The VoxBox was a little grey plastic brick with a CB-style microphone
attached. I got one when they first came out. They worked okay,
considering the technology at the time. You had to push-to-talk, and
it could only recognize a few words at a time, but it was fun to play
with. The voice synthesizer was a big grey box made of particle board
with a black cloth front covering a speaker. I believe you're correct
in the operation using PRINT _at_ statements, but the box was based on a
commonly available sythesis chip (I'll have to dig later if anybody
cares - I think it was either the SC-01 or the SPO-256 from Votrax
and/or General Instrument.) I've still got both, along with the
manuals, if you want any more details. I wrote some software to take
commands via speech, control some lights and appliances with the
"Plug-n-Power" interface for the Model 1, and then give verbal
feedback using the synthesizer. It may not be the most intelligible
voice, but to this day that's still one of my favorite sythesizers; it
sounds so wonderfully robotic!
On Sun, 05 Apr 1998 23:07:23 -0400, you wrote:
>Allison J Parent wrote:
>>
>> <I acquired a TRS-80 VOXBOX last week. It is in the original box
>> <with cable, interface box, mic, and three casette tapes. I remember
>> <when RS was selling these. Has anyone ever used one? Did they actually
>> <work?
>> <
>> <Any historical insight is appreciated.
>>
>> It speaks, classic mechanical sounding speech. Rather fun to play with.
>
>The VoxBox was voice input, not output. I never actually saw one in
>action, they were being discontinued about the time I joined Tandy in
>late '80. The voice synthesizer was another story, they worked much
>better than most folks would expect. Unfortunately, both devices were
>_strictly_ for the Model One, there was never a way to attach either
>to a Model 3 or later system -- the voice synthesizer for example was
>tied to a specific area of video RAM and would output what was sent
>there by a "PRINT _at_" statement. Rather hard to integrate with
>packaged software.
-Bill Richman
bill_r_at_inetnebr.com
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r
(Home of the COSMAC Elf Simulator!)
Received on Mon Apr 06 1998 - 20:15:04 BST