Psion Organiser II Speech Adapter

[amenjet]

Hi,

I recently experimented with an LM386 as an amplifier on the speech adapter I did a while back and there was no real improvement to the output. The existing circuit with the values I have used seems to be fine over the headphone output and acceptable over a speaker. I'm therefore building two units for testing (Well, two units if I can get another chip, I only have two at the moment).

Anyone interested?

Andrew

[Daren]

Yes, still interested Andrew. Put me down for one if possible

[amenjet]

I'm trying to buy more speech chips, but as they are now £16 each, I don't really want to order too many and have them left over. I have one person interested in an adapter, anyone else out there fancy one?

I'm not sure exactly how much one would be, but around the £50 mark is probably right, given the rise in price of the speech chip. I have five new revision PCBs, three of which I've built, but I only have two chips. If no-one else is interested then I'll not build any more, although it probably makes sense to build up the five PCBs I have. These units do work with speakers but are best when attached to headphones or an amplifier as the power supply of the Psion doesn't seem to be quite up to supplying the amplifier.

Andrew

[amenjet]

Well, my supply problem with the SP0256-AL2 is eased a bit:

https://youtu.be/njsNJoiKlUM

Andrew

[Daren]

That’s fantastic and interesting about potential different allophones/samples - DECtalk (made famous by Stephen Hawking) would be a good one.

https://hackaday.com/tag/dectalk/

[Martin]

Hi Everyone

I was fortunate enough to borrow an original speech synthesiser from Dave Carrick an enthusiastic member of Boris Cornet's Organiser 2 forum (2010 remnants (here) notice Boris launched Psi2Win build 303 October 15th 2010). I had a great time fiddling with it and created a podcast where it introduces itself. I think I posted a copy on the old forum. Anyway I've attached a ZIP here for those interested..

Sincerely
Martin

ZIP

PodCast.zip

Zip Contents
D_Vocab_ODB.PDF - a list of all 800+ words in the vocabluary including a copy of my 'User Defined Vocabulary' (18 words)
PodCast.ODB - the 'look up database' or the text in the script
PodCast.OPL - A short programme to create any PodCast
PodCast.wma - Windows Media Audio file of the introductory PodCast

A short programme produced to 'read the script'

Code: Select all

PODCAST:
local i%,yn%,Wds$(10),Pd$(10)
REM PodCast for PSION ORGANISER II Speech Synthesiser
REM Device loan David Carrick
REM produced in god faith and not for profit Martin Reid
REM
REM needs text file with structure = LineNumber%,PauseValue%,Text$
REM LineNumber% used so the file can be re-sorted after alterations in XFILES
REM PauseValue% means you can slow down the speed of each line of speech if needed
REM Text$ is one line of text maximum 256 characters
REM When testing you PodFile use PauseValue%=-1 to skip lines
REM
REM GetFiles
REM Default values
Wds$="A:MRWords1" : Pd$="A:PodCast"
PRINT "Use Default file Y/N";
PRINT "Words   : ";Wds$;
PRINT "Pod Cast: ";Pd$;
KSTAT 1 :yn%=GET
IF yn%=78

    REM Get new file names

ENDIF
IF EXIST (Wds$) :SAYSETUP:(Wds$,0,0,0,0) :ENDIF :REM Manual has the values
IF EXIST (Pd$) :OPEN pd$,A,ln%,PV%,Txt$ :ENDIF
FIRST : REM First record holds file information
DO
 NEXT
 IF A.PV%>0 :REM set PV% to less than zero to skip lines of text in A.Txt$
  PRINT CHR$(12);A.Txt$
  Pause A.PV%
  SAY:(A.Txt$)
 ENDIF
UNTIL EOF
SAY:("END")

[Bumblemittens]

Hi,

I recently experimented with an LM386 as an amplifier on the speech adapter I did a while back and there was no real improvement to the output. The existing circuit with the values I have used seems to be fine over the headphone output and acceptable over a speaker. I'm therefore building two units for testing (Well, two units if I can get another chip, I only have two at the moment).

Anyone interested?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I have a surplus SP0256-AL2 that im willing to donate to the cause, i have no idea of its status as it came in a bag of chips

Shaun

[amenjet]

Hi,

I recently experimented with an LM386 as an amplifier on the speech adapter I did a while back and there was no real improvement to the output. The existing circuit with the values I have used seems to be fine over the headphone output and acceptable over a speaker. I'm therefore building two units for testing (Well, two units if I can get another chip, I only have two at the moment).

Anyone interested?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I have a surplus SP0256-AL2 that im willing to donate to the cause, i have no idea of its status as it came in a bag of chips

Shaun

Thanks for the offer. I have one SP0256 but with the new replacement module I don't need them any more, thankfully.
Andrew