The Emic 2 modules were manufactured at Parallax last week (I have pictures to prove it, which I'll be posting on Flickr shortly) and currently being tested. Like Jessica said, they should be ready for sale any day now! I'm excited to see what cool projects people make with it
Yes. My current project is that I built one of those briel altair 8800 replicas (www.brielcomputers.com) and want to build a matching expansion box for it that does four things:
1) composite monitor, switchable to a debug display
2) 7 seg displays to show address/data in octal or hex to make switch based programming easier
3) Enhanced debug display that shows teletype output and control codes along with current address, data line value in a variety of formats and processor opcode that is being inputted
4) Switchable voice synthesis output for terminal (hence the need for EMIC 2).
I wonder what it will cost? I guess well find out this week.
I have several projects waiting on this speech chip.
First, navigation aid for a friend who needs to walk her son to school. She's blind as well, and always has to take someone with her so she doesn't get lost on the way to/from school. It's obviously not a problem when her son is with her, but the other half of the trip is an issue. I have a pmb648 already, and I'm going to forego my bicycle find home app to build her a find home/school prog first.
I'm expecting to have it let her choose home/school destination, then simply update her periodically to let her know she's still on track. If she takes a wrong turn, it will let her know via voice feedback.
I expect this to be quick and simple, then I buy another pmb 648 for me, to hang on the handlebars of my bicycle, so when I'm done riding around town, (staying off main street of course) I can push a button, and it will indicate which direction home is so I won't get lost anymore.
After that, I'm building a speech synthesizer for external speech synthesis on the computer so I don't have to use up hundreds of megabytes of memory for the software synthesizers that are so popular these days *growl*
Then, next project (or maybe simultaneously) build my wife a device that will allow her to type in phrases and have the speech speak them, since she has a bit of a speech difficulty, and a lot of folks don't understand her without a bit of effort, (some of them who of course aren't willing to make). Hopefully, this will solve that problem for her.
Commercial pproducts exist, but they're a couple thousand dollars, and I'm estimating around a hundred or so for the parallax parts version.
After that, loads of thoughts, including talking thermostats, talking thermometers, talking clocks/radios, and the like.
Some of those products already exist, but there's nothing better than building your own.
This is going to be a lot of fun.
You can now. It's all set. Tuesday can't arrive soon enough. I'm ordering my first one on Tuesday. I wanted two, to start, but pricees are a bit more than I was hoping for, so have to start with just one. *cry*. Of course, eventually, I'll probably buy enough to deplete the stock, but gotta start 1 at a time. heh. So, let the breadboarding begin.
I'm definitely going to order one of these next week to try out. It definitely looks like it will be a great module. I hope it does support all the standard DECtalk codes since I've been using the DECtalk modules on a couple robots and will be able to leverage my existing program code. If they work well I will be using quite a few of these. For a complete TTS module this looks like it may end up being one of the best optional available. I just hope that the chipset being used doesn't disappear like previous speech chips.
I don't know why several people are ripping on the SpeakJet chip in this thread. It may not sound like the original EMIC or DECtalk but it actually does work very well once you get used to it. In some projects where you want a robotic sounding voice the SpeakJet is still a good choice. For some robot projects the SpeakJet voice "fits" the robot better. It is one of the few chips that can work similar to an SC-01 chip. The special robot sounds and other sound effects it has are often overlooked and are very handy.
There are some limitations/issues with the TTS256 chip. Keep in mind that was developed as an add on chip by someone else. In particular the 'passthrough' mode doesn't work well and you're better off wiring up a way to bypass the TTS256 if you want to send codes directly to the SpeakJet and switch in the TTS256 when you want it to perform TTS. The datasheet for the TTS256 now has notes about the passthrough mode specifically because I had lengthy e-mail discussioins with the developer of the chip on how the passthrough mode could be troublesome and insisted that more details be added to the datasheet. Had they been in there before it would have saved hours of time and also some re-wiring on a project.
