Editing Speech synthesis (section)

==Hardware and software systems==
Popular systems offering speech synthesis as a built-in capability.

=== Texas Instruments ===
{{main article|Texas Instruments LPC Speech Chips}}
[[File:Texas Instruments TI-99 4A speech demo.flac|thumb|TI-99/4A speech demo using the built-in vocabulary]]

In the early 1980s, TI was known as a pioneer in speech synthesis, and a highly popular plug-in speech synthesizer module was available for the TI-99/4 and 4A. Speech synthesizers were offered free with the purchase of a number of cartridges and were used by many TI-written video games (games offered with speech during this promotion included ''[[Alpiner (video game)|Alpiner]]'' and ''[[Parsec (video game)|Parsec]]''). The synthesizer uses a variant of linear predictive coding and has a small in-built vocabulary. The original intent was to release small cartridges that plugged directly into the synthesizer unit, which would increase the device's built-in vocabulary. However, the success of software text-to-speech in the Terminal Emulator II cartridge canceled that plan.

===Mattel===
The [[Mattel]] [[Intellivision]] game console offered the [[Intellivoice]] Voice Synthesis module in 1982. It included the [[General Instrument SP0256|SP0256 Narrator]] speech synthesizer chip on a removable cartridge. The Narrator had 2kB of Read-Only Memory (ROM), and this was utilized to store a database of generic words that could be combined to make phrases in Intellivision games. Since the Orator chip could also accept speech data from external memory, any additional words or phrases needed could be stored inside the cartridge itself. The data consisted of strings of analog-filter coefficients to modify the behavior of the chip's synthetic vocal-tract model, rather than simple digitized samples.

===SAM===
[[File:C64 Software Automatic Mouth demo.flac|thumb|A demo of SAM on the C64]]
Also released in 1982, [[Software Automatic Mouth]] was the first commercial all-software voice synthesis program. It was later used as the basis for [[Macintalk]]. The program was available for non-Macintosh Apple computers (including the Apple II, and the Lisa), various Atari models and the Commodore 64. The Apple version preferred additional hardware that contained DACs, although it could instead use the computer's one-bit audio output (with the addition of much distortion) if the card was not present. The Atari made use of the embedded POKEY audio chip. Speech playback on the Atari normally disabled interrupt requests and shut down the ANTIC chip during vocal output. The audible output is extremely distorted speech when the screen is on. The Commodore 64 made use of the 64's embedded SID audio chip.

=== Atari ===
[[File:Atari ST speech synthesis demo.flac|thumb|Atari ST speech synthesis demo]]

Arguably, the first speech system integrated into an [[operating system]] was the circa 1983 unreleased Atari [[Atari 8-bit computers#Unreleased XL models|1400XL/1450XL]] computers. These used the Votrax SC01 chip and a [[finite-state machine]] to enable World English Spelling text-to-speech synthesis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atarimuseum.com/ahs_archives/archives/pdf/computers/8bits/1400xlmodem.pdf |title=1400XL/1450XL Speech Handler External Reference Specification |access-date=2012-02-22 |archive-date=2012-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324014644/http://www.atarimuseum.com/ahs_archives/archives/pdf/computers/8bits/1400xlmodem.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Atari ST]] computers were sold with "stspeech.tos" on floppy disk.

=== Apple ===
[[File:MacinTalk 1 demo.flac|thumb|MacinTalk 1 demo]]
[[File:MacinTalk 2 demo.flac|thumb|MacinTalk 2 demo featuring the Mr. Hughes and Marvin voices]]
The first speech system integrated into an [[operating system]] that shipped in quantity was [[Apple Computer]]'s [[PlainTalk#Original MacInTalk|MacInTalk]]. The software was licensed from third-party developers Joseph Katz and Mark Barton (later, SoftVoice, Inc.) and was featured during the 1984 introduction of the Macintosh computer. This January demo required 512 kilobytes of RAM memory. As a result, it could not run in the 128 kilobytes of RAM the first Mac actually shipped with.<ref name="demo">{{cite web|url=http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Intro_Demo.txt |title=It Sure Is Great To Get Out Of That Bag! |publisher=folklore.org |access-date=2013-03-24}}</ref> So, the demo was accomplished with a prototype 512k Mac, although those in attendance were not told of this and the synthesis demo created considerable excitement for the Macintosh. In the early 1990s Apple expanded its capabilities offering system wide text-to-speech support. With the introduction of faster PowerPC-based computers they included higher quality voice sampling. Apple also introduced [[speech recognition]] into its systems which provided a fluid command set. More recently, Apple has added sample-based voices. Starting as a curiosity, the speech system of Apple [[Macintosh]] has evolved into a fully supported program, [[PlainTalk]], for people with vision problems. [[VoiceOver]] was for the first time featured in 2005 in [[Mac OS X Tiger]] (10.4). During 10.4 (Tiger) and first releases of 10.5 ([[Mac OS X Leopard|Leopard]]) there was only one standard voice shipping with Mac OS X. Starting with 10.6 ([[Mac OS X Snow Leopard|Snow Leopard]]), the user can choose out of a wide range list of multiple voices. VoiceOver voices feature the taking of realistic-sounding breaths between sentences, as well as improved clarity at high read rates over PlainTalk. Mac OS X also includes [[say (software)|say]], a [[Command-line interface|command-line based]] application that converts text to audible speech. The [[AppleScript]] Standard Additions includes a say verb that allows a script to use any of the installed voices and to control the pitch, speaking rate and modulation of the spoken text.

