SP0250 and SP0256 are electronic components, speech synthesizer microcircuits developed by General Instrument in the late 1970s and early 1980s (indicated on the housing of the SP0256 microcircuits is © 1981). The microcircuits were produced in several versions with different contents of the built-in memory - for example, the most common version of SP0256-AL2 contained a set of 59 English-speaking allophones and 5 pauses of various lengths, and was intended for use in text-to-speech converters; SP0256-019 is intended for use in an extension device for the Magnavox Odyssey2 game console , and contains a set of phrases applicable in video games.
Device
SP0256 contains several functional blocks:
- 4-bit microcontroller .
- 2 KB of internal ROM , expandable to 62 KB by connecting an external ROM with a serial interface.
- Software-controlled 12-way digital filter .
- PWM used to convert digital data into an analog signal.
The built-in ROM contains both data for speech synthesis and a control program for the microcontroller that provides synthesis control - sends data from the ROM to a digital filter, controls the volume and playback speed, collects allophones in sequence. The microcontroller instruction set contains 16 commands.
Chips SP0250 and SP0256 were produced in a plastic case DIP28 .
Applications
Chips SP0250 and SP0256 were used in a number of different devices. An incomplete list of them:
- Slot machines based on Sega G80 equipment:
- Space fury
- Star trek
- Zektor
- Eliminator
- Astro blaster
- Home Gaming Systems:
- Intellivoice Extension Module for Mattel Intellivision
- The Voice Extension Module for Magnavox Odyssey²
- Currah MicroSpeech Extension Module for ZX Spectrum
- Cheetah Sweet Talker Expansion Module for ZX Spectrum
- Fuller Orator Extension Module for ZX Spectrum