I think picking speech chips and modules is much like picking what processor to use. Pick the one that fit your particular project. As someone with many different robots each voice helps give each one a different character.
Thanks very much Jim, audio and voice quality can vary widely with speech modules so it's good to hear demos before considering. I think this is high voice quality and the module has an advanced features list for the price, a good value.
The Key Features say:
"Nine pre-defined voice styles comprising male, female, and child provide options for a wide variety of applications "
The youtube vid shows male, female and a child, so it's gotta be pretty close
The Key Features say: "Nine pre-defined voice styles comprising male, female, and child provide options for a wide variety of applications " The youtube vid shows male, female and a child, so it's gotta be pretty close
It's the DECtalk IP that was purchased by Fonix Speech. It should have all the voices developed by Dennis Klatt from MIT:
The Fonix website shows to latest version being 4.6.4, but the Parallax web site seems to be referring to Version 5.0.E1. This may be a Epson enhanced version.
Jim
WIKI In the final years of DEC, the DECtalk IP was sold to Fonix Speech, Inc. (Now SpeechFX, Inc.), which offers DECtalk as a small-footprint TTS system
The new EMIC seem to have two modes:
Epson Parser and DECtalk parser, (Epson has licensed the chip used in this device from Fonix).
In the DECtalk mode, what you hear on the YouTube videos are going to be very close to the DECtalk mode on the EMIC II.
I have a DECtalk ver. 2.0 machine, and the Fonix manual look very much like the Digital Equipment manual from 1985, with a few enhancements. It is an easy and fun environment to play with. Many hours of fun with my young kids typing stuff on my Color Computer just to see what it would say. (My just pre-teenage son got a little carried away on some words)
Thanks for all of your support! I'm excited that the Emic 2 is finally released! The Parallax page (#30016) has some audio samples and the documentation. My site has a few more details, including links to videos and pictures (http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/emic-2-text-to-speech-module/)
It is indeed based on the DECtalk engine and, in the DECtalk Parser mode, supports a subset of the DECtalk commands. Depending on what version of DECtalk you're familiar with, you may need to adjust some of the phonemes or command names. Details are in the Emic 2 user manual.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the cool projects that people make with Emic 2
And if you're interested, our latest First Spin is a chat with Joe and Emic2 on the history, capabilities, and all of the awesome that is Emic2! Some demos are included as well!
Comments
The Emic 2 modules were manufactured at Parallax last week (I have pictures to prove it, which I'll be posting on Flickr shortly) and currently being tested. Like Jessica said, they should be ready for sale any day now! I'm excited to see what cool projects people make with it
Joe
1) composite monitor, switchable to a debug display
2) 7 seg displays to show address/data in octal or hex to make switch based programming easier
3) Enhanced debug display that shows teletype output and control codes along with current address, data line value in a variety of formats and processor opcode that is being inputted
4) Switchable voice synthesis output for terminal (hence the need for EMIC 2).
I wonder what it will cost? I guess well find out this week.
First, navigation aid for a friend who needs to walk her son to school. She's blind as well, and always has to take someone with her so she doesn't get lost on the way to/from school. It's obviously not a problem when her son is with her, but the other half of the trip is an issue. I have a pmb648 already, and I'm going to forego my bicycle find home app to build her a find home/school prog first.
I'm expecting to have it let her choose home/school destination, then simply update her periodically to let her know she's still on track. If she takes a wrong turn, it will let her know via voice feedback.
I expect this to be quick and simple, then I buy another pmb 648 for me, to hang on the handlebars of my bicycle, so when I'm done riding around town, (staying off main street of course) I can push a button, and it will indicate which direction home is so I won't get lost anymore.
After that, I'm building a speech synthesizer for external speech synthesis on the computer so I don't have to use up hundreds of megabytes of memory for the software synthesizers that are so popular these days *growl*
Then, next project (or maybe simultaneously) build my wife a device that will allow her to type in phrases and have the speech speak them, since she has a bit of a speech difficulty, and a lot of folks don't understand her without a bit of effort, (some of them who of course aren't willing to make). Hopefully, this will solve that problem for her.
