Main Menu

Vowel
Use the main switch to change the desired mode :

•Trigger Mode – When triggered by the gate, vowels play for their entire frame duration.

•Gate Mode – Vowels play only while the gate is high and stop when low.

•Continuous Mode – Vowels loop seamlessly, with transitions affected by frame and merge duration.

Parameters

• P1 – Sample Rate

• P2 – Master Pitch

• P3 – Frame Duration

•P4 – Merge Duration (smooth transitions between vowels)

• P5 – Noise Level

• Sound – Choose Vowel to play

Code

•Code Display – Shows the current firmware version.

•Calibration – Potentiometer calibration tool.

•Flasher – Firmware loader to select and install different firmware versions.

Demo

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S.A.M (firmware)

Read texts from the micro SD card in plain English.
The sound produced by S.A.M is a robotic, monotone voice with a slightly metallic quality.

The user can adjust the Pitch, Speed, Mouth, and Throat.

Note that the code is blocking, and the potentiometer positions are read during the pauses between utterances.
(only the Rate P1 can be used in real-time)

SAM User Manual

1. Revision history

Firmware version:

0.1 2022-10-23 : first release

1.0 2026-05-27 : adding keyboard support

The code is blocking: user input is only possible during silence. Only P1 can work while speaking.

2. Main Menu

P1 Rate: real-time control. It plays nicely with an LFO signal and can almost produce a ring-modulator effect.

P2 Speed

P3 Pitch

P4 Mouth

P5 Throat

2.1. Numbers

Says random digits. This is useful for quickly setting the voice parameters.

The Gate input is not used in this mode.

2.2. SD TTS

  • Please add an empty line at the end of your text file.
  • Double-click to go back to the file selection menu.
  • Add punctuation, such as a period, at the end of your text.
  • Speech starts when the Gate signal goes high.
  • You can also start speech by pressing the function button.
Switch modes
  • Upper position: CV control of the line with P6.
  • Middle position: loops through the text file.
  • Lower position: random access to the file.

2.3. Keyboard

Connect a USB keyboard and select Keyboard from the main menu.

  • Type text directly from the USB keyboard.
  • Press Enter to speak the current sentence with the current SAM settings.
  • Press Escape to clear the text buffer.
  • Use Backspace and Delete to edit the text.
  • Use the cursor keys to move inside the text.
  • Press Tab to append the current sentence to keyboard.txt on the SD card.

The saved file uses the same simple structure as the SD TTS files: one sentence per line. If the typed sentence does not end with ., !, or ?, the firmware adds a final period when saving.

The cursor shown on the display is visual only and is not saved to the text file.

2.4. Code

2.4.1. Version

Displays the code version.

2.4.2. Calibration

Pot calibration.

2.4.3. Flasher

Firmware loader: pick a firmware file and reboot.

SAM can read .txt file
You can try this file as an example.

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SAM test file

1 file(s) 0.10 KB
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Installation

Proceed like a purchase (this is a Free downloadable product)

Save it on the SD card with a name like “SAM.bin,” and you can load it from the code>flash menu.
The same applies to the EMY, Mea, Kaiwa, Sino & Vax firmware so that you can switch from one to another within the main menu.

This function copies the firmware to “firmware.bin” and reboots the system.
It will delete the firmware.bin but keep the original firmware on the card with its own name.

 Demo



Sino Vox

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

Sino Manual

QR Code

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

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Sino Firmware + USB MIDI

5 file(s) 68.54 KB
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Sino Firmware + TRS MIDI

3 file(s) 68.54 KB
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SD card

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

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Sino SD card

1 file(s) 24.45 KB
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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

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Ableton SinoVox Rack

1 file(s) 10.95 KB
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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

 



Emy Assembled

TMS5220/TMS5100 speech engine

  • LPC data are read from the SD card so an infinite vocabulary can be loaded
  • Sound and vocabulary can be produced by concatenating allophones and prosody markers from the text file to affect rate, duration, and pitch. No limits here!
  • The OLED crisp display allows browsing amongst the files and the lines within files to pick the sound the user wants to generate.
  • Speech rendering can be tweaked in real-time to affect, rate, stretch, bend, pitch, and energy.
  • All the potentiometers have CV entries attached to them
  • Emy produces sounds in 3 major modes: Speech, Repeat, and VCO.
    • In Speech mode, the speech starts with a gate signal and is completed before waiting for a new gate signal. The speech has priority.
    • In Repeat mode, the speech starts and stops with the gate signal going high or low.
      The gate has the priority, and the speech repeats while the gate is high. This mode is handy to create crazy rhythms.
    • In VCO mode, the LPC engine loops while the gate is high, producing steady notes.

