Speakjet - A PIC ready sound chip?

[TK.]

Great! Looking forward for the public version! :)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[timofonic]

AtariVox, interesting retro-device! ;)

This device can talk other languages like spanish, brazillian, japanese, chinese...?

This remember me to the say command in AmigaOS 1.3 and the Alan UNO spanish program, a mix between good AI program a game ;)

MIDIBOX speakjet? That could be AWESOME, go for it please! ;)

[audiocommander]

I'll keep everyone posted. Once I get the current versions finished, I will be very interested to try porting some design to the MIDIBOX.

I'm curios: has any progress been made with these nice SpeakJet SynthChips and MIOS?

Is Captain Hastings ("Good Lord!" I love Poirot!  :D) still around?

There's an exhibition scheduled for 2007 and I'll have to develop a speaking machine. I'm not sure if I will do this just by programming... but this chip and MIOS control seems a nice option if there have been experiences made...

anyone?

[stryd_one]

No sign of sheepslinky in a long time :( Hope he's OK.

Capt Hastings will be around though... But he hasn't been onine for a couple of months.

This chip looks kinda interesting. It's a shame the oscs don't go a bit higher, and the filters can't be controlled, or it'd be really badass.. Still, I'm sure you could do some really interesting things with this.

It's always such a shame when people come here and are working on something but never end up sharing the sources. Hopefully developers reading this will take it as a lesson and consider sharing the unfinished sources of their work ahead of time... You never know when something will come up and you will have to drop the project :( And it's a shame when so much work is done and lost forever :(

[TK.]

Just got my SpeakJet today - I ordered it at http://www.sander-electronic.de/be00064.html. The webshop doesn't work, but I wrote an email and received the chip within 3 days :)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[audiocommander]

nice to hear :)

So I think I will order one too and experiment...

I found this shop, that has same prices like sander and besides the SpeakJet also other nice stuff (eg the sensors as usual 1/3 cheaper than Conrad  8) ) : http://www.shop.robotikhardware.de/

I found also one bausatz (BSRNSPEAK, not using SpeakJet) that seems to have some nice features (54 EUR). As far as I understood, one can upload wav files via RS232 and trigger these very quickly by I2C (I presume it's the same as IIC?). One should upload phonemes, but you could surely do funny things with it, if you don't want to produce clear speach:

http://www.shop.robotikhardware.de/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=21

[TK.]

First I tried to order at robotikhardware.de - I created an account, filled all informations into the form, and finally - after 5 minutes of typing work - got a notification, that the chip is currently not available :-/

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[audiocommander]

hmm, then it seems this may be a deadend, becaue sander marked this as discontinued sale.  :-\

ahh, what the heck, I'm ordering one too before it's too late  :)

(thanks for the info about robotikhardware!)

[stryd_one]

If any aussies are interested I have a source here for about $50 a pop.

Edit: I'll buy them here and ship them anywhere in the world at cost if you need them.... but for you guys only - I'm your mate who lives down-under, not a distributor :)

[Nu-Audio-Science]

Looks like Sheepslinky is going to be making kits for the new version ?

Hopefully it will make it to MIOS aswell though :)

[NorthernLightX]

Looks like Sheepslinky is going to be making kits for the new version ?

Hopefully it will make it to MIOS aswell though :)

Looks like Sheepslinky is not going to do anything like that, his last post was 9 months ago.

[Nu-Audio-Science]

Yeah i'm not going by his posts but by his website ;)

He has finished the second version so lets not right him off because he doesn't post here very often :)

[NorthernLightX]

Yeah i'm not going by his posts but by his website ;)

He has finished the second version so lets not right him off because he doesn't post here very often :)

I didn't see his page before, but had a look just now. He does like the retro look doesn't he :)

Can't really tell when the last update to his page was, but I sure hope his project does make it into the Open Source domain.

[audiocommander]

Yipee ;D

My SpeakJet arrived today!!

Wonderful! It seems to be exactly what I was looking for. The Phonetic Usage Table from the Datasheet looks delicious  :D

Now I wonder if I can use a DOUT or some free Core-Pins as TTL-Logic Control. The datasheet says the SpeakJet can be controlled by RS232 and/or by its 8 Event Input Lines.