Commercial pproducts exist, but they're a couple thousand dollars, and I'm estimating around a hundred or so for the parallax parts version.
After that, loads of thoughts, including talking thermostats, talking thermometers, talking clocks/radios, and the like.
Some of those products already exist, but there's nothing better than building your own.
This is going to be a lot of fun.
Ordered? Don't see the "Add to Cart" yet. ??
Not going to need one just yet. [video]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECtalk[/video] is still working, albeit a little heavier than the new one.
Used to have them on our VAX systems for CAM systems.
I don't know why several people are ripping on the SpeakJet chip in this thread. It may not sound like the original EMIC or DECtalk but it actually does work very well once you get used to it. In some projects where you want a robotic sounding voice the SpeakJet is still a good choice. For some robot projects the SpeakJet voice "fits" the robot better. It is one of the few chips that can work similar to an SC-01 chip. The special robot sounds and other sound effects it has are often overlooked and are very handy.
There are some limitations/issues with the TTS256 chip. Keep in mind that was developed as an add on chip by someone else. In particular the 'passthrough' mode doesn't work well and you're better off wiring up a way to bypass the TTS256 if you want to send codes directly to the SpeakJet and switch in the TTS256 when you want it to perform TTS. The datasheet for the TTS256 now has notes about the passthrough mode specifically because I had lengthy e-mail discussioins with the developer of the chip on how the passthrough mode could be troublesome and insisted that more details be added to the datasheet. Had they been in there before it would have saved hours of time and also some re-wiring on a project.
I think picking speech chips and modules is much like picking what processor to use. Pick the one that fit your particular project. As someone with many different robots each voice helps give each one a different character.
Robert
And at $59! Excellent price for the features and functionality.
-- Gordon
I asked that in Suggestions to Parallax - they said it's like DECTalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pewe2gPDk4
Just to be clear, I'm not sure if the Emic II sounds like this YouTube clip or not. I was just going by what the product page says.
It should sound pretty close to the clip (I'm guessing), but the clip was not generated using an Emic II.
"Nine pre-defined voice styles comprising male, female, and child provide options for a wide variety of applications "
The youtube vid shows male, female and a child, so it's gotta be pretty close
It's the DECtalk IP that was purchased by Fonix Speech. It should have all the voices developed by Dennis Klatt from MIT:
http://www.speechfxinc.com/text-to-speech.html#dectalk
The Fonix website shows to latest version being 4.6.4, but the Parallax web site seems to be referring to Version 5.0.E1. This may be a Epson enhanced version.
Jim
The new EMIC seem to have two modes:
Epson Parser and DECtalk parser, (Epson has licensed the chip used in this device from Fonix).
In the DECtalk mode, what you hear on the YouTube videos are going to be very close to the DECtalk mode on the EMIC II.
I have a DECtalk ver. 2.0 machine, and the Fonix manual look very much like the Digital Equipment manual from 1985, with a few enhancements. It is an easy and fun environment to play with. Many hours of fun with my young kids typing stuff on my Color Computer just to see what it would say. (My just pre-teenage son got a little carried away on some words)
Thanks for all of your support! I'm excited that the Emic 2 is finally released! The Parallax page (#30016) has some audio samples and the documentation. My site has a few more details, including links to videos and pictures (http://www.grandideastudio.com/portfolio/emic-2-text-to-speech-module/)
It is indeed based on the DECtalk engine and, in the DECtalk Parser mode, supports a subset of the DECtalk commands. Depending on what version of DECtalk you're familiar with, you may need to adjust some of the phonemes or command names. Details are in the Emic 2 user manual.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the cool projects that people make with Emic 2
Take care,
Joe
http://www.firstspin.tv/2012/07/03/first-spin-episode-033-emic-2-text-to-speech-module/
<a href="http://www.firstspin.tv/2012/07/03/first-spin-episode-033-emic-2-text-to-speech-module/" target="_blank">[video=youtube_share;wk5Y_Kkok7M]