Texas Instruments Speak and Spell - The Story Behind The Product

When it was launched in 1976, Texas Instruments Speak and Spell was the most advanced product on the planet. It was the first fully electronic talking product and this innovation was the precursor to many tech products to follow. Unlike other talking toys such as Chatty Cathy and See and Say, the Speak and Spell incorporated an actual voice on TI's innovative solid date bubble memory chip. The other products used recordings to playback the voice.
I was involved with the launch of this product and provide some information that you may not have heard previously.
Allow me to thank my friend Lois for sending me this pristine example of the original version of this innovative product.
Comments welcomed!

[@josephwright5921]

I was a little kid when these came out. My aunt was a teacher and tutor. She had Speak and Spell, Speak and Read, and Speak and Math. I remember being fascinated with them. The robot voice was and is iconic, as well as that raspy little burst of musical notes . Thanks for your hard work in the past and for the interesting video.

[@josephwright5921]

You probably know this and maybe I missed you mentioned and missed it while I was cooking, but the Speak and Spell was used in numerous musical recordings. It is especially popular in synthesizer based music. The band Depeche Mode even titled there first album “Speak and Spell” and I believe they used it on a few tracks. People known as circuit benders like to open up the vintage units and hack the circuits to get crazy garbled sounds.

[@marc6340]

I had a Speak-N-Spell that I bought with paper route money. It had the original mechanical keyboard and I played with it SO much, that a couple of the keys broke internally. I know that they later introduced a version with a membrane keyboard, but I still like mine better!

[@TheGadgetGuru]

I remember it well.

[@robbrown6954]

Cool video Andy. Enjoyed this one.

[@adamx6000]

Didn’t the Speak & Spell say, “Shall we play a game?” Or was that just the movie War Games?

[@Atarian1979]

It was in Poltergeist 3.

[@Ni5ei]

What does it say when you spell colour? 😅