Voxolotl! - AtariVox Voice Tracker

+SmittyB · January 26, 2019

To help speed up building phrases for the AtariVox I've completely overhauled a previous test utility I made to improve on a few gripes I had with it.

This is designed to allow someone (namely me) to use the SpeakJet reference sheet to build a list of commands while being able to freely edit parameters like volume and pitch. You can also change the colours used from the title screen to make the text easier to read on some displays. I've considered adding the ability to insert and delete rows, and I've added keypad support but haven't mapped the keys to anything yet.

As this is primarily a tool I made for myself to speed up work on other things I will probably only make changes as and when I need them.

~Disclaimer~

You can send any command to the AtariVox, including the 'Reserved' commands from 32 to 127 inclusive so if anyone accidentally sends the self-destruct sequence, or otherwise damages the Vox or their saved data, then sorry you're on your own.

~Columns~

Tracker:

No - The number of the row from 0 to 31

F/S - Send the 'Fast' or 'Slow' command to change the play time of the next phoneme

S/R - Send the 'Stress' or 'Relax' command to add stress or relaxation to the next phoneme

Vol - Set the current volume

Spd - Set the current speed

Ptc - Set the current pitch

Bnd - Set the current bend

Phone - The phoneme or other command to send

Data:

No. - The number of the row from 0 to 255

Data - The compiled speech data. A reset command (31) is automatically added at line 0, and the end of phrase command (255) is automatically added at line 255. If the volume, speed, pitch, or bend is the same value as the previous line it is ignored.

~Controls (Joystick / pad)~

Title Screen:

L/R - Change foreground colour

U/D - Change background colour

Button 1 - Go to the tracker screen

Button 2 - Go to the tracker screen

Tracker Screen:

L/R - Select column

U/D - Select row

Button 1 + L/R - Change value by 10

Button 1 + U/D - Change value by 1

Button 2 - Play phrase

Select - Go to the data screen

Reset - Go to the title screen

Data Screen:

U/D - Select row

Select - Go to the tracker screen

Reset - Go to the title screen

Voxolotl.a78

Voxolotl.bin

Edited January 26, 2019 by SmittyB

Jinks · January 26, 2019

Really neat.

+SmittyB · May 14, 2020

I've recently given Voxolotl! a complete overhaul to better suit my needs for it.

Rather than sticking with the awkward joystick button combinations it now uses a keypad in the left port with the AtariVox in the right as usual.

I've cut out the fast/slow, stress/relax, and volume controls as I just wasn't using them. Instead I've used the space to show the description text from the speakjet documentation so it's easier to see what's been entered.

A problem I had with the previous version is that while the speech data would ignore parameters if they were the same across consecutive rows, changing any of the values in the editor would require changing it across multiple rows. Now if you enter an invalid value for a parameter it will blank it out and use whatever the previous valid entry was (or the speakjet defaults). Pitch can normally be set all the way to 255 but for the sake of consistency here it removes the value change.

Keys:

01|02|03

04|05|06

07|08|09

10|11|12

01 - Toggle between the editor and hex-data view

02 - Move cursor up

03 - Play speech

04 - Move cursor left

05 - Move cursor down

06 - Move cursor right

07 / 08 /09 - Edit value

10 - Delete selected row

11 - N/A

12 - Insert row above

Voxolotl!.png.bafdf4245b8465651a44842981d471b0.png

Voxolotl!.a78 Voxolotl!.bin

+SmittyB · August 9, 2020

As a natural extension of the 7800 version I have now developed a Windows version of Voxolotl! which can make use of a 2600-daptor II to play the speech from the PC through an attached AtariVox.

It's not perfect and has a shed-load of flaws, but it's good enough for me and is so much faster than using the 7800 versions.

Given that this now doesn't require having a 7800 and one of the few elusive 7800 flash-carts to run this should be good for both 2600 and 7800 developers interested in getting speech into their games.

Edit: I've attached a zip with a folder 'platforms' containing an additional DLL. The 'platforms' folder may need to be in the program folder to allow it to run.