the co-ax plug goes to the tv out on the spectrum, the jack plug goes to the "ear" output, the plug your telly co-axial cable into the back of the "kurrah microspeach"
Had one of these as a kid. I took the fire button out the quickshot and taped it to the chair under a cushion and programmed it to say hello when the fire button was pressed, and left the tv turned off. Kinda amused me as 13 year old.
Oh, yes, you are correct, goo.gl/wovrBU. I never knew that. I do still have a Magic Voice and used to have SAM, the all-software voice synth program. SAM was quite good; it had very clear speech for the time, goo.gl/qFamTA.
I can remember finding a speccy speech cartridge on my wall wen I was a kid..Didnt have a speccy an it looked different to that one. Always wondered where it came from an why it was just sat on my gate post
I was always excited by anything with sampled speech as a kid/teenager, even "Wise fwom your Gwave" on the MEGADRIVE was a wow moment for me, now it's common place it's not remotely exciting anymore, it's just expected, I miss the trill of the old days, you never knew what was coming next and the magazines such as Mean Machines were awesome.
The usual trick to remove oxidation on the edge connector on a Spectrum was to give it a going over with an ink rubber - they are very mildly abrasive and would remove the oxide. You could not do it too many times, as you would eventually wear away the tracks. The other option was to get out your soldering iron and re-tin the tracks, making sure you did not apply too much solder, shorting out adjacent tracks. You could also apply too much heat, causing the tracks to lift.
I found my Currah Microspeech tucked away in a box a few months ago, which is why I found my way to your interesting video. I have not had a Spectrum for over 30 years, but I do have a ZX81 tucked away in my bedroom.
Curiosity got the better. Found the manual. It's a 24 page A6 sized booklet, titled "Currah Speech Programming guide 1983". The speech unit was tucked away next to it!
I actually completed Moon Alert; the good old days, would have been nice to play with the Currah Microspeech unit, but I never even knew it worked with games, maybe a lack of advertising.
There was I think a microphone that came with it and though it worked it could crash some of the time I also sure there was a reset button or you could somehow do that another way via the keyboard and I think there was additional software available I think there was a a lie detection program it was supposed to tell if anyone was telling the truth and you also got some audio recordings and sound affects and a on screen piano but that was additional software you got from the ZX Magazine or you could write one in basic not quite the same? Do you also remember that light pen on screen drawing and one or to games that sort of worked and it had a similar look to the sound device earlier? One question how many printers were there for Spectrum I remember seeing the first one which I had but a year later they was a second slightly bigger and used colour well shades of grey and something like that??
Thanks! There were 3 or 4 (at least) different printers for the Spectrum. Most of them used that thermal type - similar to fax machines in that respect.
Hello! I have just discovered your channel because you bought my Terrapins game :) hope you enjoyed it, I would have been happy to send you a copy had I known you were doing such great work here! Next game I make, I'll send you one!
Ive literally just got a Currah speech, so far behind the times! But great video, so the two caps near the rf can they be removed completely? & the wire you put in does that get soldered to the pad in front of the rf? Also the cables, do they become obsolete? Can i remove them? Im about to tackle mine today.
Yes, only the original Spectrums - the expansion edge pinout is different I think on the +2 and +3 (that might be the issue). But also its related to how the ROM maps itself there I think (clashing on +2 and +3).
Damn, you made opening this thing sound like a piece of cake, but seems they went to town with the glue on mine. Had to remove the cap you lifted to fit in the new 220uF cap, and still just barely be able to close the cover. Was hpping to skip modding mine, even tried building a way of merging the sounds from both sources using the line cable and mic socket, but it went so low that amplifying just picked up an extra snowstorm. Seems modding was the way to go with RF as horrible as it is.
Haha, yes, you're right! Facepalm - doh! Funny how memory can work, I had remembered the actual audio of that part of the movie and couldn't see a visual spelling of it in my mind - hence the Falcon mistake.
The tape doesn't work?? You miss out on the wonder of "The banshee wails at you and nothing happens" Games I remember with support: Jetman, The Birds and The Bees.... Errm, no, can't remember any more.
