ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
- Today, I take a non-technical look at a couple of speech synthesisers from my collection on my C64 from the 80s. Specifically, the Commodore Magic Voice and Currah Speech 64.
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00:00 Intro.
00:27 Hardware Speech Synthesisers.
01:13 Testing the Commodore Magic Voice.
03:19 Speech in Games "GORF".
04:41 Limitations of the Magic Voice.
05:05 Testing the Currah Speech 64.
06:56 Recreating a scene from "Wargames".
07:48 Outro. - บันเทิง
Windows 3.1 had a speech synthesizer with Soundblaster. My brother and I had endless laughs making it say all sorts of rude things to eachother.
I used sound blaster features to replace the original sound of a keyboard with fart and burp sounds to listen to my country national anthem and kids songs. I laughed my ass off for moths.
Same! Damn, I forgot about that. Endless hours of fun! 😂
Haha, good times
@@PintaoLoko that was just MIDI, you can still easily do that!
The native speech on the Amiga 500 was very good
I remember when my parents bought a Soundblaster for our 386. The "therapy" program it shipped with was called Dr.Sbaitso, and would fully speak to you like a psychiatrist. You could also tell the software to speak what you typed, which led to all sorts of mischief!
Oh those memories... "Tell me about your problems"
ah yes, i can still hear dr. sbaitso's voice as my friends and i try to get him to say the rudest possible things
I had a Dr Sbaitso program on a more modern computer from about 16 years ago , you got samples / colour photos of animals or you could load photos of your own , you could type in a caption and it would make the image move and talk to what you typed
Yeah; This really brings me back. Just to say; The Speech synthesizer program was separate from Dr. SBaitso, Dr. SBaitso just utilized a program that you could actually use for a lot of things, so you could do a LOT of mischief without bothering about the Dr. SBaitso program.. Just saying; I LOVED goofing with Dr. Sabaitso. I especially loved the first time he responded with "I am in love with a math coprocessor".
Memories!
I like to support British content creators. Especially, those who are too young to have been in the golden era of microcomputing. Learning and understanding the humble origins of the bedroom coder scene, who ended up establishing some of the big developers of the modern times.
Like people say, she's straight to the point, no waffle or fillers and she keeps her audience engaged.
Well done Kari, keep up the great work.
SAM is a great software speech synth for the C64. There are lots of things to adjust.
My mate brought around his synthesiser and plugged it into my ZX Spectrum in the late 80's. I thought the future had arrived! 😅 I'd love to see that again. 🥰
That's awesome a new generation playing with machines I grew up on ...... I loved my TI/99 4A growing up .... The voice synthesizer was so awesome Alpiner was a favorite for the "Uh oh nooooooo" sound when you fell lol
Yer its awesome to see
Mark my words, this channel is going to grow fast! these voices remind me of Sinistar! "I am Sinistar" "beware I live" along with the rest of its menacing phrases are some of the most terrifying moments in my gaming career.
Common, where is the trick? She is cute, she likes games, she enjoys tech, she repairs tech, and she even programmed on the channel. You must admit that there is something fishy.
Gorf had the voice in arcade, the c64 cartridge was a fantastic conversation
@@Hermas_360i think her brother’s techie too
@@Hermas_360 You are overthinking it. I think the best thing about the vids is that they are under 10 minutes. I don't have time to sit and watch 20 minute videos full of bloated waffling. Kari's vids are short, punchy, straight to the point, and only show what is relevent; which is the most important thing for me. And of course, I like the tech involved.
@@MrLondonGo well that explains a lot of questions!
I didn't have any of these, but back in the 80s, I had a copy of SAM, the Software Automatic Mouth, an entirely software base speech synthesizer for the C64. Once it was loaded, you could use a command (I think it was SAY) to make it speak anything you wanted. You could use other commands to change the pitch and speed, and you could use phonetic spelling to improve the pronunciation. You could use the commands in BASIC programs as well.
Back then I would sometimes type in programs from magazines, and often, they would have large sections of data, which would be prone to typing errors. At first, the magazines didn't have any kind of proofreading program, so I made my own for the data parts.
When run it would ask for a starting address, and would then use SAM to read the number at that address and speak it as a three digit number, such as "1-4-9" or "2-0-5". I made it joystick controlled so that I could step through memory addresses, repeat the current address, or go back one address. Combined with a joystick extension cable, I could lie on my bed with the magazine and use the joystick to have SAM read out the numbers as I followed along in the listing.
I remember S. A. M. and its application Reciter. We played around with it and were surprised how good it sounded. One demo program that came with it called "S. A. M. sings" showed off what you could do by changing the four variables speed, pitch, throat and mouth. We made up words that sounded German when pronounced in English as the software was only capable of English phonemes.
