[TUHS] v6 draws and speaks and now it's available to you

[G. Branden Robinson via TUHS]

At 2026-09-16T15:55:31-0700, Jay Logue via TUHS wrote:
> The speech seems a little more chopped than other Votrax output I've
> heard (e.g. "two" sounds like "ooo").  Is that accurate for devices of
> this era?

It sounds like the same voice synthesis as used by _Gorf_ (the upright
arcade cabinet) to me.  But I agree that initial consonants seem
clipped.

I think Will said earlier in the thread that he thought the sound was
harsher than he remembered.  It occurred to me that the straight,
authentic waveform, put through a high-fidelity DAC like we have these
days, might be the culprit.  Squarish waves do funny things when
connected to speaker cabinets.  It's possible that the speaker the
Votrax used, if it came with one, or the sort it was typically connected
to otherwise, had physical or electromagnetic properties that "rounded
off" the sound considerably.

I would never have believed that "speaker cabinet modeling" was in any
way an important thing until I had an awakening experience playing
guitar with a bunch of musicians who were also Rush fans.  My amp was
too feeble for the room, a problem that was solved by running my amp
straight into the mixing desk.  When it was time for me to play my part,
the bit at 5:45 in "Cygnus X-1", what hit everyone in the room smack in
the face sounded more like...Exodus.

I'm sure I'd have found that hysterical if it weren't so mortifying.

Anyway, the Votrax signal might need some shaping.

Maybe a proper audio production engineer can help.

Regards,
Branden
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