LET keys = 0 [turn off keyboard echo] LET s$ = "he(ll)(oo)" [say hello] Add intonation by using CAPS. Pauses can be made with apostrophe, space, comma and full stop. There are 2 sets of allophones, using () brackets will specify the alternate set.
Yes, I hadn't thought much about IO lines etc. It's a shame, but I guess maybe a switchable adapter might work (if such a thing existed) - eg. all connections run through a CPLD, have the CPLD be able to 'soft switch', between slots. But even that would present the problem of the DivIDE loading the game and some how switching over to the other slot to connect the Microspeech up and reset the system. Then of course the NMI wouldn't work to get back to the DivIDE. Phew - nightmare, I can live with things as they are I think lol. The other possibility is to merge microspeech emulation into an FPGA or MCU based future 'uber penultimate' DivIDE lol, maybe blend a few other bits of hardware in there too.
I love all these quirky 3rd party add-ons you used to see back in the day; sadly we don't see them as often now for modern day systems. I bet I can guess what you and your friend Andrew did back in the day. You used it to say swear words didn't you Chris. Naughty boy ha-ha. I know it's one of the first things I would have done if I owned one back then.
FourX2k3 I thought the same a while ago. I guess it is because now we have the processing power to do it all in software. Shame though, I used to love looking through the magazines and lusting after expansions I couldn't afford!
Yes, that would work - I just prefer to have it go directly to the TV as I use this with a 48K Speccy where the sound comes out of its super quiet interal speaker.
Yeah, good idea. the other thing I thought about is using one of those RECOM DC to DC convertors - looks like a 7805 and does the same job, minus any heat. Might revisit that at some point. BTW - I briefly saw you earlier message about "why is os*** bi* l***** in the intro" - I was shocked as I never noticed that until you pointed it out... I am a member of Retro Unlim (a community that has many tubers) and apparently it was just something the designer of the video through should be included along with political figures in the same intro as they were people in the media at the time of the naughties (2000 onwards), and the intro reflects both heroes and villains of ths 70's,80's,90's,and 00's. On reflection I would have suggested they exlude that soab if I had any input into the intro!!!
if you loaded "sabre wulf" by "ultimate play the game", the lions would "roar" not sure if any other animals did.... the company "ultimate play the game" became........ RARE...... N64 anyone....... later acquired my Microsoft
the co-ax plug goes to the tv out on the spectrum, the jack plug goes to the "ear" output, the plug your telly co-axial cable into the back of the "kurrah microspeach"
Had one of these as a kid. I took the fire button out the quickshot and taped it to the chair under a cushion and programmed it to say hello when the fire button was pressed, and left the tv turned off. Kinda amused me as 13 year old.
That was a great video. I've never seen (or heard) the Currah Microspeech before. A very cool little add-on device for its time.
Thanks, much appreciated =D I believe (and I could be wrong) that there's a microspeech for the C64 too!
Oh, yes, you are correct, goo.gl/wovrBU. I never knew that. I do still have a Magic Voice and used to have SAM, the all-software voice synth program. SAM was quite good; it had very clear speech for the time, goo.gl/qFamTA.
And before anyone mentions it, yes my nails were long again in this video! Editing the video reminded me to cut them lol.
Those aren't nails... they're TALONS haha!!
Good vid tho!
Absolutely magical - thanks for the memories
Thanks for watching =D
I can remember finding a speccy speech cartridge on my wall wen I was a kid..Didnt have a speccy an it looked different to that one. Always wondered where it came from an why it was just sat on my gate post
Wow I remember I had one of these...and thermal printer...great stuff
I had no idea this existed, as a 7 year old I'd have loved it.
Hehe, yeah, I guess back then it was "cutting edge" lol.
I was always excited by anything with sampled speech as a kid/teenager, even "Wise fwom your Gwave" on the MEGADRIVE was a wow moment for me, now it's common place it's not remotely exciting anymore, it's just expected, I miss the trill of the old days, you never knew what was coming next and the magazines such as Mean Machines were awesome.
