43 replies to this topic

[Ransom]

Still, like you say, adequate for the time. Something fun to play around with.

[tep392]

The first digitized speech I ever heard was when a buddy of mine got one of the Apple IIe's in our HS computer lab to say "I am Iron Man". Quality was awful but it was very cool at the time. That was when I first learned about digital sampling.

[the-topdog]

Back in the 80's, speech synthesis was an amazing phenomenon... remember that our generation was raised on the talking computers in Sci Fi shows such as Star Trek, 2001 a Space Odyssey, Space 1999, and Dr Who's K-9. To us it signaled the next evolution of computers... with speech synth and cell phones being introduced, we could see the days of Star Trek slowly becoming reality. So you better believe that when Commodore released the Magic Voice accessory for the C64, I was all over it!

Now we look back and see how trivial it was, and it did not amount to much once massive storage mediums became available with actual digitized speech and music. This put speech synthesis into the toilet. But at the time it was the coolest thing, and had actual practical applications besides games. There were programs on the C64 that, with the aid of an add-on like Magic Voice, could read text for the blind, or give a voice to someone who had none... they would convert common words to phonetics that the modules could read... or could convert morse code transmitted on ham radios into text and speech.

So I don't think that cutting edge technology of the past should ever be trivialized, it is with small steps like that that we have the high powered systems of today, with all the functionality we are already starting to take for granted.

Edited by the-topdog, Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:35 PM.

[Seob]

At 3.09 it starts.

Edited by Seob, Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:24 PM.

[JamesD]

Face it... speech was cool because it was the first time we had ever heard a real computer talk.

The first speech synthesis I remember hearing was a votrax on a TRS-80 Model I.
<edit>


I vaguely remember these comments being made:
"Wow, a machine that can talk!"
"Make it swear!"


I remember magazines saying speech was good for education... so overnight everyone had to have it. That was probably part of the reason it became a big deal on computers.
I think TI probably started that. Frankly, I thought the quality of most of it was of questionable educational value. But it was cool so who cared.



I can't remember if I heard Wizard of War or Berzerk talk first. I loved both games but sucked horribly because I didn't play them enough to really learn them.

<edit>
I had this:

Edited by JamesD, Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:42 PM.

[fiddlepaddle]

The first game I heard talk was a pinball machine, Gorgar, around 1979 I think. I also remember seeing the ad for the TRS80 speech synthesis add on, but couldn't think of any reason to spend the money for it; seemed like a gimmick to me (but a cool one). Then I remember discovering in 1985 that my brand new Amiga had speech synthesis built in, with four different voices no less. I had it read some poetry and never used it again.

[Pixelboy]

My very first contact with synth'd speech was with Mega-Bug on the TRS-80. "Gotchaaaa!"

[Random Terrain]

high voltage, on Tue Jan 17, 2012 4:20 PM, said:

There's some C64 games from USA which used real voices during gameplay, but hell I don't remember the names of those games.

We thought this stuff was cool back then:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k35dUj5kG90



www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBVlj7Xsw7k

[The Usotsuki]

Ah yeah, the Apple version (Tumble Bugs/Dung Beetles) has a voice going "WE GOTCHA!" but I think there it's digitized.

[LynxVGL]

Arcade speech sythesis did have an impact on the gaming experience. The first time you played Sinistar and you hear "I live" or worse, "RUN COWARD!" could really rattle your nerves. Same for Sinistars scream. Star Wars Arcade (Atari) used it effectively when you lost your last shield ("I think I lost Artoo!") and of course "Use the Force Luke" when you start the trench run, actually giving you a gameplay hint (Don't shoot, IE using the Force, and get a big bonus for blowing up the Death Star). Sega's Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator did similar things with Scotty giving you ship updates without having to look at that portion of the screen.

Gimics in the 80's, but darn good gimics.

[Lendorien]

I think it was a lot about the coolness factor of having an inanimate object actually talking to you. It's sort of the same way parrots are cool because they can mimic sounds.

Now we look back and wonder why people were so crazy about it. But really, has much changed? The latest Iphone has Siri, which apparently is a hit. It's much the same thing, if more advanced because of its speach recognition.

[JamesD]

Lendorien, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:21 AM, said:

I think it was a lot about the coolness factor of having an inanimate object actually talking to you.
...

The "it's alive!" factor perhaps?

[BillyHW]

Yeah, I remember how in the late 80s, early 90s, if a game talked, it was cool.

[BillyHW]

BTW, the game with the very best speech synthesis I ever heard was Klax for Lynx.

[Shannon]

Why? So you could make prank calls with a computerized voice!

This was when caller ID did not exist..

Hehe

[BillyHW]

Shannon, on Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:53 AM, said:

Why? So you could make prank calls with a computerized voice!

This was when caller ID did not exist..

Hehe

Hey, you can still make prank calls with Skype.

[JamesD]

BillyHW, on Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:16 PM, said:

BTW, the game with the very best speech synthesis I ever heard was Klax for Lynx.

...

The Lynx came out in '89, that's at least 10 years after the first speech synthesizer went on sale for a personal computer and at least 9 after the first game with speech. It's bound to be pretty good by then.
Now, we expect most games to have speech and don't think a thing about it.

[Megaman Legends]

Probably made to show off what the product could do or just to sell the item

[Megaman Legends]

tep392, on Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:03 PM, said:

The first digitized speech I ever heard was when a buddy of mine got one of the Apple IIe's in our HS computer lab to say "I am Iron Man". Quality was awful but it was very cool at the time. That was when I first learned about digital sampling.

My first was when I heard spike speak to Molly on the vectrex