Was just coming here to mention SAM. My friends and I used to use it to create crank calls
Bizarrely I used it for exactly the same thing - read DATA lines to me, using the joystick fire button as a trigger. How did you do the repeat and back one address functions?
@@nkronert I don't remember exactly how I had it set up, but I think it was right on the joystick to go to the next address, left to go to the previous address, maybe the button to repeat the same address. It was all just reading the joystick functions and adding or subtracting from the variable that contained the current memory address.
As I recall, the harder part was getting it to read the digits separately, like "Two zero five, one seven nine, zero four three".
I think SAM had a demo where it goes through some samples of what it can do. The one thing that always stuck with me was when it said, "Oh wow wee, that was a toughie"
As a kid I used to love playing with text to speech on my Amiga. Used to do entire stories full of swearing lol
The War Games reference at the end made me laugh out loud! Awesome stuff!
I'm impressed, anything 80s 💖
Thanks, for the memories, back then I made my own speech pc card, it could say anything. I used to write C-64 assembly code in my sleep. I even made Custome system ROMS back then. I still have the C-64 Bible somewhere. I saw War Games and maybe a week later I made the hardware and software to do the same thing and it fully worked. I even split the computer apart and put the keyboard on a long cable. I even made a board for the disc drive that had a huge memory in it. I was basically a C-64 GOD. I can't just get to it, but it set sitting there, decades later ready to be turned back on.
I'll never forget the first time I saw a Gorf arcade machine. It was the first time I'd ever heard synthesized speech. Walked into a Dairy Queen and heard "Spah-eees cah-det". Absolutely floored me.
I spent many hours playing with Superior Software "Speech!" on the BBC Master Compact. I distinctly remember going to the store and asking if there was any software that could make the computer talk. I was not disappointed.
Love this I used one on my commodore 64 to call my sister and scare her.....
Just discovered this channel yesterday, and your content is absolutely awesome?? Instant subscribe right there
Hopefully, she will make more videos.
You gotta mess around with the Speach Synthesizer for the TI-99/4a. Had a blast as a kid finding new things for it to say.
🤘🤘
SAM was a great software speech synthesis, even better than any hardware solution. Games like "Arabian Nights" used it to tell whole storylines 😮
I still have my Currah module from when I was a kid in the 80s. I don't know if they all do it, but with mine, when running the speech detect on the keyboard, the programmers forgot to put the R at the end when you push the "Function Four" key. it says "Function Fo." And yes- I caught your War Games movie reference there at the end!
I remember having one for the C64 that could say anything but that had a better voice than the second one. Didn't have it for long though. I was a kid at the time and my dad didn't always keep every gadget he bought.
"Greeings, Professor Falken.
A strange game...
The only winning move is not to play."
Kari, you would like the Odyssey 2 and the voice module. Sold as the Philips Videopac G7000 in Europe. Also I think you would enjoy SAM (Software Automatic Mouth) for the Commodore 64. You're on such an exciting journey, and you're gonna love every minute of it!
I had an Odyssey 2 growing up, but I didn’t have the voice module.
i remember as a kid back in the 80s. we have a trs-80 coco 2. my dad bought a speech synthesizer for our computer. only a few games we had used it.
My first computer was Texas Instruments TI-99 4/A. I didn’t have the speech synthesiser but saw it demoed in the shop on Parsec (a game). Amazing!
I had no idea that speech synthesizers were even a thing on the Commodore 64! 😮 I was just impressed at the time by the speech included in the Ghostbusters game.
I remember getting a Currah 64 for my Commodore 64 for Christmas in the 80s when I was about 12, I absolutely loved it. Really happy to see a new generation discovering and enjoying the C64.
I remember SAM (Software Automatic Mouth). It was always fun to type in gibberish and see what it said.
I used Speech Systems Super Voice and Tandy Speech and Sound pak on my Tandy Color Computer in the 80s. Speech and sound pak sounded robotic but Super Voice had pitch and vocal tract filter settings that allowed it to sound male or female and even sing. It came with a demo program that sang “The Star Spangled Banner”.
We had Big Mouth on our old Commodore 64 when I was a kid!
So.. as a kid in the 70's and the 80's. The first home video game I know of that had speech in it was Intellivision's B17 bomber with the "Intellivoice" module added on. For the Commodore C64 the first major game with speech in my recollection was "Ghost Busters" with the line "he slimed me!" in very low bit, low sample rate audio. There may have been something earlier... possibly... but that's the one that was the big deal in gaming. There was no external hardware needed in the C64 version.
Haha love it! I was hoping to see a BBC Micro with the voice chip for comparison. Thanks for the great videos!
