Vic20 Speech Synthesiser cartridge

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:54 pm

Any more information of Vic20 Speech cartridge that I did just buy..

Whats difference to Chatter Box cartridge?

I have Chatter Box already.

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:20 pm

This thing seems to use the SP0256-al2 speech synthesis chip...

Considering there are some places which liquidate this chip and that I have 2 in stock here... I could probably clone this cartridge easily.

I suppose the DIN Y extension serves the purpose of injecting the audio output of the card into the modulators input mixed with the normal VIC audio out.

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:55 pm

Too bad, it wont have any covers left. It was used inside Vic20 with other cartridges.

I dont know why last owner did taki it off his Vic20 project, but it was my luck, so i could buy it..

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:22 pm

Hey, that was pictured in Denial #1 (the newsletter).

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:21 am

There was another guy desperately looking for the manual of this thing!

Jogi · Post by **Jogi** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:07 pm

HI,

this card is inside the Cardridge....

i am opening the Cardridge for the Foto...

regards Jogi

Sorry i dont speak english, i hope your understand.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:37 pm

we love jogi... english or no english.

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:31 pm

The SP-0256-al2 is the only fancy chip not made anymore but there are sources for it and when you do get them they usually are about 5$ apiece. Nothing to bankrupt anyone.

Everything else is quite generic and low cost.

It would be a tedious job but yes, I can make copies of this cartridge.

The ROM seems to be destined to BLK5.

Jaicen · Post by **Jaicen** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 4:33 am

To be honest, i'm surprised more people DON'T make clones of old cartridges! There's hardly anything in them at all. Compared to cloning audio gear these things are nothing!
The only thing I'd like to know, is if you plate the edge connectors. I wouldn't want to use just copper as it will corrode and cover my connectors in crap.

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:58 am

I would probably use a VECTOR 3677-2 or 3677 board. These have gold plated edge connection fingers.

Jaicen · Post by **Jaicen** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:36 am

I see. If I was cloning a cartridge though, I'd want it to be a real PCB with everything secured to the board. I don't like trailing wires, especially when they intersect. I guess that's just the audio electrician in me

dragos · Post by **dragos** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:34 pm

the expander he built me has the wires secure, it has a coating on it. if it works, i dont care what it looks like

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:43 pm

You can have the wires secured, even if it is a prototyping board by using 28 gauge (wire wrapping lines) wiring and then crisscrossing them through the holes.

Cover the final result with a good coat of conformal coating and you have a "sealed appearance" product.

making a "real" PCB, even if a prototyping PCB is just as real, involves hours of work in a CAD software (I use altium) and then have a good batch made 'cuz the tooling fee is 60$ before a single board is made.

Its not really worth it if you happend to have only 2 SP-0256-AL2 available.

No, the real objective is to document the device so anyone can make the thing however they like in the future. The VIC-1112 has been documented like that on Zimmer's. (See http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/ ... index.html )

Jaicen · Post by **Jaicen** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:23 pm

Of course I appreciate that. I'm acquainted with makin up my own PCB's and I'm aware of the costs for commercial production. If you're just making a couple it probably is easier to harwire everything, I just enjoy making nice PCB layouts

That's the easy bit for me!

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 5:59 pm

I was finally able to get one of these adman cartridges but... does anyone have a manual ?