Re: Echo II sound cards

[anoneds@netscape.net (Ben Yates)]

Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote in message news:<4067515D.18EDF39A@swbell.net>...
> Ben Yates writes ...
> > 
> > Wayne Stewart <waynes@telusdo.tnet> wrote in message news:<88a9c.24339$Ct5.4993@edtnps89>...
> > > Exegete wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm looking at an Echo+.
> > > > I have two other Echo cards, I just assumed they were all the same.
> > >
> > > Here's a pic of the Echo II and IIb to compare your Echo+ with, Roy
> > > http://www3.telus.net/waynes/echo2.jpg
> > > http://www3.telus.net/waynes/echo2b.jpg
> > >
> > 
> > Tell us more about the software for it? What capabilities do you have?
> > 
> > Text-to-speech?
> > Built-in Speech words? (How Many)?
> > Can you access text-to-speech from other languages (assembly)?
> > Can you directly send LPC strings to the speech chip? (I know this
> > chip is capable of this...)
> > Can you convert text-to-speech to LPC?
> > 
>  ....
> 
>      There is some info about Echo speech here:
> ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/apple2/Faqs/R012echo.txt .
> 
>      For Echo software, see the file EchoCollection.zip on GSWV at
> http://apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/Utils/ .
> 
> 
> 
> Rubywand

Thanks, I read the first faq. They really limit the phonemes. The TI
has 127 "allophones" [a further break-down of phonemes into smaller
units]  to choose from, and a few "pause" codes. It also has 64
pitches and a contouring factor or "slope" (to produce natural
speech). Plus it has built-in vocabulary words (about 300).


And the way words are created on the Echo seems to be a hassle.
On a TI, a simple PRINT #1:"HELLO, HOW ARE YOU?" in TI Basic will say
that phrase (if TE-II is plugged in). And using "Input" from a file
opened to "ALPHON" will return the "allophone" string.
Or, in XB with Text-to-speech disk:
CALL LINK("XLAT","HELLO, HOW ARE YOU",A$) ! converts speech to
"allophones"
CALL LINK("SPEAK",A$,A,B) ! Says phrase. A is pitch, B is slope

Or, in XB CALL SAY("HELLO, HOW ARE YOU") will say it using the
built-in words.

I wonder why no one has ever tried to interface a TI speech
synthesizer to any other type of system. I have other systems and if I
had time I'd love to try it.
But still someone would have to write a good text-to-speech system to
go beyond the built-in words.

Ben