I used to love Mean Machines as it covered all the rare stuff - PC Engine, Neo Geo etc, and arcade cabs =D
The usual trick to remove oxidation on the edge connector on a Spectrum was to give it a going over with an ink rubber - they are very mildly abrasive and would remove the oxide. You could not do it too many times, as you would eventually wear away the tracks. The other option was to get out your soldering iron and re-tin the tracks, making sure you did not apply too much solder, shorting out adjacent tracks. You could also apply too much heat, causing the tracks to lift.
Thanks, yes - I've used and talked about those techniques on some of my other videos. I do often just use an eraser to clean up PCB edges.
I found my Currah Microspeech tucked away in a box a few months ago, which is why I found my way to your interesting video. I have not had a Spectrum for over 30 years, but I do have a ZX81 tucked away in my bedroom.
Yeah it brings gold fingers up nice an shiny...thought it was just me who did it
Curiosity got the better. Found the manual. It's a 24 page A6 sized booklet, titled "Currah Speech Programming guide 1983". The speech unit was tucked away next to it!
It's a capacitor on the output, not a resistor. I have reverse engineered this device.
Yeah, I put an annotation there previously at 6:55 to indicate its a cap =D
I actually completed Moon Alert; the good old days, would have been nice to play with the Currah Microspeech unit, but I never even knew it worked with games, maybe a lack of advertising.
Reasonably sure I have original manual for this tucked away in a draw in a spare bedroom. If still relevant, I could dig it out.
There was I think a microphone that came with it and though it worked it could crash some of the time I also sure there was a reset button or you could somehow do that another way via the keyboard and I think there was additional software available I think there was a a lie detection program it was supposed to tell if anyone was telling the truth and you also got some audio recordings and sound affects and a on screen piano but that was additional software you got from the ZX Magazine or you could write one in basic not quite the same? Do you also remember that light pen on screen drawing and one or to games that sort of worked and it had a similar look to the sound device earlier?
One question how many printers were there for Spectrum I remember seeing the first one which I had but a year later they was a second slightly bigger and used colour well shades of grey and something like that??
Thanks! There were 3 or 4 (at least) different printers for the Spectrum. Most of them used that thermal type - similar to fax machines in that respect.
Hello! I have just discovered your channel because you bought my Terrapins game :) hope you enjoyed it, I would have been happy to send you a copy had I known you were doing such great work here! Next game I make, I'll send you one!
Awesome!!! Thanks =D Great game you produced! I do hope you do another one at some point!
next game is about 80-85% done. Another arcade conversion... also, with the currah speech, try Lunar Jetman, it's fun.
Loving the videos!
Thanks =D
I had one of these, wow! i'd forgotten it even existed!! haha..
Yeah, I forgot about these too lol =D
i had one of those heat printers too and a microdrive.. i miss my spectrum.. brilliant design on the original..
Ive literally just got a Currah speech, so far behind the times! But great video, so the two caps near the rf can they be removed completely? & the wire you put in does that get soldered to the pad in front of the rf? Also the cables, do they become obsolete? Can i remove them? Im about to tackle mine today.
Was it only compatible with the 16/48K ? Could it be used with the 128+, +2 or +3 ?
Yes, only the original Spectrums - the expansion edge pinout is different I think on the +2 and +3 (that might be the issue). But also its related to how the ROM maps itself there I think (clashing on +2 and +3).
Great video! But I one thing I didnt quite get - does it need RF lead (and wouldnt work on composite video mod)?
If you don't do that mod I did you will need to use the RF lead to connect up to the Speccy and output RF from there to the TV.
Damn, you made opening this thing sound like a piece of cake, but seems they went to town with the glue on mine. Had to remove the cap you lifted to fit in the new 220uF cap, and still just barely be able to close the cover.
Was hpping to skip modding mine, even tried building a way of merging the sounds from both sources using the line cable and mic socket, but it went so low that amplifying just picked up an extra snowstorm. Seems modding was the way to go with RF as horrible as it is.
Seems like some of them are glued more than others =/ Glad you got yours working =D
One minor correction: It is _not_ "Professor Falcon", it is "Professor Falken".
Better IMDB your references. ;)
Haha, yes, you're right! Facepalm - doh! Funny how memory can work, I had remembered the actual audio of that part of the movie and couldn't see a visual spelling of it in my mind - hence the Falcon mistake.
interesting how it says "nought" and not "zero" - shows we have a brit programming there.