Seems a lot more comfortable than using the (not fully compatible) RCX Serial Input?

With 8 setable pins and an appropriate application, the integration of the chip should to be a cinch :)

[th0mas]

audiocommander:

What I got from reading the datasheet was that the 8 event control lines can only be used to trigger the 8 presets.  In order to program the presets or do anything else you need to communicate over the serial connection unfortunately.

My current idea for implementation is to make it an add-on module to any midibox that has it's I2C bus free (like most control surfaces.. not a SID or FM if I remember correctly).  The host CORE module takes all MIDI data and forwards it along the I2C bus to the destination CORE module (that has no MIDI connection, only that I2C connection), so it can use it's free RS-232 RX/TX pins to communicate with the chip directly.

[audiocommander]

oh! no! :'(

I was so overwhelmed of the headline... I couldn't read any further... ;D

However, I subscribed to the speakjet yahoo group and a first glimpse showed me that this topic is obviously widespread. Your solution with two Cores (and different baud rates) seems to be the recommended method.

I'm going to read on and post if I find sth interesting... :-\

Edit: indeed there are some really interesting files available, such as connection diagrams to a MAX232 and PIC assembler symbols & tables and some more PIC16/18F sources :)

[stryd_one]

So what're you trying to say, the works all been done for you? ;)

[TK.]

I'm already using a modified MBHP_IIC_MIDI firmware to control the SpeakJet, I think that I will release it sooner or later (I would like to add direct control of the reset and config pins before)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[audiocommander]

Wow.  :o

This sounds promising  ;D

btw. if anyone is interested in historic talking machines, I wrote a nice article/abstract with a lot of links on baron kempelen some while ago: http://www.audiocommander.de/blog/?p=27 (german)

:D

[TK.]

I just have released a preliminary schematic + firmware

-> http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp_iic_speakjet.html

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[stryd_one]

Nice :) Thanks TK!

[audiocommander]

You rock, TK!!!

I hope I will find time to start building my speakjet machine in about one or two weeks and will post my code then (and maybe hitting that button on top of this page again  ;D )

Thank you!

Michael

[sheepslinky]

Sorry to drop out of site on this list. However, I have done a LOT more work with the speakjet and I will post code for anyone who wants it. My insanium 2.0 is ready, and there will be circuit boards and kits available soon. I am simply waiting until I finish my current tour and have time to print them...

The Insanium has become its own, howmebrew, tweaky entity. It is controlled with knobs and dials, as well as touch sensors and some analog ciruitry. It would certainly be very adaptable to MIDI, though, and I am happy to post my code at this point (please remember that I am an artist not a programmer  :) )

So, I went an analog, tweaky, old school route, but the MIDI route would be easy to do. I'll post my code and schematics on my site this weekend when I get home.

I'm glad that people are working on their own versions as well. The more sounds the better!

Oh, and, by the way, the frequencies listed as limits in the speakjet manual are not really limits. For instance, it says that oscillator 0 will only go to 200Hz -- I've had it go well beyond 1000 to create amplitude modulation. Just send it the instruction and it'll usually do it. Also, don't be afraid to overdrive things a bit and let the oscillators clip - it sounds GREAT. Theoretically, I imagine the speakjet can create sounds up to 16k. However, they might stop sounding like oscillators and start sounding like digital garbage. Just have to try...

Once again, sorry to leave people hanging. I love the work everyone does here and refer people to midibox often...

Lorin

[TK.]

Hi Lorin,

this sounds great! I'm very interested on your project and would like to use it :)

I could help you with the MIDI integration (should be easy with MBHP_IIC_SpeakJet)

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[sheepslinky]

Okay,

I am rather busy, and realized that I will not have time to make revisions to my code for a few weeks, so I just decided to post it like it is... Please excuse the sloppiness, it works, though :)

It is on my insanium page at: http://shoko.calarts.edu/~lorinp/insanium.html

It is in the middle under "developers and technical"

I am excited to see what creative and wonderful things people do with this code. I will post schematics soon. Please inform me if you improve or build upon the insanium project or use it in other projects -- I am sure I will learn a lot from others who decide to work with the speakjet as I have been... So, don't hesitate to contact me!

Regards,

Lorin