+FarmerPotato Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 (edited) So, hexbus alerted me to this, Basic Fun to Reissue Speak and Spell in Fall 2019 for $25 https://gizmodo.com/my-favorite-childhood-gadget-of-the-80s-the-speak-sp-1832140129 Spoiler: it doesn't do any voice synthesis, there's no TMS5100 emulated or otherwise. It features new studio samples that sound like a robot instead. Not real thrilled about that. Some history of Speak and Spell: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-speak-and-spell-1992413 Sourced from this great VCF interview: http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/528 Edited February 12, 2019 by FarmerPotato 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 that's a bummer that it doesn't do the synthesis! will have to check out vids of it when it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 I still have a original Speak&Spell 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 No synthesis, no buy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 What are they using for the display? Just a color LCD and a segmented font? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I have the set speek and spell, read and math! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 just for grins I did an eBay search for Speak and Spells- looks like the pricing is all over the place. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=texas+instruments+speak+and+spell&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_sop=16 I think I maybe have one of the S&S disks for my TI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoodland Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) I had the Speak & Spell with the chiclet/button keyboard. Loved it and played with it until some buttons fell off. It was hard to understand some of the words. I understand that the vocabulary cartridges were compatible with the early version of the TI Speech Synth, which I believe is why there is a flip-up lid. I have never seen a version with the cartridge slot though. Scott Weston created a free android app that I have on my tablet that I still mess with now and then . There is also a nice online version by Jake Smith. I like to hear the original voice. Kevin St. Onge created an emulator as well and even posted the voice samples for download. It would be great to have a TI-99/4A version! Edited February 13, 2019 by twoodland 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I had the Speak & Spell with the chiclet/button keyboard. Loved it and played with it until some buttons fell off. It was hard to understand some of the words. I understand that the vocabulary cartridges were compatible with the early version of the TI Speech Synth, which I believe is why there is a flip-up lid. I have never seen a version with the cartridge slot though. Scott Weston created a free android app that I have on my tablet that I still mess with now and then . There is also a nice online version by Jake Smith. I like to hear the original voice. Kevin St. Onge created an emulator as well and even posted the voice samples for download. It would be great to have a TI-99/4A version! SPKNSPLBTNKYB.JPG there is a ti version.. SPEAK___SPELL_PROGRAM__1981.DSK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 I have the set speek and spell, read and math!I used to have a Speak & Read, but it died. On the other hand, I have a Speak & Spell Compact. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majestyx Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 there is a ti version.. When I try running the SPEAKSPELL program I get a BAD VALUE IN 240 error. I'm using the Extended BASIC cart in Classic99. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FarmerPotato Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 When I try running the SPEAKSPELL program I get a BAD VALUE IN 240 error. I'm using the Extended BASIC cart in Classic99. Any ideas? It must be TI BASIC only, because in Extended Basic, characters 144-159 were sacrificed to enable sprites. That means you need CALL SAY in TI BASIC which I think is only available with the Speech Editor cartridge (not super common.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Te2 maybe? Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FarmerPotato Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 Te2 maybe? Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk no It's definitely CALL SAY 100 CALL SAY("") this gets the problem out in the open. I tried to make it run under Extended Basic with the following changes: (all with Classic99) 210 FOR J=96 TO 136 STEP 8 27130 IF K<144 THEN CALL CHAR(K,W$) 32140 IF K<15 THEN CALL COLOR(K,L,M) This prevents the BAD VALUE due to the chars 144-159 not available in XB, at the cost of missing graphics. However, I still get BAD VALUE IN 14210 14210 CALL SAY("", W$) W$ is the following chars of LPC data: FOR I=1 TO LEN(W$) :: PRINT ASC(SEG$(W$,I,1); :: NEXT I 96 0 81 162 164 165 74 36 44 233 210 150 182 244 69 137 121 170 87 144 196 45 18 251 203 132 213 158 200 134 31 85 207 114 163 147 218 121 110 158 141 78 109 111 90 68 69 25 181 189 145 81 99 123 212 110 89 69 175 99 4 216 214 138 128 224 199 1 20 48 114 183 2 230 188 177 128 6 28 208 230 181 5 30 160 At this point I give up. I'm not aware of a reason why the XB interface with raw speech input to CALL SAY is different than Speech Editor? I would try it on real hardware. Are there cartridges besides Speech Editor that provide CALL SAY to TI BASIC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FarmerPotato Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 just for grins I did an eBay search for Speak and Spells- looks like the pricing is all over the place. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=texas+instruments+speak+and+spell&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_sop=16 I think I maybe have one of the S&S disks for my TI. Price for the original working Speak and Spell with round buttons has been around $70 for decades. There is a demand for it among circuit benders. The Austin synth shop "Switched On" had a circuit-bent Speak and Spell on sale, last time I was in there. I am always buying TI learning toys, but I am going to buy more now in case demand goes up. I remember the last batch of Compact Speak and Spell going for $5 at Odd Lots in 1994, but I already had a few so I passed them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 no It's definitely CALL SAY 100 CALL SAY("") this gets the problem out in the open. I tried to make it run under Extended Basic with the following changes: (all with Classic99) 210 FOR J=96 TO 136 STEP 8 27130 IF K<144 THEN CALL CHAR(K,W$) 32140 IF K<15 THEN CALL COLOR(K,L,M) This prevents the BAD VALUE due to the chars 144-159 not available in XB, at the cost of missing graphics. However, I still get BAD VALUE IN 14210 14210 CALL SAY("", W$) W$ is the following chars of LPC data: FOR I=1 TO LEN(W$) :: PRINT ASC(SEG$(W$,I,1); :: NEXT I 96 0 81 162 164 165 74 36 44 233 210 150 182 244 69 137 121 170 87 144 196 45 18 251 203 132 213 158 200 134 31 85 207 114 163 147 218 121 110 158 141 78 109 111 90 68 69 25 181 189 145 81 99 123 212 110 89 69 175 99 4 216 214 138 128 224 199 1 20 48 114 183 2 230 188 177 128 6 28 208 230 181 5 30 160 At this point I give up. I'm not aware of a reason why the XB interface with raw speech input to CALL SAY is different than Speech Editor? I would try it on real hardware. Are there cartridges besides Speech Editor that provide CALL SAY to TI BASIC? Ok then you need speech editor which is easily provided with fg99 Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 "Ahhahha..Word Zap Level 1" I will never forget it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majestyx Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Should have known better. It looked like TI BASIC but when I saw CALL SAY, I knew that wasn't available in it. Thanks to Greg for the solution. Also, I found this as well, in order to avoid a program crash: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276408-speak-spell-disk-how-do-i-run-it/?p=3982380 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Should have known better. It looked like TI BASIC but when I saw CALL SAY, I knew that wasn't available in it. Thanks to Greg for the solution. Also, I found this as well, in order to avoid a program crash: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/276408-speak-spell-disk-how-do-i-run-it/?p=3982380 Yup! I had forgotten about that, to be honest lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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