Click here to return to the Z8000 master board index.
Yep, your read it right. This is the speech synthesizer board for the Zilog Z8000 Modular Computer. Every one of my vintage computing projects gets a speech synthesizer board at some point in its life. Why a speech synthesizer? Well, it was my most loved peripheral back in the day. I still remember when I got my Realtalker for the TRS-80 coco. Anyhow, I reminisce. Let’s talk about the speech board for the Z8000 computer.
The speech board lets you choose between two ICs, either the GI SP0256A-AL2 or the Votrax SC-01A. Note: The Votrax support is currently untested. I have so far only been using the SP0256 with this board. There’s a jack for a speaker and a line out if you feel the need for an external amplifier (after all you want the best voice quality out of your vintage 80s speech synthesizer, right?)
I’ve also written a program called SAY.Z8K that will translate from English text to SP0256 phonemes so that you can simply say english words from the CP/M command line.
Schematic
Here it is:
Bill of Materials (BOM)
I wish…
Board Images
Gerbers and other Resources