[DECtalk] Speak windows older than 4.3

[ebruckert Bruckert]

A short DECtalk history lesson of sorts. The commercial availability of the
first signal processing chip by TI finally made the large compute
requirements of the vocal track model possible. It was specifically designed
to do difference equations which is what the filters need doing lots of
multiplies. So DECtalk was confined to hardware only solutions until the
power of the PC got sufficient to be able to do the computes in real time.
Back in the days the Dennis and I worked on DECtalk took 30 min. of computer
time on a VAX to generate one minute of speech. That's why the first PC
product was a hardware product because it had to have the signal processing
chip.
The speak program has never really changed I've used the same one basically
forever. It uses simple calls to the dapi which is the DECtalk application
interface. All programs had their own application interface until the advent
of SAPI. SAPI simply converts a standardized set of synthesizer calls in to
dapi calls to perform the same function. That is why the speak source code
has always been public domain and hasn't changed much, I can't remember if
any versions of speak only work with a certain version of DECtalk but if
that occurred it was a long time ago and I can't remember.

On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 6:52 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Corine, Snoopi or Ed are probably the only ones who would even know if such
> a thing ever existed. Were there ever Windows-based Speak windows for any
> DECtalk version older than 4.3? Also, back before Windows Speak windows,
> was
> DECtalk marketed as a software product for Vax and/or other platforms, or
> just as a hardware product like the DTC01, DECtalk PC and PC2, and the
> DECtalk Express?
> Thanks.
> Jayson
>
> _______________________________________________
> DECtalk mailing list
> DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
> http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
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