DCP Speech Pack

Personal Computer News

David Janda

SPECTRUMSPEAK Spectrum speech synthesis: David Janda says it all. PRODUCT: Sweet Talker MANUFACTURER: Cheetah Marketing, [redacted] PRICE: £29.75 inc VAT PRODUCT: DCP Speech pack MANUFACTURER: DCP Developments, [redacted] PRICE: £29.95 inc VAT. (Extra vocabularies £12.95 each.) PRODUCT: Microspeech MANUFACTURER: Currah Computer Components, [redacted] PRICE: £30 inc VAT. The choice of speech units available for the Spectrum is increasing and it's hard to find a magazine without at least one advertisement for something 'new and exciting' in this field. We compared the Cheetah Sweet Talker with two already reviewed, the DCP (Issue 1) and the Currah (Issue 34). Speech synthesisers can be either allophone or digital. Advertisements for the former usually say they'll speak any word you like, but each word must be built up from a set of allophones. In what can be a time-consuming trial and error process. Furthermore, the allophone systems tend to sound like Daleks. Digital speech synthesisers don't sound so bad but neither are they crystal clear. They use words, letters or numbers digitally encoded onto a ROM or ROMS. To get the machine to say something, a number corresponding to a word is sent to the synthesiser, eg 1 = hello. 2 = goodbye,... Since both methods need lots of memory, chunks of the speech unit's memory are transferred in turn, via a buffer in RAM. CURRAH MICROSPEECH Allophone This unit superimposes sound through the TV speaker, which can also be fed into an external tape or Hi-Fi. Pressing any key causes the appropriate letter sound to be spoken. Like the Sweet Talker, it comes with a demo cassette, but its advantage over the Cheetah is that getting it so say something is more natural than sending numbers to a port - with Microspeech you put words into the string S$, enclose the allophones in brackets, and the unit does the rest. Currah's unit still seems to be the best allophone speech synthesiser for the Spectrum, though upgrades on existing models like the Computer Add-ons Speech Unit, will be interesting. DCP SPEECH PACK Digital Digital speech packs can cost up to twice as much as the more conventional allophone equipment, and they have a limited vocabulary. The DCP pack has just 71 entries in its initial directory of numbers, letters, and a few useful words. These are stored in a ROM, and up to three extras can be fitted with more useful words - at a price - to give a total of about 250 words. Accessing the words is simple: when the number corresponding to a word is entered, the word is spoken. This is done with the Spectrum's our command, and the muss: statement gives gaps mid-speech. The unit attaches to the edge connector, and includes a volume control, though you'll need a screwdriver to adjust it. Digital speech is better than the allophone variety and can be further improved by feeding the pack's output to your amplifier from the audio socket provided - adding a little bass can improve the sound dramatically. CHEETAH SWEET TALKER Allophone The Sweet Talker is a small black box which fits onto the edge connector of the Spectrum. A small loudspeaker is housed at the back of the unit, facing away from the user. There are no volume controls, and no means of connecting it to a tape recorder or Hi-Fi, thereby eliminating one way of improving synthesized speech. With the unit you get a demonstration tape and a two-page manual, keeping the package simple, but limiting control. The document contains a list of the 63 allophones available, along with a data number, letter and example for each. They give a good indication of how the allophone will sound, but there are no details about what memory the unit uses or how it uses it, and machine code programmers will need to know this. The unit runs with a rather annoying buzz, which continues as it speaks, adding to the mechanical nature of the sound. However, you get used to this and it's not difficult to get simple sentences spoken. The fact that the sound remains on until switched off means you can add emphasis and lengthen words, though this takes time and a good deal of practice to get it to sound realistic. It is unfortunate, though, that there is no speech editor with the demo tape, which would enable you to bash in sentences which would be translated into codes and then be spoken. This wouldn't need a mammoth piece of code, and it's a pity that Cheetah didn't supply it.

