DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION (DEC)
Terminals Engineering Advanced Development Group
Maynard, Massachusetts
1999 Force Computers, Inc., a Solectron Company.
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION
See A Brief History of DECtalk, by Edward Bruckert, 2001.
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: VOTRAX TEXT TO SPEECH SYNTHESIS
Early DEC computer voice output project to provide an order-entry
application over the telephone for the Illinois Bell Telephone Co.
1977 Broihier, John C., Michael J. Crowley, "A RSTS/E Audio
Response Application", Proc. Digital Equipment Computer
Users Society, Vol. 3, No. 4, USA Spring 1977, pp. 1355-
1375.
Paper contains a listing of the Naval Research Laboratory's
text-to-speech rules for a Votrax VS-6 (see SSSHP USA NRL)
expressed as a program in BASIC-Plus. The intermediate con-
version to IPA was not implemented. (Copy in SSSHP USA DEC
file.)
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
PROJECT: DECTALK TEXT TO SPEECH SYNTHESIS BY RULE (1982 - )
Commercial development of Dennis Klatt's KLATTALK synthesis-by-
rule system at MIT (See SSSHP USA MIT). DEC obtained exclusive
rights to the KLATTALK synthesis program and non-exclusive rights
to Sharon Hunnicutt's letter-to-sound rules necessary for a com-
plete text-to-speech product. Project started in the first quarter
of 1982. (K)
1983 Bruckert, E., M. Minow, and W. Tetschner, "Three-tiered
software and VLSI aid developmental system to read text
aloud", Electronics, April 21 (1983). September announcement
of product. (K) Copy in SSSHP USA DEC file.
1983 Minow, M. and D.H. Klatt, "DECtalk DTC01 Text-to Speech
System Owner's Manual," EK-DTC01-OM-001, Educational
Services of Digital Equipment Corporation, P.O. Box CS2008,
Nashua, NH 03061 (1983). One-character representation of
phonemic elements. Hunnicutt 1980 rules (65% accuracy),
6000-word exceptions dictionary, 95% correct (1 error/20
words). (K) (Set of 3 manuals and quick-reference card in
SSSHP USA DEC file)
1984 Bruckert, E., "A new text-to-speech product produces dynamic
human-quality voice," SPEECH TECHNOLOGY, Jan/Feb 1984, V2,
N2, 114-119, 1984. Copy in SSSHP USA DEC file.
SSSHP 92.7 Tape: "MIT - DEMO TAPE 2, 10/90". DECTalk 1.8,
1984.
(male and female syn, 41 sec: "I am the DECTalk
text-to-speech system. The date is the 23rd of
September, 1984... Marrakech, Morocco ...")
(male Japanese syn: " ... arimasen.")
7" reel, 7.5 ips, good quality, copy of Klatt tape
1984-85 Selection of sales brochures describing typical appli-
cations of DECtalk. (See SSSHP USA DEC file)
1986 Conroy, D., T. Vitale, and D.H. Klatt, "DECtalk DTC03
Text-to-Speech System Owner's Manual," EK-DTC03-OM-001,
Educational Services of Digital Equipment Corp., P.O. Box
CS2008, Nashua, NH 03061 (1986). Improved Version 3.0 of
Klattalk code, 8 preset voices plus modification capability.
New letter-to-sound rule system. (K) (Photocopy of draft
of Klatt's portion in SSSHP USA DEC file.)
SSSHP 92.8 Tape: "MIT - DEMO TAPE 2, 10/90". DECTalk 3.0,
1986.
(syn: "In May, 1607, three ships sailed up the James
River from ... between them."; syn, 300 wpm: "The fol-
lowing is a list of topics in today's news ... in
Cambridge."; syn, male, female and child voices: "I am
Beautiful Betty, ... love you.")
7" reel, 7.5 ips, good quality, copy of Klatt tape
**** use for master ****
SSSHP 92.4 Tape: "MIT - DEMO TAPE 2, 10/90". Poem, by I.
Mattingly, 1985, on DECtalk 3.0 (see SSSHP USA Haskins
Labs file.)
(syn, 3:45 min: "Poem for the 50th anniversary of the
... here at Haskins.")
7" reel, 7.5 ips, good quality, copy of Klatt tape
**** use for master ****
SSSHP 32.33 Tape: Demo to accompany "Review of text-to-speech
conversion for English," D.H. Klatt, JASA 82.3, 9/87.
DECtalk 3.0,
(syn, 4 sen: "Text-to-speech systems are beginning to be
applied in many ways, ... text-to-speech system.")
Cassette, Klatt MIT A/D and D/A
SSSHP 32.35 Tape: Demo to accompany "Review of text-to-speech
conversion for English," D.H. Klatt, JASA 82.3, 9/87.
Several of the DECtalk 3.0 voices.
(syn, 4 voices: "I am Beautiful Betty, the standard
female voice. ... even though I am whispering?")
Cassette, Klatt MIT A/D and D/A of SSSHP 92.8c
SSSHP 32.36 Tape: Demo to accompany "Review of text-to-speech
conversion for English," D.H. Klatt, JASA 82.3, 9/87.
DECtalk 3.0 at about 300 words/minute.
(syn, 5 sen: "The following is a list of topics in
today's news, In the sports world, ... in Cambridge.")
Cassette, Klatt MIT A/D and D/A of SSSHP 92.8b
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
BIOGRAPHIES
JOHN C. BROIHIER
1977 Illinois Bell Telephone Co., Chicago, IL
EDWARD A. BRUCKERT
1969 B.S. in electrical engineering, Univ. of Mass., Amherst, Ma.
1970 Digital Equipment Corp.
1983 M.S. in computer engineering, Univ. of Mass. Amherst, Ma.
1999 Force Computers Inc.
DAVE CONROY, logic designer
MICHAEL J. CROWLEY
1977 DEC, Rolling Meadows, IL
DENNIS H. KLATT (see SSSHP USA MIT)
MARTIN MINOW
1962 B.A., speech & theater, Univ. of Illinois
1966 M.A., linguistics, Univ. of Illinois
1972 M.A. (fil. kand.), phonetics, Univ. of Stockholm
1972 Digital Equipment Corp., Stockholm, Sweden
1976 Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, MA
1992 Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA
WALTER TETSCHNER
Digital Equipment Corp., DECtalk project director
TONY VITALE
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
CONTRIBUTIONS
Edward Bruckert Martin Minow
Force Computers, Inc. Apple Computer, Inc.
(Information provided in personal communication to H.D. Maxey,
from 1999 to 2001, for this history project. See SSSHP USA DEC
file.)
------------------------------------------------------------- Top
REVIEWED BY:
|