Has anyone hooked up an SP0-512 Text-to-Speech chip to Gadgeteer?

I’m curious if someone has experience wiring up an SP0-512 Text-to-Speech chip to a Gadgeteer Breadboard X1 or through an Extender module. Specifically, I’m looking at using a FEZ Spider running 4.3 with a Breadboard X1.

Based on the datasheet ( speechchips ), it seems like all that’s needed on the Gadgeteer side is to use a socket U, and:

connect Pin 4 (TX) to SP0-512 Pin 6 (RX)
Pin 5 (RX) to SP0-512 Pin 4 (TX)
Pin 3 (GPIO) to SP0-512 Pin 17 (busy speaking)
Pin 1 (3.3V) to SP0-512 Pin 13 (power)
Pin 10 (GND) to SP0-512 Pins 8 and 19

Of course, the rest of the circuit to produce audible sound is also required, as documented in the datasheet.

Code-wise, it seems like:

setting up socket U’s Pin 3 up as a GPIO input
creating a serial object for the socket, with appropriate settings (9600 N81)

and then:

Checking to see if the chip is not speaking (check GPIO pin 3 status)
If not, sending text to the serial port

I’m pretty new at this, so I’m curious if I’m missing something.

Thanks.

personally, I used the EMIC-2 module. But fundamentally it would seem your approach is consistent with how I’d expect the chip to work. Go test it ! :slight_smile:

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@ Brett -

Thanks for your reply. I’m having trouble finding a source that isn’t out of stock, but will share what I learn when I get one and test it.

Thanks again.

That’s a very old IC and hard to find unless this is for hobby use. Anyway, I believe the quality is little on the poor side and the likes of the EMIC-2 is far superior and easier for untrained ears to understand.

If you happen to have one lying around and want to experiment then that is a different case use. :slight_smile:

Actually, I just paused typing this message and found this. I had no idea this thing was so crude sounding :stuck_out_tongue:

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@ Dave McLaughlin -

Thanks for your reply. I’m actually going for a crude (early 1980s) sound for this particular project, but agree that I should probably target a more modern (and available) part.

I did something similar for the SP03

https://www.ghielectronics.com/community/codeshare/entry/652

Jas

I guess my original question is moot at this point, because looks like the SP0-512 is down for the count. The speechships.com web site is gone, the owner doesn’t respond to e-mails, and the places that carried it on backorder no longer carry it.

EMIC2 Emic 2 Text-to-Speech Module - Parallax

@ Brett -

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I am going to look into the EMIC-2, as you and others have suggested.

I was just saying in my last post, for the sake of closure/completeness, that the SP0-512 appears to be no longer available.