Justin Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 Did anybody else have a Speak & Spell growing up? Texas Instruments found a tremendously clever use of their speech synthesis chip. The Speak & Spell was introduced in June, 1978 at the Summer CES, making it one of the very first handheld electronic devices with a visual display. Speak & Spell enjoyed a very similar lifespan to that of the Atari 2600, retailing from 1978-1992. The Economist, DeLorean and Keatah 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeLorean Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 Wasn't that E.T.'s Phone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeLorean Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 And, if yes, wouldn't that mean assembling the Speak & Spell is the entire objective of the E.T. game on 2600? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeLorean Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroVideoGameNerd Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 E.T. Spell Words! AHAHAHAHAHAAYeah, I had one, and it scarred me. IT sounded really demonic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 27, 2014 Report Share Posted November 27, 2014 I didn't have one, but wanted one. I remember it wouldn't say "bad" words, but if you spelled them more cleverly, you could get close. Now THAT'S learning, folks. Keatah, RetroVideoGameNerd and Atari Today 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 I just learned that Commodore made a speech module for the VIC-20 and C64 called "Magic Voice" that used the same chip/design as the Speak and Spell. I guess the Scott Adams adventure games used it, as well as others like Gorf. The Economist and DeLorean 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo-Yo Posted December 1, 2014 Report Share Posted December 1, 2014 Speak and Spell was so cool! It was kinda a big deal for a baby's toy to have speech synth in 1980. I'd love to see more on this. Quote Welcome to the short bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 I have that same phonograph!!!!!!! Quote Brian Matherne - owner/curator of "The MOST comprehensive list of Atari VCS/2600 homebrews ever compiled." http://tiny.cc/Atari2600Homebrew author of "The Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion" book series available on Amazon! www.amazon.com/author/brianmatherne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormSurge Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 I loved my Speak & Spell. Great toy. The Professor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcorleonep Posted October 19, 2017 Report Share Posted October 19, 2017 (edited) I remember that well. The must fun part about it was pressing the # button, then it would malfunction and the speech synthesis would produce some very interesting and hilarious garbled speech sound effects... Edited October 19, 2017 by Mcorleonep Keatah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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