Technical Details

  • 16 hp
  • micro SD card reader to read the text or update the firmware
  • Diode for reverse polarity protection on power lines
  • Consumption : +12V 60mA / -12V 18 mA
  • Cortex-M0 ARM processor
  • All inputs: 100k impedance, 12-bit ADC.
  • CV control designed for  0-5 V entries
  • aux out signal 5V
  • OLED display
  • mikroBUS host
  • Output level 8 Vpp
  • A USB port for communication,  firmware updates, and USB keyboard  text entry

Firmwares

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Emy MIDI Serial 95.37 KB 61966 downloads

This firmware works both on Emy 2018 and 2019 editions. It allows Emy to behave like...
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Emy MIDI USB 79.49 KB 61571 downloads

This firmware works both on Emy 2018 and 2019 editions. It allows Emy to behave like...
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Emy Firmware 65.95 KB 115579 downloads

This firmware is designed for Emy 2019 edition (PCB revision 1.0c). It can run on...
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Emy QC 85.59 KB 115652 downloads

Use this firmware to check Emy after assembly (SD upload compatible) Refer to the...
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    SD card

    (if you need to get started with a new sd card)

    Icon

    Emy SD card image 32.99 KB 9104 downloads

    Image of Emy's default SD card. It contains some .lpc files and .phon files to get...
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    More files

    Emy

    View All

    MIDI

    The MIDI version of the code (see above in Firmware) works great with this Ableton preset file

    Icon

    Emy Ableton MIDI to allophones effect rack 7.87 KB 38494 downloads

    MIDI notes are renamed so they match Emy's allophones table This makes it easier...
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    Manuals

    Emy user manual

    QR Code

    Emy kit assembly manual

    QR Code

    Icon

    Emy 2018 quickstart manual 569.91 KB 398438 downloads

    Have a look at this little quick start manual to get started using the Emy 2018 speech...
    Download

    Icon

    Emy 2019 quick start manual 3.78 MB 176418 downloads

    Have a look at this little quick start manual to get started using the Emy 2019 speech...
    Download

    Media

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/JkEYwAl6exk

    //platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

    //platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

    //platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js

    //platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js



    Mea vox

    Firmware

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    Mea Firmware + MIDI USB 62.44 KB 419 downloads

     Firmware load : Option 1 Saving the "firmware.bin" on the SD card and restart Option...
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    Mea Firmware + MIDI TRS 62.44 KB 17 downloads

     Please note that when using MIDI from the TRS jack on Terminal, the front switch...
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    SD Card

    (if you need to get started with a new SD card)

    Icon

    Mea SD card 1.28 KB 8521 downloads

    Some examples to get you started ... ...
    Download

     

     

    Extras

    Icon

    Citroen / Renault 25 vocabulary for MEA vox

    6 file(s) 163.27 KB
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    610 words for MEA vox

    2 file(s) 163.27 KB
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    Mea Manual for Emy/Terminal

    QR Code

     

    MIDI

    The firmware has a MIDI function :

    – MIDI note assigned to 39 phonemes.
    – Velocity and Pitch bend supported.
    – Can hold the note for singing effect.

    Icon

    Ableton MEA vox MIDI effect rack 40 12.07 KB 2558 downloads

    Midi notes are named to match Mea's 40 phonemes. (See MIDI mode in the manual) ...
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    Use with a microcontroller

    The hardware is compatible with the mikroBUSTM standard, allowing rapid prototyping and easy integration into existing projects.

    The onboard class-d amplifier can drive a small 8 ohms speaker.

    This vox board was designed to be used with EMY and its appropriate firmware. (in this case, the audio signal is forwarded via the “PWM” pin – the jack is not used with Emy)

    It can also be used in robots, toys, or any other retrocomputing speaking devices you may think of.

    Thanks to the popular mikroBUS™, this board can be instantly connected to multiple different platforms like the Arduino, the STMT32 of the Clicker2.
    The onboard amplifier is quite powerful and is just waiting for the speaker to be plugged in!

    Breadboard Connection

    Arduino Connect

    Code

    The code is available here

    Text to Speech

    The chip can string phonemes to produce quite realistic speech (although with a French accent). It can also sustain notes for a nice singing effect. Here is how the Arduino code looks like :

    dire("/bonj+w_r");
delay(400);
dire("&l&kt€Ronik miwzik");
delay(400);
dire("i$ b+i-n ka+I+n -ma/$=+_ine");
delay(400);
dire("+?je pE ossi murmur*?");
delay(400);
dire("je suis un arduino qui parle"); // à corriger ;-)
delay(400);

    You will find more information about the various phonemes and the prosodic markers in the following manual.

    Hardware User Manual

    Mea hardware manual

    QR Code

     

    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)

     

    Jean-Luc Deladrière · MEA