As someone who grew up with the C64 and deeply love it, your channel is overflowing with Old School Feels. Thank you.
I had that one on the Speccy and yes, we did used to just make it swear too! lol
There were a couple of games for it, but we ever could afford them!
I remember as a kid that SoundBlaster was awesome to have
Wargames was one of the movies that got me into programming weird stuff (Also Explorers). I had a hardware C64 speech synth cart, might've been a Currah 64. It was interesting seeing everything broken down into phonemes as you start doing the voice.
Best of luck with your new retro channel. Keep up the good work!
I love your channel so much, this is all so cool!
Your lab is so cool! I'm an electronics and programming newbie, I hope one day to have a place like yours, it would be a dream come true.
I’ve watched a few videos now and loved each one. Time to subscribe.
I remember "Say it Sam" that was a cool voice program for c64.
Great video. The TI was probably the one I was most familiar with. Yes, would love to see the other ones in the future. Your channel is going to blow up!
What an awesome channel. You're bringing back some old memories. Thank you.
These have been really bringing me back to my Vic-20 days, when I first learned basic programming.
This was a great video. So fun Kari :)
This brings back so many memories of using the built-in voice synth in AmigaOS, way back in the 80's. And yes, I did use it to make my Amiga swear ;)
Im really enjoying this channel. I only discovered it a few days ago. I look forward to more videos.
Brilliant 👏 we have the same obsession for speech synths - I got all of these as well 😅
Great vid, you packed a lot onto a little time. Would love to see the other speech synths tried out in a future video.
I like these little videos. Nothing fancy, just going over and demonstrating some cool old tech.
What a great video , I do enjoy started watched your other previous videos also just subscribed. 😊
Yes please. Love to hear the others.
This is a really cool channel. I’m hooked !!!!
I remember that there was a software speech synth for ZX Spectrum. Had a lot of fun trying to make it pronounce Russian sentences, it sounded so broken. It came on a pirated cassette with lots of other software, fun times.
I think the speech synthesizer for the Ti994-A was pretty good for its time.
anoither great video - love the content and your presenting style - so pro!
Thanks for a terrific video! :P That Magic voice in Gorf voice reminded me a lot of the Cylon centurion voice from the original Battlestar Galactica show!
Incrível! Não sabia que a filha do @Adrian´s Digital Basement também tinha canal! 😄
First time I heard speech was Impossible Mission
Came here to say the same thing! th-cam.com/video/i1_fDwX1VVY/w-d-xo.html
Very cool. Had a C64 when I was a kid. It was my first computer. Was so cool to eventually get a 5 1/4 floppy drive for it and played some of my first games. Wasteland 1988. Sub'd and liked great video!
Amazing video Kari! There was a Commodore Protoype the "Commodore V364" (Plus/4 compatible) which had the Magic Voicebuilt in. I spent a few weeks to find out how to make own words for for the magic voice, but i did not succeed. Great content, of couse we want to see the other voice carts. Keep going!
Cool. I had/have a speech synthesizer for my TI, but wasn't aware they had them for the Commodore.
Great video, I remember my old C64, the only games I remember having voices was ‘The Last V8’, and ‘Impossible Mission’. Love your channel, so now you’ve got me subbed. ❤❤
It just goes to show how far we have come. I remember having my mind blown by speech synthasisers back then. Now we casually have AI recreating individual peoples voices incredibly accurately.
hmm just typed out a comment and it was lost to infinity.. new subscriber, great video. brought back so many memories of having the currah speech on my speccy back in the 80's.. you're so right, me and my mates would spend hours getting it to say naughty words.. lol
There was a software based option if I recall correctly called "SAM". I could very well be making that up as it was well over 30 years ago.
You remind me of Violet Berlin when she was in Bad Influence 😊
Great content. Keep it coming
Tales of the Arabian Nights by Interceptor Micros had some very impressive speech without the need for any hardware.
I remember having the Currah speech on the C64. We bought it after I'd been to the dentist and my mouth was numb, so I couldn't speak well. It came in handy for that day.
Gorf was pretty much Space Incvaders that talked. The C64 version was surprisingly close to the arcade version.
I like competition pro -amiga joystick ❤🕹️. Beautiful retro -video 😊
Nice video Lady. Regards from Brazil
i was about 5 years old when my parents bought a c64 for me and my brother. i didn't know it had a speech synthesizer accessory. great video. =)
"Welcome to MacTalker on the Macintosh. The Macintosh is one of the world's most used computers. To get more information about MacTalker click on the help button." (Ok - a little propaganda, I know!)
Pretty sure that was the default opening dialogue of the software voice synthesizer for Mac circa late 80's. It allowed the computer to speak any dialogue boxes that popped up on your computer (along with a system extension called MacinTalk).
