Plogue Chipspeech Recreates The Sound Of 80’s Voice Synthesis

Chipspeech_Shot_ControlsPlogue has introduced Chipspeech – a new speech synthesizer, for Mac & Windows, that recreates the sound of famous 80’s voice synthesis chips.

It features 7 different voices, each with its own characteristic timbre. It is tailored for musical applications – type in lyrics, and then you can play them on a MIDI keyboard.

Chipspeech is also a true synthesizer – the sound can be extensively modified. The app also features a circuit bending emulation, letting you not only recreate the ‘insane and chaotic sound’ of a circuit bent TI speaking device, but also use it in a controlled, musical way.

Chipspeech Voices:

  • Bert Gotrax – From original sound recordings of a Votrax SC-01. Recordings copyrighted Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.
  • Dandy 704 – From original sound recordings courtesy of Alcatel-Lucent / Bell Labs (C) [1963] Alcatel-Lucent. All Rights Reserved.
  • Dee Klatt – From Dennis H. Klatt’s synthesizer originally published in Journal Acoustic Society of America, Mar. 1980.
  • Lady Parsec – From original sound recordings copyrighted Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.
  • Otto Mozer – From original data files copyrighted Dr. Forrest S. Mozer. Used with kind permission.
  • Spencer AL2 –  From ROM data and algorithms copyrighted Microchip, Inc.
  • Terminal 99 – From ROM data and algorithms copyrighted Texas Instruments Incorporated. Distributed under license from Texas Instruments (TI).

Plogue shared this video looking at the history of the first speech synthesis integrated circuit:

Here’s a brief demo of Chipspeech being used with a MIDI keyboard:

CDM’s Peter Kirn tested a pre-release copy of Chipspeech and had this to say about it:

What’s surprising, in fact, is how expressive the instrument can be: with some of the voices and the addition of vibrato, you can get humanlike expression but with timbral qualities that are unmistakably more machine than man.

To demonstrate the capabilities of Chipspeech, Plogue has released a free album of music, embedded below, that features the app in action:

[bandcamp width=640 height=472 album=1346147076 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=small]

Chipspeech is available now, with an introductory price of US $75 (normally $95).

If you’ve used Chipspeech, leave a comment and let us know what you think of it!

19 thoughts on “Plogue Chipspeech Recreates The Sound Of 80’s Voice Synthesis

  1. I want to say, that the bundle of Chipsounds, Chipcrusher, and ChipSpeech, for $ 169.99 is worth more than 10 times, the cost/jvalue/ and capabilities of XILSLab Vocoder 5000, which goes for a whopping $115 (and this is just one single plug-in. If you want just a single Vocoder, just get NI The Mouth as a better solution vs. XLIS Voocoder 5000. Plus you don’t have to deal with the lame and annoying requirement of an iLok.

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