Sinclair User

Stephen Adams

AIMING TO SPEED THE RESPONSE Stephen Adams looks at the wide range of joysticks that are now the market. Joysticks are a favourite weapon against space invaders, pirates and in other fighting games. They are also very useful for flight simulation, maze games like Mazog for the ZX-81 or Escape for the Spectrum. That is because they speed the response to the games by up to 300 percent and if the games have been written to obey joysticks, the response to the keyboard has probably made the game run more slowly. Most work on one of two principles, the commonest being the switched type like the Atari joystick. The other is the proportional joystick, which instead of just indicating the direction of the joystick also sends back a report on its exact position. It does so by giving an X/Y value for the position of the stick in the vertical and horizontal directions. You can write software for those joysticks but no commercial software uses them. The Atari joystick set a standard by being the first to be used on a video game and since then the style has changed but the connections to the game have not. The Atari joystick has a 9-pin "D" type socket on the end of it which has five pins at the top and four pins at the bottom. They are numbered from one to nine, starting at the top right-hand side - looking at the plug - and only pins 1-4, 6 and 8 are connected. Those pins are connected to five switches in the joystick, one side of the switch being connected to a numbered socket, and the other being connected to a common point, which is connected to pin on the socket. Operating the joystick in any of the four directions makes that switch operate, connecting the common pin to the socket pin of that switch. The fifth switch is the fire button. Thus only one switch can be operated at a time, plus the fire button. That kind of switch cannot be used directly in place of the keyboard switches, as all the switches are connected together. Therefore an interface has to be used to connect the joystick to the Spectrum without damaging it. The interfaces are of various kinds but a standard seems to have been set by Kempston, which contacted software companies before it launched its joystick to pursuade them that there should be a standard way of using a joystick on a Spectrum. That standard way of working has now been written into some of the software by mos of the big companies as an alternative to using the Sinclair keyboard. The software is easier to write if you have only one address to look at or to control. It is also not difficult in machine code to take one byte from an address and check that a switch has operated. It is much easier than scanning the entire keyboard for several different keys. The address the Kempstori uses is very simple; it requires only bit A6 to be low using anIN instruction to operate the chip. Address 31 is used to read the value of the joystick. The joystick switches each operate one bit of the binary data returned from the port and as the Kempston Competition Pro joystick allows you to operate two switches directly instead of one - allowing you to go in diagonal directions as well - it is very useful. Only five of the bits are thus used and all the rest are set to 0. If one of the joystick switches is operated, that bit changes to a binary 1 and the number returned will be greater than zero. The AGF Interface II allows you to simulate a set of keys on the keyboard but they are fixed to the cursor keys and use 0 for the fire button. It also allows you to use other devices on the back of the joystick and is available in ZX-81 and Spectrum versions. Unlike the Kempston joystick, which works on both the ZX-81 and Spectrum with the appropriate software, keyboard interfaces for the Spectrum cannot be transferred to the ZX-81 as not only is the edge connector too big - 28 ways instead of the 23 of the ZX-81 - but the expansion port has different connections. The Protek is also a cursor-type interface but like most of the interfaces reviewed has no PCB edge to which to connect anything else like a sound board. The Jiles Electronics interface is a three-way, bare-board device which can he made to look like that from Kempston, a cursor-controlled joystick, or to work Psion programs. The selection is via two little pegs and is probably the cheapest solution to fitting joysticks, at £13.95. The Sinclair joystick port in Interface Two operates either the first five or the last five of the number keys. The only software which works with the system is that from Sinclair or Psion. Soundboards like the Fuller Box