ed1475 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I've posted a short video of the Eve Speech Synthesizer. It's also a clock card that keeps track of the date and time. The battery still works. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Thanks for the video as it's cool to see it in operation after all these years. Just goes to prove that Eve's products were very well made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing! I'm noticing that the Intellivoice module sounds slightly less "robotic" than what I'm hearing in the video... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 A lot depended on the software IIRC. The SmartBASIC drivers by EVE were very basic, but there were three other companies that released software for working with the SS-CC unit (LNS' ADAMtalk, ADAMzap's MicroTalk and Digital Express released one as well as added support for it in some of their software titles) that improved upon the allophones (think that's the word I'm looking for) to make the voice sound better... but still robotic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Do you by chance have the original instruction manual for this? I've posted a short video of the Eve Speech Synthesizer. It's also a clock card that keeps track of the date and time. The battery still works. Eve_SS_CC-1.JPGEve_SS_CC-2.JPG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed1475 Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 (edited) Do you by chance have the original instruction manual for this? I don't have an original Eve SS-CC manual but I found a pdf of it online at this site - http://rich.dirocco.org/Coleco/adam/Documents.htm I do have an original manual for ADAMtalk 1.1. I don't think its been publicly available before so I can scan it this weekend and post the pdf in this thread. Edited January 10, 2015 by ed1475 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Would it be possible to reproduce the Eve module? If so, would it be worth it? Since they're so rare not much made use if it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Yurkie Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Heck I would love to be able to plug a cart into the ColecoVision and make it talk. I love the simple old school sound of that speech in the video thanks a million for sharing Ed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Would it be possible to reproduce the Eve module? If so, would it be worth it? Since they're so rare not much made use if it. Not being a hardware tech, I can't really say, but the chips should all be very common... well at least back in the mid 80's when this was made. I'd say it wouldn't be worth the effort to reproduce since no one is developing new ADAM software and the only programmer who ever made use of the SS-CC in his programs was Sol Swift (PowerPAINT, Beyond Trek, etc.), but only for some short program messages and nothing that added to the program. It was more of a novelty than anything else. The Clock Chip did come in handy especially for CP/M and T-DOS users. What would be of more interest I think would be the Dynomite Sound Digitizer by Syd Carter. This cartridge could capture audio from different devices connected to the cartridge's Audio-In jack and then you could play the digitized audio file back without the cartridge in SmartBASIC (maybe CP/M as well, but I don't recall) with the supplied loader program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Here's a capture of the speech in PowerPAINT done by Joe B., of course only if you have the SS-CC attached to your ADAM. PowerPaint Talks with the Eve Speech Synthesizer.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_c Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I miss SAM on my C64. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed1475 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Here's the ADAMtalk manual. ADAMtalk_manual.PDF 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Thanks Ed. Now I fully expect to see a video posted here featuring those famous lines from the movie WarGames... the screenshot above just doesn't cut it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed1475 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Here's the new ADAMtalk video by request. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Awesome! Does anyone have a copy of SmartTALK by Digital Express Inc. and if so, can you provide a Disk or DDP image file. I don't recall if there was an actual instruction manual or if the instructions where provided in SmartWriter text files. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=D-9l5jSDL50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Thanks...I also have the Eve SS-CC, but no docs for it. I had one when it originally came out so I know how to use it, but having the manual always helps. I don't have an original Eve SS-CC manual but I found a pdf of it online at this site - http://rich.dirocco.org/Coleco/adam/Documents.htm I do have an original manual for ADAMtalk 1.1. I don't think its been publicly available before so I can scan it this weekend and post the pdf in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vectorman Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I've posted a short video of the Eve Speech Synthesizer. It's also a clock card that keeps track of the date and time. The battery still works. Eve_SS_CC-1.JPGEve_SS_CC-2.JPG WOW. Thanks for posting this. These have gotta be rare as fricken hens teeth. Never saw one in person or for sale anywhere. I remember staring at the ad for this in Family Computing. I wanted it soooo bad but it cost something like $300+ way back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vectorman Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing! I'm noticing that the Intellivoice module sounds slightly less "robotic" than what I'm hearing in the video... Apparently the Intellivoice uses crude sample playback of actual recorded voices, not just voice synthesis chip technology like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 WOW. Thanks for posting this. These have gotta be rare as fricken hens teeth. Never saw one in person or for sale anywhere. I remember staring at the ad for this in Family Computing. I wanted it soooo bad but it cost something like $300+ way back then. Not sure if Eve Electronics ever advertised in Family Computing, but they sold direct to customers and numerous mail-order companies carried their line of products. The Speech Syn/Clock Card unit sold for $109.95, but the 80 Column Unit/Expansion Unit (VD-MB) sold for $329.95. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Not sure if Eve Electronics ever advertised in Family Computing, but they sold direct to customers and numerous mail-order companies carried their line of products. The Speech Syn/Clock Card unit sold for $109.95, but the 80 Column Unit/Expansion Unit (VD-MB) sold for $329.95. Holy moley that's pricey. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) Holy moley that's pricey. Considering that most people acquired their ADAM systems for $200 or much less when they were being liquidated in the mid-80's, the price tag on the VD-MB 80 Column Unit of $330 was indeed pretty hard for most to justify spending. It was/is a very nice product that not only supplied 80 column output for CP/M (later some EOS programs as well), but also contained an ADAM system power supply so that you could ditch the Adam Printer and four internal expansion slots that would accept Eve's other products like the SS-CC, SP-1 and SP-1P interface units. You could either take these extra interface units out of their housing (pictured in post #1) or order them without case to save a little money. Eve also sold another 80 column setup with the SP-1 serial/parallel interface and a terminal that was a little cheaper. They also included a nice software bundle with each setup. You can see pics of all this stuff on Rich DiRocco's Adam website. Edited January 13, 2015 by NIAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Would the 80 column card be easy to reproduce? That might be more useful than the speech synthesizer. Especially if it would give the ADAM more CP/M compatibility without having to resort to those line trimming programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Probably would be easier to reproduce the Orphanware 80 column unit as I think it started with a generic board that could be used on numerous systems of the day. It all comes down to time, money and the will to make it and to make it compatible seeing as all the software drivers, etc. are available. The 32 column display that Coleco decided to go with for the Adam (EOS and CP/M) was another poor choice seeing as 40 columns would still have been legible enough even using RF output as can be seen on other computers of the time period. Aside from that, it'd probably be a lot cheaper to buy one of the Amstrad CP/M computers and do all your work on it and then transfer the resulting files to the Adam with 22Disk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Aside from that, it'd probably be a lot cheaper to buy one of the Amstrad CP/M computers and do all your work on it and then transfer the resulting files to the Adam with 22Disk. That's no fun though. I think 80 columns on the ADAM would look really sharp, especially with a F18A installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hear you re. being more fun on the ADAM and the cool factor. There were a couple patches made for SmartBasic to display in 40 columns and T-DOS's display is 40 columns, so it is possible to alter the character set via software without the need for hardware and now I am wondering how far this could be taken. Just remembered, MultiWrite by Strategic Software is a SmartBasic word processor program and it uses a 60 or 62 column display by reducing the character set size even further. Will have to look at this program tonight on a 26" TV seeing as I recall using a 13" monitor with this program back in the day was a little rough on the eyes. For that matter, both the Eve and Orphanware 80 column units weren't the greatest when viewing on a 13" screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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