=== Amazon ===
Used in [[Amazon Alexa|Alexa]] and as [[Software as a service|Software as a Service]] in AWS<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aws.amazon.com/polly/|title=Amazon Polly|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> (from 2017).

=== AmigaOS ===
[[File:Amiga speech synthesis.flac|thumb|Example of speech synthesis with the included Say utility in Workbench 1.3]]
[[File:SoftVoice.svg|right|upright]]
The second operating system to feature advanced speech synthesis capabilities was [[AmigaOS]], introduced in 1985. The voice synthesis was licensed by [[Commodore International]] from SoftVoice, Inc., who also developed the original [[MacinTalk]] text-to-speech system. It featured a complete system of voice emulation for American English, with both male and female voices and "stress" indicator markers, made possible through the [[Amiga]]'s audio [[chipset]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Miner, Jay |year=1991 |title=Amiga Hardware Reference Manual |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Addison-Wesley]] Publishing Company, Inc. |isbn=978-0-201-56776-2|display-authors=etal|author-link=Jay Miner }}</ref> The synthesis system was divided into a translator library which converted unrestricted English text into a standard set of phonetic codes and a narrator device which implemented a formant model of speech generation.. AmigaOS also featured a high-level "[[AmigaOS#Speech synthesis|Speak Handler]]", which allowed command-line users to redirect text output to speech. Speech synthesis was occasionally used in third-party programs, particularly word processors and educational software. The synthesis software remained largely unchanged from the first AmigaOS release and Commodore eventually removed speech synthesis support from AmigaOS 2.1 onward.

Despite the American English phoneme limitation, an unofficial version with multilingual speech synthesis was developed. This made use of an enhanced version of the translator library which could translate a number of languages, given a set of rules for each language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.aminet.net/util/libs/translator42.readme |title=Translator Library (Multilingual-speech version) |last1=Devitt |first1=Francesco |date=30 June 1995 |access-date=9 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226143859/https://uk.aminet.net/util/libs/translator42.readme |archive-date=26 February 2012 }}</ref>

=== Microsoft Windows ===
{{See also|Microsoft Agent}}

Modern [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] desktop systems can use [[Speech Application Programming Interface#SAPI 1-4 API family|SAPI 4]] and [[Speech Application Programming Interface#SAPI 5 API family|SAPI 5]] components to support speech synthesis and [[speech recognition]]. SAPI 4.0 was available as an optional add-on for [[Windows 95]] and [[Windows 98]]. [[Windows 2000]] added [[Microsoft Narrator|Narrator]], a text-to-speech utility for people who have visual impairment. Third-party programs such as JAWS for Windows, Window-Eyes, Non-visual Desktop Access, Supernova and System Access can perform various text-to-speech tasks such as reading text aloud from a specified website, email account, text document, the Windows clipboard, the user's keyboard typing, etc. Not all programs can use speech synthesis directly.<ref name="Narrator">{{cite web|date=2011-01-29|title=Accessibility Tutorials for Windows XP: Using Narrator|url=http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/usingnarrator.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030621002716/http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/usingnarrator.aspx|archive-date=June 21, 2003|access-date=2011-01-29|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> Some programs can use plug-ins, extensions or add-ons to read text aloud. Third-party programs are available that can read text from the system clipboard.

[[Microsoft Speech Server]] is a server-based package for voice synthesis and recognition. It is designed for network use with [[web applications]] and [[call centers]].

=== Votrax ===
{{Main article|Votrax}}
[[File:Votrax speech synthesizer demo.flac|thumb|Votrax Type 'N Talk speech synthesizer (1980)]]
From 1971 to 1996, Votrax produced a number of commercial speech synthesizer components.  A Votrax synthesizer was included in the first generation Kurzweil Reading Machine for the Blind.