Software Automatic Mouth

1982 speech synthesis program

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Software Automatic Mouth

Atari cover for Software Automatic Mouth

Original author(s)| Mark Barton[1]
Developer(s)| Don’t Ask Software
Initial release| 1982; 42 years ago (1982)
Platform| Apple II, Lisa, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64.
Type| Speech synthesis
A demo of SAM on the C64

Software Automatic Mouth, or S.A.M. (sometimes abbreviated as SAM), is a speech synthesis program developed by Mark Barton and sold by Don't Ask Software. The program was released for the Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, and Commodore 64. Released in 1982, it was one of the first commercial all-software voice-synthesis programs.[citation needed]

Don't Ask Software also sold PokerSAM, a poker game with speech,[2] and also licensed out the S.A.M. engine for use with other games, such as Tales of the Arabian Nights for the Commodore 64.

## Technology

[edit]

The Apple version uses an included expansion card which contains an 8-bit DAC, although hackers created a modified version of S.A.M. which can instead use the computer's one-bit audio output (with the addition of much distortion) if the card is not present.[citation needed] The Atari version makes use of the embedded POKEY audio chip. Speech playback on the Atari normally disables interrupt requests and shuts down the ANTIC chip during vocal output. The audible output is extremely distorted speech when graphic and text display is turned on. The Commodore 64 makes use of the 64's embedded SID audio chip's 4-bit volume DAC, reducing its quality significantly vs the Apple and Atari versions.[citation needed]

## Legacy

[edit]

S.A.M. was used as the basis for the original MacInTalk speech synthesis software.[1]

The technology was recreated for the voice of the character of "SAM" in the software Chipspeech.[3]

S.A.M. was used to create the voice of Trogdor in the Homestar Runner game Peasant's Quest.[4]

S.A.M. was used to create the voices of characters in the 2017 game Faith: The Unholy Trinity.[5]

S.A.M. was used to create the voice of the main character in the 2024 game Cash Cow DX.

S.A.M was used to create idle sounds for the  original Microsoft Xbox dashboard, though the sounds have also been claimed to be broadcasts from the Apollo 11 mission.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b It Sure Is Great To Get Out Of That Bag!, Author: Andy Hertzfeld, Date: January 1984, Folklore.org
2. ^ "PokerSAM". Atari Mania.
3. ^ link
4. ^ "Trogdor – Homestar Runner Wiki". www.hrwiki.org. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
5. ^ "FAITH - Itch.io Edition by Airdorf".
6. ^ "In the Game: Eerie Echoes from the Past--Unraveling the Enigma of the Original Xbox's Haunting Sounds". biffbampop.com. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2024-09-09.

## External links

[edit]

* Speech Synthesizers for Atari and Apple magazine review
* Spelling.SAM an Atari BASIC spelling program
* SAM manual reproduction of the Atari version manual
* Analysis of SAM translated version to C and executable for Windows
* Run SAM in the Browser translated version to native JavaScript
* [1] SAM as JAVA class file for the JVM
* 2020 Interview with Mark Barton about S.A.M.

* v
* t
* e

Speech synthesis

Free software|

| Speaking|

* eSpeak/eSpeakNG
* Gnopernicus
* Gnuspeech
* Orca
* Festival Speech Synthesis System/Flite
* FreeTTS
* Automatik Text Reader

|

Singing|

* eCantorix
* Lyricos / Flinger
* Sinsy

Proprietary
software|

| Speaking|

* Amazon Polly
* DECtalk
* Software Automatic Mouth
* Talk It!
* Microsoft Agent
* Microsoft Speech API
* Microsoft text-to-speech voices
* Readspeaker
* Voice browser
* CoolSpeech
* IVONA
* CereProc
* CeVIO Creative Studio
* Voiceroid
* LaLaVoice
* 15.ai

|

Singing|

* Alter/Ego
* Cantor
* CeVIO Creative Studio
* Chipspeech
* NIAONiao Virtual Singer
* PPG Phonem
* Realivox
* Symphonic Choirs
* UTAU
* Vocalina
* Vocaloid
* Xiaoice

Machine|

* Echo II
* Mockingboard
* Pattern playback
* Phasor
* RIAS
* Texas Instruments LPC Speech Chips
* General Instrument SP0256
* TuVox

Applications|

* AOLbyPhone
* DialogOS
* Dr. Sbaitso
* MBROLA
* Windows Narrator
* Microsoft Speech Server
* PlainTalk
* Voice font

Protocols|

* Speech Synthesis Markup Language
* SABLE
* VoiceXML

Developers/
Researchers|

* Alan W. Black
* Catherine Browman
* Franklin Seaney Cooper
* Gunnar Fant
* Haskins Laboratories
* Wolfgang von Kempelen
* Ignatius Mattingly
* Philip Rubin
* Yamaha

Process|

* Articulatory synthesis
* Concatenative synthesis
* Currah
* Inverse filter
* PSOLA
* Phase vocoder
* Self-voicing
* Voice cloning

Authority control databases: Artists |

* MusicBrainz

|

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