and the ZXM from Timedata also have joystick interfaces but use different addresses for them. Programmable joystick interfaces have also begun to appear for the Spectrum which allow you to program the positions of the joystick to operate different keys on the keyboard. That allows you to operate it with any software, whether it be designed for the joystick or not. The simplest to understand is the Pickard controller, a plastic box on which there are 40 sockets, one for each key on the keyboard. Five jack plugs, the same type as the cassette leads, are used to program the five positions of the joystick by plugging them into the appropriate sockets for the game. At no time is the keyboard disabled. The connection to the joystick is via an Atari socket on the side and the connection to the computer is made by plugging-in plugs to the keyboard sockets inside the case. The power is obtained by plugging the power supply into the unit and then a flying lead is plugged into the computer power socket. It is a very simple and inexpensive way of doing the job and will work for the ZX81 or Spectrum. The AGF version also programs it manually by using a set of crocodile clips, one for each data line and one for each address line. It now seems a complicated way of doing things, as it is not as easy to understand as the Pickard, but it does not involve entering the computer. A set of cards is provided to mark the positions of the clips for each game, which seems to prove the point. The unit also tends to be unstable and programming it during a game can crash the system. Cambridge Computing and Stone- chip have employed a different method to program the joystick. They have used 1K of RAM to store the positions of the keys where the joystick should operate. In the Stonechip design you can even have the diagonals operating different keys, giving nine positions. The Stonechip is also the easiest to operate and has the advantage over the Cambridge in that it will also operate the Microdrive interface, Interface One. To use it all you have to do is push a three-position switch to PROGRAM on the front of the unit and, while holding down the key for that position, operate the joystick. A quick flick is all that is required for each position of the joystick. Then move the switch to NORMAL and LOAD the game. To use the joystick just switch it to PLAY and the game will respond to the joystick. The review model also disabled the keyboard when in use but the company says a small modification will be done to all the current units to prevent that and will be informing all customers so far as to when to return units for free modification. The Cambridge unit requires you to LOAD a tape first, which takes you through a menu to program the joystick. If you touch the joystick while LOADing the program, it crashes. It also appears to crash after programming the joystick completely as it NEWs itself to be ready for the next program and that is not mentioned in the instructions - but the joystick still works. The joystick settings can also be viewed and recorded on tape. The menu program still has to be LOADed first. It has also a rear edge connector so that other things can be plugged-in. The interface is intended to work with the joystick which accompanies it but can still be purchased separately if you want to use an Atari joystick. The advantage of using your own is that you not only have an eight-position joystick but two independent fire buttons for games at a cheaper price than Atari. Cambridge says it will change software when it can obtain a Microdrive on which to test it. Electrotech also uses the same system to program its joystick but its interface board is uncased and will work only with its joystick console. The console contains a four-position joystick and three large 1in. fire buttons and looks as if it should belong in an arcade game. It is very robust but costs at least half as much again as the other two. Joysticks tend to be personal things, so I asked a few friends at a computer club and my children for their options on the range available. The result is clearly for the Kraft joystick, with Cambridge Computing second with its two fire buttons. The Kempston Competition Pro joystick is a good all-rounder with its eight positions. The others go to show that an increase in price does not always provide easier control. The Jiles Electronic joystick is probably the least helpful, as its stick becomes more like a flexible toy in use. The Atari shows how much joysticks have developed, as it now seems very stiff and unresponsive compared to the newer types.

