Re: Lets hear a IIe

[jefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 7 Oct 1997 08:06:27 GMT, gvmemoney@aol.com (GvMeMoney) wrote:

>I'm currently look'n for a IIe program for speach.... 
>I know the Commadore had one but I havent seen one for the Apple,
>Anyone know of a program that can make the ol' apple talk ?
>It may adventually be used in my new robot prodject...
>(nothing to complex but it keeps me busy :)   )

Unfortunately, the 8-bit Apple IIs did not have any sound hardware
built into the machine as the C-64 did.  There were add on cards you
could get to add this capability.  The Mockingboard, Phazor and Echo
Speech Synthesizer immediately spring to mind.

There were some programs that you could use to record sound through
the cassette input and then play them back.  If you recorded yourself
saying words and played them back, you would have a very simple speech
synthesizer.

There was also a II version of SAM, which was also available for the
C-64.   This program allowed you to type in words and the Apple would
say them with a very heavy computer accent.  :-)  It also animated a
mouth or face on the screen while talking.  I can't remember exactly
it has been close to a decade since I last saw it.  I think it also
had some code that you could add to your own programs to allow them to
speak as well.

If I ever get a chance to go through some of my software, I might be
able to try and find more programs.  Until then, you might want to
track down these games that I remember having speech.

  Castle Wolfenstein  (Guards talked during play)
  Seastalker (Intro speech as game loaded)
  Dung Beetles (Bugs say "We gotcha!" when they catch you)