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Echo II (expansion Card)
The Echo II is a plug-in expansion card, speech synthesizer card for the Apple II and Apple IIe personal computers that allow applications to use speech synthesis. The Echo II provides a speaker/headphones jack on board, with a physical volume control adjustment. The Echo II software can synthesize either unlimited text-to-speech using stitched phonemes, or play back raw LPC data for specific words, with resulting higher speech quality. LPC (linear predictive coding Linear predictive coding (LPC) is a method used mostly in audio signal processing and speech processing for representing the spectral envelope of a digital signal of speech in compressed form, using the information of a linear predictive model ...) is the speech synthesis technology used, which allowed applications to encode speech data in a compact form. The Echo II uses the TMS 5220 LPC Speech Chip which was popular in other speech synthesizers. References External links Mirrors.apple2.org.za {{Speech s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Echo2Card
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the listener. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, a building, or the walls of enclosed and empty rooms. Etymology The word ''echo'' derives from the Greek ἠχώ (''ēchō''), itself from ἦχος (''ēchos''), 'sound'. Echo in Greek mythology was a mountain nymph whose ability to speak was cursed, leaving her able only to repeat the last words spoken to her. Nature Some animals, such as cetaceans (dolphins and whales) and bats, use echo for location sensing and navigation, a process known as echolocation. Echoes are also the basis of sonar technology. Acoustic phenomenon Walls or other hard surfaces, such as mountains and privacy fences, reflect acoustic waves. The reason for reflection may be explained as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed by Steve Wozniak and was first sold on June 10, 1977. Its success led to it being followed by the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIc Plus, with the 1983 IIe being the most popular. The name is trademarked with square brackets as Apple ][, then, beginning with the IIe, as Apple //. The Apple II was a major advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I, in terms of ease of use, features, and expandability. It became one of several recognizable and successful computers throughout the 1980s, although this was mainly limited to the US. It was aggressively marketed through volume discounts and manufacturing arrangements to educational institutions, which made it the first computer in widespread use in American secondary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced''. It is the first Apple II with built-in lowercase, 80-column text support and 64K RAM standard, while reducing the total chip count from previous models by approximately 75%. Improved expandability combined with the new features made for an attractive general-purpose machine to first-time computer shoppers. As the last surviving model of the Apple II computer line before discontinuation, and having been manufactured and sold for nearly 11 years with relatively few changes, the IIe was the longest-lived computer in Apple's history. History Apple Inc., Apple Computer planned to discontinue the Apple II series after the introduction of the Apple III in 1980; the company intended to clearly establish market segmentation by desig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Predictive Coding
Linear predictive coding (LPC) is a method used mostly in audio signal processing and speech processing for representing the spectral envelope of a digital signal of speech in compressed form, using the information of a linear predictive model. LPC is the most widely used method in speech coding and speech synthesis. It is a powerful speech analysis technique, and a useful method for encoding good quality speech at a low bit rate. Overview LPC starts with the assumption that a speech signal is produced by a buzzer at the end of a tube (for voiced sounds), with occasional added hissing and popping sounds (for voiceless sounds such as sibilants and plosives). Although apparently crude, this Source–filter model is actually a close approximation of the reality of speech production. The glottis (the space between the vocal folds) produces the buzz, which is characterized by its intensity (loudness) and frequency (pitch). The vocal tract (the throat and mouth) forms the tube, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texas Instruments LPC Speech Chips
The Texas Instruments LPC Speech Chips are a series of speech synthesizer digital signal processor integrated circuits created by Texas Instruments beginning in 1978. They continued to be developed and marketed for many years, though the speech department moved around several times within Texas Instruments, TI until finally dissolving in late 2001. The rights to the speech-specific subset of the MSP line, the last remaining line of TI speech products as of 2001, were sold to Sensory, Inc. in October 2001. Theory Speech data is stored through pitch-excited linear predictive coding (PE-LPC), where words are created by a lattice filter, selectably fed by either an excitation Read-only memory, ROM (containing a glottal pulse waveform) or an LFSR (linear-feedback shift register) noise generator. Linear predictive coding achieves a vast reduction in data volume needed to recreate intelligible speech data. History The TMC0280/TMS5100 was the first self-contained linear predictive coding, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speech Synthesizers
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal language text into speech; other systems render symbolic linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech. The reverse process is speech recognition. Synthesized speech can be created by concatenating pieces of recorded speech that are stored in a database. Systems differ in the size of the stored speech units; a system that stores phones or diphones provides the largest output range, but may lack clarity. For specific usage domains, the storage of entire words or sentences allows for high-quality output. Alternatively, a synthesizer can incorporate a model of the vocal tract and other human voice characteristics to create a completely "synthetic" voice output. The quality of a speech synthesizer is judged by its similarit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II Peripherals
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree ('' Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are cultivated worldwide. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, '' Malus sieversii'', is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia before they were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have cultural significance in many mythologies (including Norse and Greek) and religions (such as Christianity in Europe). Apples grown from seeds tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. For commercial purposes, including botanical evaluation, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