'It is much easier than scanning the entire keyboard for difficult keys.'

1. Micropower (Analog) 2. Atari 3. Starfighter 4. Kraft 5. Quickshot 6. Slik Stik 7. Cambridge Computing 8. Stonechip interface 9. AGF interface 10. Protek interface 11. Joysensor 12. Jiles III interface 13. Jile II interface 14. AGF Programmable interface 15. Midwich Analog interface and joystick 16. Tac 2 17. Jiles joystick 18. Kempston joystick and interface 19. AGF programmable interface 20. Stonechip interface 21. Quickshot 22. Midwich interface

Atari joystick Fire W N E S 6 1 3 8 2 4 9-way socket Byte returned from Kempston Joystick 0 0 0 Fire S N E W

Joystick Interfaces Interface: Cambridge Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £29.50 inc.joystick, £24 on its own. Interface: Stonechip Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £24.95 Interface: AGF Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £33.95 Interface: AGF II Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Kempston: Price: £16.95 Interface: Kempston Programmable?: Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Y Price: £15 without joystick, £24.50 with joystick Interface: Protek Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Kempston: Price: £14.95 Interface: Jiles III Programmable?: Cursor: Y Psion: Y Kempston: Y Price: £13.95 Interface: Pickard - from Success Services Programmable?: Y Cursor: Psion: Kempston: Price: £21.45

Number: 1 Joystick: Kraft switch hitter Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £18.95 Comment: Light, fingertip control. Number: 2 Joystick: Cambridge Computing Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 indep. Cost: £7 Comment: Fire buttons may hurt after a time. Number: 3 Joystick: Kempston Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £14.50 Comment: Solid and reliable Number: 4 Joystick: Starfighter Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 1 Cost: £13.95 Comment: Short but easy to use Number: 5 Joystick: Quickshot Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £12.95 Comment: Suckers can fix it to a table but a little loose in action Number: 6 Joystick: Joysensor Positions: 4 or 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £29.95 Comment: Touch-sensitive pads, it takes time to get used to. Number: 7 Joystick: Slik Stick Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £9.95 Comment: Noisy in use. Number: 8 Joystick: Tac-2 Positions: 8 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £18.95 Comment: Accurate but may also be stiff. Number: 9 Joystick: Atari - from AGF Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 1 Cost: £7.54 Comment: Stiff but inexpensive. Number: 10 Joystick: Jiles Positions: 4 Fire Buttons: 2 Cost: £6.50 Comment: Bends in use.

Personal Computer News

Ian Scales

NAME: DCP Speech Pack. MANUFACTURER: DCP Microdevelopments. PRICE: £49.95. OUTLETS: Mail order and selected dealers. Contact DCP Microdevelopments [redacted]. SPECTRUM FINDS ITS VOICE Ian Scales puts words into the mouth of a Sinclair and tests its elocution levels. The DCP Speech Pack hails (can't resist) from Norwich and is the work of an inventive young entrepreneur called David Palmer. In designing his product Mr Palmer traded versatility for ease of use and price, delivering one of the cheapest units on the market for one of the cheapest computers - the ZX Spectrum. The DCP Speech Pack plugs onto the Spectrum's board, requires no additional power supply and has no 'on-board' controls other than a recessed volume notch which may be adjusted by screwdriver. As well as its built-in speaker the Speech Pack has an audio socket for an external speaker and the Sinclair bus sticks out from the back so other peripherals can be attached. The pack is housed in the familiar black plastic case beloved of electronics enthusiasts. The casing is robust enough, but when the Speech Pack is attached to the Spectrum its thick foam-rubber feet lift the rear feet of the computer a good half-centimeter from the table. Vigorous keypunching puts a fair amount of strain on the rather fragile looking board edge. The problem can be rectified by shaving most of the rubber off, but one hopes DCP will take note and make the appropriate adjustments. WORKING ORDER The Speech Pack is simple to use. The data which generates each individual word is resident in read only memory in the pack. Each word is coded with a number so all the user need do is enter the appropriate number after the correct Basic command (OUT) in a program and the word or words will be generated in the desired place and order when the program is run. When integrating the Speech Pack with a program the user first defines the memory location of the ROM chip. This could take the form LET S = 255 Later in the listing the programmer simply calls up an appropriate word with, say, OUT S, 62. which actually produces the word 'cancel'. Words may be strung together to form meaningful phrases with judicious use of a PAUSE command to prevent gibberish. (Identifying words from a stream of gibberish could form the basis of a good game, by the way.) The standard Word Pack chip in the Speech Pack contains all the numbers from zero to 20, then 30, 40 etc, and hundred, thousand, million. It also contains all the letters from A to Z and a few useful words such as 'and' and 'at'. There are three additional chips costing £14.95 each which can be added to the system to expand its vocabulary. Word Pack 2 occupies the same memory address as the Speech Pack's standard Word Pack and takes its number codes from 72 to 143. UPGRADING Word Packs 3 and 4 use a different address, pack 3 starting with 'abort' at code 0 and continuing alphabetically through 67 words to 'level'. Pack 4 picks the list up at code 67 (load) and ends at code 130 (zone). For this reason pack 3 must be bought before pack 4, but as they form a comprehensive alphabetical listing it makes sense to buy them together. VERDICT The quality of output is fairly good, thankfully lacking the Dalek inflection traditionally associated with such devices. Even so, the words do fall short of BBC English. They would probably sound clearer if put through an external audio system. Instead of making the Spectrum a 'zapped up' ZX81, Sinclair designed a slightly different architecture and in doing so sent the add-on specialists back to their drawing boards to modify their products. The review model came with the four-page ZX81 manual. A photocopied addendum explained that the Basic statement OUT must be used instead of POKE and that the address values had been changed. Users, a covering note says. will be sent the modified manual as soon as these have been prepared. The product is guaranteed along consumer lines with a 12-month warranty on parts and labour. The Speech Pack makes an adequate voice output device. In gaining simplicity, however, the user sacrifices flexibility: with ROM-based items such as this you are limited to the words on the list. Other speech devices allow you to make up the words yourself using vowel and consonant sounds. This makes the programming procedure a mite more complicated and it can take much experimentation to get a word just right. Over the coming weeks PCN will move up through the range of word-output devices and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of competing brands.

