Very interesting Stan. Thank you for sharing this info Bill Degnan On Wed, Dec 16, 2020 at 2:43 AM Stan Sieler via cctalk < [email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, > > Some years back, I was asking if anyone had information about the speech > synthesizer > developed for the Altair 8080 by Wirt Atmar of AICS (in New Mexico). > No "hits". > > Most places on the web claimed the Computalker was first, given the date as > 1976 or 1977. > > (Earlier speech synthesizes existed, but they were external boxes that one > interfaced to, > or were standalone (often with a large/weird keyboard).) > > Today, I stumbled over a fairly bad OCR of Byte magazine from August, 1976 > at > > https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1976-08/1976_08_BYTE_00-12_Speech_Synthesis_djvu.txt > > It has two articles about speech synthesizers for S-100 bus systems. > > The first is by the Computalker people, who say: > > At the time this article > goes to press, a synthesizer > module incorporating several > detail refinements and im- > provements over the circuits > of this article is being de- > veloped by the author and > associates. > > and > > A detailed user's > guide will be supplied with the > Computalker module > > > Note the future tense! > > The second is by Wirt Atmar, whose product *was already shipping*. > > Near the end of his Byte article, Wirt lists currently available products: > > At the present time, two speech synthesizers > are both commercially available and affordable by > the hobbyist. > > One is the Votrax produced by: > > Vocal Interface Division > > Federal Screw Works > > 500 Stephenson Dr > > Troy Ml 48084 > > Price, approximately $2,000 > > Interfacing: Parallel or Serial (RS-232) > > > The second is the Model 1000 manufactured by: > > Ai Cybernetic Systems > > PO Box 4691 > > University Park NM 88003 > > Price, $425 > > > Wirt had told me (twenty years ago or so) that he thought his was the first > for microcomputers (e.g., a user installed card, not an external box). > Now, I'm sure ... but it was realllly close! > > Wirt demonstrated his product at the earlier MITS World Altair Computer > Conven- > tion, where it won first prize. > > He advertised it poorly/infrequently, since it was mostly a side business. > And, that shows, since history doesn't remember it. > > Stan >