Well spotted =D
Good job!!
Namaste.
Thanks =D
The tape doesn't work?? You miss out on the wonder of "The banshee wails at you and nothing happens"
Games I remember with support: Jetman, The Birds and The Bees.... Errm, no, can't remember any more.
Wow, "The Birds and the Bees" not played that in forever lol! Will check that out next time I get the Speccy out =D
I will give you one word: "Nectah"
"rust dust!"
The aardvark licks you and nothing happens
LET keys = 0 [turn off keyboard echo]
LET s$ = "he(ll)(oo)" [say hello]
Add intonation by using CAPS.
Pauses can be made with apostrophe, space, comma and full stop.
There are 2 sets of allophones, using () brackets will specify the alternate set.
Cool, thanks for the info =D
Having long nails doing this work is handy for gripping hard to pull jumpers etc. They aint long, you ever seen a Bass players, lol? Great vid dude.
Hehe =D Yeah, you're right! I just tend to forget to look after self (as a close friend pointed out recently), but they are useful for these things.
I don't think it will work with the DivMMC future either, as you say the ROM will clash as may I/O and interrupt connections.
Yes, I hadn't thought much about IO lines etc. It's a shame, but I guess maybe a switchable adapter might work (if such a thing existed) - eg. all connections run through a CPLD, have the CPLD be able to 'soft switch', between slots. But even that would present the problem of the DivIDE loading the game and some how switching over to the other slot to connect the Microspeech up and reset the system. Then of course the NMI wouldn't work to get back to the DivIDE. Phew - nightmare, I can live with things as they are I think lol. The other possibility is to merge microspeech emulation into an FPGA or MCU based future 'uber penultimate' DivIDE lol, maybe blend a few other bits of hardware in there too.
Looks like solder was rationed when that PCB was assembled. :)
Haha =D Yes, a bit strange! I guess on reflection it's not that important (hence why I didn't solder the extra unused pins).
Yeah, I was just thinking for strain relief, etc. :)
I love all these quirky 3rd party add-ons you used to see back in the day; sadly we don't see them as often now for modern day systems.
I bet I can guess what you and your friend Andrew did back in the day. You used it to say swear words didn't you Chris. Naughty boy ha-ha. I know it's one of the first things I would have done if I owned one back then.
FourX2k3 I thought the same a while ago. I guess it is because now we have the processing power to do it all in software. Shame though, I used to love looking through the magazines and lusting after expansions I couldn't afford!
Haha, yes - pretty sure we did that :o)
could of just pluged audio into the mic on speccy and all sound would of gone through speech including game play
Yes, that would work - I just prefer to have it go directly to the TV as I use this with a 48K Speccy where the sound comes out of its super quiet interal speaker.
For that chip that gets hot, you might want to cut through the case and put in a heat sink.
Yeah, good idea. the other thing I thought about is using one of those RECOM DC to DC convertors - looks like a 7805 and does the same job, minus any heat. Might revisit that at some point. BTW - I briefly saw you earlier message about "why is os*** bi* l***** in the intro" - I was shocked as I never noticed that until you pointed it out... I am a member of Retro Unlim (a community that has many tubers) and apparently it was just something the designer of the video through should be included along with political figures in the same intro as they were people in the media at the time of the naughties (2000 onwards), and the intro reflects both heroes and villains of ths 70's,80's,90's,and 00's. On reflection I would have suggested they exlude that soab if I had any input into the intro!!!
Yeah, I was like 'WTF'? Not someone that people like to be reminded of.
if you loaded "sabre wulf" by "ultimate play the game", the lions would "roar" not sure if any other animals did.... the company "ultimate play the game" became........ RARE...... N64 anyone....... later acquired my Microsoft
I think that must been an urban myth if you had a currah microspeach cartridge the animals would roar
it's pronounced "kurrah"
It's got an Irish accent
pronounced like CURRY, but with an "ahh" instead of the "ee"..
=D
War Games 😁
=D
define keys.... Noooo!!!!!, always Q,A,O,P,M