SOUNDING THEM OUT Why should you want your micro to talk to you? Well, speech synthesis opens up new possibilities in menu-driven programming - and it's a lot of fun. At the moment speech synthensisers are spoken for by the add-on specialists. Flick through the small ads of micro mags and you'll soon see how the volume is rising. PCN will be keeping its ear to the ground to bring to your attention a representative sample of synthesisers in terms of the micros they serve. the way they work and how much they cost. This Pro-Test series will build up to a special feature on speech programming which will include a look at applications that have been developed.

ZX Computing

BIG TALKER Your ZX81 can now just about sing and dance with a number of new products on the market. Our reviewers put them through their paces. DCP Microdevelopments' Speech Pack is easy to use, a joy to listen to, and a genuine way to enhance your programs by adding beeps (two available) and spoken word responses to your inputs. You simply connect it to the back of the ZX81 (and there is provision behind it for connecting anything else you want, like a memory pack or printer) and that's it. A single POKE command will generate a word. POKEing the specified address (49149) with zero will generate the phrase "This is Digitalker". The unit (£49.95 from DCP Microdevelopments Ltd, [redacted]) is supplied complete with Word Pack ROM 1, which contains all the letters of the alphabet, number zero to one million, and some other general words (such as: again, cent, a high tone and a low tone, and specified periods of silence). Word Pack ROM 2, available for £14.95 (as are Word Pack ROMs 3 and 4) extends its usefulness significantly, with more than 60 extra words including: minute, please, ready, start, stop, try, go, and error.

Sinclair User

SPEECH PACK FROM DCP DCP has produced a speech pack which can be fitted directly to the back of a ZX-81 and which will not interfere with any planned expansion. Using a maximum of two memory-mapped ports at 49148 and 49149, the various ROMs containing the words can be POKEd via Basic to the loudspeaker included inside the unit. The speech can be heard through the loudspeaker or, if required, can be amplified via the jack socket provided - 8 ohms. The amount of words it can say depends on the number of ROMs fitted inside the box. A maximum of four can be fitted and the basic model is supplied with the first one. Most of the words are measurements of one kind or another, but PAUSE statements between words can be altered so that you can create your own from the words supplied. You are limited to the beginning of words, however, as the speech is stored only in complete words, not sounds. The speech pack costs £49.95, complete with ROM, and extra ROMs are available at £14.95 each, including VAT and postage. DCP Microdevelopments, [redacted].