In fact, in researching this, I was reminded that the first Mac featured the MacinTalk extension, and even in the promo vidoes for Mac it announced itself to the world using its own "voice".
Great content! Happy birthday (I think)
we need to see a workshop tour and your collection of old skool computers, also the 3d printing 🙂
I had the Currah - it was fun!
If you held down the DEL key, it sounded like Twiki from Battlestar Galactica....!😂
Incredible! I’m going to have to track down a synthesiser for my c64!
Wow love this channel
I'm going to binge watch lol
Old enough to have played the Commodore 64 when it was brand new and the Apple IIc that was a contender against it. Never did see one of those voice gadgets though.
Wow. My Commodore 16 fully boxed went to the dump recently. Didn't want to, but had to clear it from my old house. Still got one of those joysticks though. Brilliant channel.😊
👍 Good job, like your perennation :)
I'd love to tell you about the time in the 80's my buddy and I made some of the girls in our computer class cry because we wrote a program to simulate launching nukes, but it's a very long story with some backstory and IRL preparation lol
I feel like if you ever did a c64 Colab with Adrian's digital basement we might have the best video ever.
I had something very similar sounding to the Currah back in late 80s/early 90s, on c64.
I remember pre-typing kind of ummmm, abusive sentences and then playing them over the CB radio, and shit-stirring people over the airwaves.
Every time a new person got on channel I'd type new sentences to stir them.
Correct with phonetics.... If I wanted to call them a MF, I'd have to spell it muther rather than mother... you can guess the rest...
p.s. That was in my much younger days, lol
The Stephen Hawking voice!
In 40 years we've advanced to much on voice synthesis. Today we can generate speech that is difficult for most people to tell apart from spoken speech.
I believe I still have my copy of S.A.M. for Commodore 64 from the mid 80’s.
I'm supposed to be listening to computers talking but I'm finding it quite intriguing trying to place your accent. UK? Aussie? Southern East UK I guess. maybe Kent? but I heard bits and bobs from all over. Well done for collecting all these cool old gadgets and thanks for showing them off so skilfully
OMG Gorf! This channel is an 80s kids nostalgia dream.
Hearing an original bread box C64 keyboard brings back so many memories :) Nice video as always .. but the auto generated subtitles had trouble keeping up ;)
We had a voice module for the Sharp Mz700 in the V early 80s. But the first time I heard speech in a game was on the BBC game "Citadel". No plug in hard wear needed.
I did like how in War Games Mathew Brodick actually says that the machine isn't talking, it's just sounds that replicate speech. It's touches like that which made the movie feel more real to me .
Awesome Video, V impressed with your research skills
Sound is very strange. After all, looking back at it with nostalgia, I am thinking about the ancient film projector and it's little section of two wavey dark zones that let light pass through it in various amounts. And, without a single chip, THAT produced all the sounds, speech, music and more in the movie. It doesn't even seem possible. And yet... it worked.
LOL I can't believe you managed to accumulate all those speech synthesizers! I got sucked into buying the Texas Instruments speech synthesizer just so I could play Star Trek on the TI-99/4. Ok, strictly speaking my parents got suckered into buying it LOL but I guess it paid off cuz I ended up getting jobs in the technology sector a decade later. (The TI-99/4 was not really a good purchase in retrospect. Better technology but Apple II had way more software.)
I have a BBC Micro and bought a Cheetah speech synth, it plugs into a port, and you make up the speech by adding together sounds like ‘ch’ ‘ee’ ‘th’ etc. loved it
I don't know, so many years later, how people liked that joystick.
Anyway, good video. My favorite game from those days with speech synthesis was Kennedy Approach. I have only played the Atari ST version, did a video on it for my channel, so I don't know if the other versions had speech too. I absolutely loved the game and yes speech in any game added a lot back in the day.
Thanks for the video and sure more videos on it would be fun.
I grew up with all the things you work with. It's very nice to see someone, especially a young female like you, work with all this old technology. This is what hacking was to us back then. Not what it has become today. Keep up the excellent work.
Wow, I remember trying to get my ZX Spectrum to sing using the Currah uSpeech, & I have such a clear memory of the voices from the D&D game on the Currah demo tape. Hearing the C64 one do the lines from Wargames here was a delight😊
I miss the 80s fun times when I was 15 lol
Love it! Like others here I didn't experience TTS until the Soundblaster days in the 90s but I swear it's taken until AI in recent years for it to finally sound like real human speech.
Would love to see the speech synthesizer on the ZX Spectrum.
As a kid I had great fun with the built in "Say" program on the Amiga. And yes.. I of course was getting it to say rude words and it happily would :P