PlainTalk
Encyclopedia
PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis
(MacInTalk) and speech recognition
technologies developed by Apple Inc.
In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many respected researchers in the field. The result was "PlainTalk", released with the AV Quadras
of 1993. It was made a standard system component in System 7
.1.2, and has since been shipped on all PowerPC
and even some 68K Macintoshes.
s. Compared to other methods of synthesizing speech, it is not very resource-intensive, but there is a limit to how natural the synthesis can get. See the speech synthesis
article for details. American English
and Spanish
versions have been available, but since the advent of Mac OS X, Apple has shipped only American English voices, relying on third-party suppliers such as Acapela Group to supply voices for other languages.
An application programming interface
known as the Speech Manager enables third-party developers to use speech synthesis in their applications. There are various control sequences that can be used to fine-tune the intonation and rhythm. The volume
, pitch and rate of the speech can be configured as well.
Input to the synthesiser can be controlled explicitly using a special phoneme alphabet.
or later. It remained the recommended version for slower machines even after the release of MacInTalk 3 and Pro.
tune
, with similarly-singing voices like 'Good News', 'Bad News', 'Pipe Organ'), 'Albert' (a hoarse-sounding voice), 'Bells', 'Boing', 'Bubbles' etc.
Each of these voices came with its own example text, that would be spoken when one hit the 'Test' button in the Speech control panel. Some would just say their name, language and the version of MacinTalk they were introduced with. Others would say funny things, like 'I sure like being inside this fancy computer', 'I have a frog in my throat... No, I mean a real frog!', or 'The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of a fast approaching train'. These voices as well as their test texts are still in Mac OS X today.
With the increase in computer power that the CPUs in AV Macs and PowerPC based Macintoshes provided, Apple could afford to increase the quality of the synthesis. MacInTalk 3 required a 33 MHz 68030 processor
and MacInTalk Pro required a 68040
or better and at least 1 MB
of RAM. Each synthesizer supported a different set of voices.
version. The Victoria voice was enhanced significantly in Mac OS X v10.3
, and added as Vicki (Victoria was not removed). Its size was almost 20 times greater, because of the higher-quality diphone samples used. (sample)
A new, much more natural-sounding voice, called "Alex" has been added to the Mac text-to-speech roster with the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
With Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, voices are available in additional U.S. English and other English accents, as well as 21 other languages.
in the Centris 660AV and Quadra 840AV), it was not part of the default system install prior to Mac OS X. The user had to do a custom installation of the OS to get speech recognition capabilities.
Apple's speech recognition is voice-command oriented, i.e. not intended for dictation. It can be configured to listen for commands when a hot key is pressed, after being addressed with an activation phrase such as "Computer", or "Macintosh", or without prompt. A graphical status monitor, often in the form of an animated character, provides visual and textual feedback about listening status, available commands and actions taken. It can also communicate back with the user using speech synthesis.
Early versions of the speech recognition provided full access to the menus. This support was later removed, since it required too many resources and made recognition less reliable, only to be re-added in Mac OS X 10.3 as a "universal access technology" called spoken user interface.
The user can launch items located in a special folder, called "Speakable Items", simply by speaking their name (while the system is in listening mode). Apple shipped a number of AppleScript
s in this folder, but aliases
, document
s and folder
s can be opened in the same way.
Additional functionality is provided by individual applications. An application programming interface
lets programs define and modify an available vocabulary
. For example, the Finder
provides a vocabulary for manipulating files
and windows
.
, "Auto", in the 2008 Disney
·Pixar
film WALL-E
. "MacInTalk" is credited as the voice of Auto in the film's end credits.
patient with a voice synthesizer in the animated Family Guy
episode "Ready, Willing and Disabled", who would later appear again in "Brian the Bachelor
" and "Brian Goes Back To College
". It was furthermore used in "Peterotica
", when Stewie plays with "the speech function on his Macintosh
", & also in "April in Quahog
" where MacinTalk Fred voices Stephen Hawking
. Using Talking Moose
software, Stewie gets his laptop to say "Stewie is cool." It was also used to introduce episodes on the anime Serial Experiments Lain
. Also in the Transformers Animated Feature length episode Transwarped, the Autobot Perceptor's voice actor was credited as plaintalk. It was also used in the short-lived cartoon Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
as the voice of Robot Jones' father, Dad Unit, and Robot in the first season. It was also used as the voice for the Red vs. Blue character, the lying A.I Gary/Gamma. Junior was voicing Robot Jones in the 2000 episode of The Cartoon Cartoon Show, Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?. All Macintalk voices will voice the crazy & evil computers, & it will be heard in the upcoming episode of The Problem Solverz
, "Macintosh Mayhem." An episode where All Macintosh computers go crazy & evil & take over the world. Roba will be voiced by Macintalk Fred in the upcoming tv show, "Neon Knome
." Macintalk Junior will voice Bobert in season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball
, but Junior will also dub Bobert in the season 1 episodes.
called "Apple PlainTalk Microphone". It was introduced alongside the AV-enabled Quadras
in 1993 but was also sold separately. It had a longer connector, and the tip was used to provide it with extra power. It was designed to be positioned on top of the screen
and to be sensitive to sound from the front.
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
(MacInTalk) and speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
technologies developed by Apple Inc.
In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many respected researchers in the field. The result was "PlainTalk", released with the AV Quadras
Macintosh Quadra
The Macintosh Quadra series was Apple Computer's product family of professional high-end Apple Macintosh personal computers built using the Motorola 68040 CPU. The first two models in the Quadra line were introduced in 1991, and the name was used until the Power Mac was introduced in 1994...
of 1993. It was made a standard system component in System 7
System 7 (Macintosh)
System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997...
.1.2, and has since been shipped on all PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
and even some 68K Macintoshes.
Technology
Apple's text-to-speech uses diphoneDiphone
In phonetics, a diphone is an adjacent pair of phones. It is usually used to refer to a recording of the transition between two phones.In the following diagram, a stream of phones are represented by P1, P2, etc., and the corresponding diphones are represented by D1-2, D2-3, etc:...
s. Compared to other methods of synthesizing speech, it is not very resource-intensive, but there is a limit to how natural the synthesis can get. See the speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
article for details. American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
versions have been available, but since the advent of Mac OS X, Apple has shipped only American English voices, relying on third-party suppliers such as Acapela Group to supply voices for other languages.
An application programming interface
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
known as the Speech Manager enables third-party developers to use speech synthesis in their applications. There are various control sequences that can be used to fine-tune the intonation and rhythm. The volume
Volume
Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains....
, pitch and rate of the speech can be configured as well.
Input to the synthesiser can be controlled explicitly using a special phoneme alphabet.
The original MacInTalk
The initial Macintosh text-to-speech engine, MacinTalk (named by Denise Chandler), was used by Apple in the 1984 introduction of the Macintosh in which the computer announced itself to the world. While it was incorporated into the Macintosh's operating system, it was not officially supported by Apple (though programming information was made available through an Apple Technical Note). MacinTalk was developed by Joseph Katz and Mark Barton who later founded SoftVoice, Inc. which currently markets TTS engines for Windows, Linux and embedded platforms.MacInTalk 2
Eventually, Apple released a supported speech synthesis system, called MacInTalk 2. It supports any Macintosh running System Software 6.0.7System 6
System 6 is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was released in 1988 by Apple Computer and was part of the Mac OS line of operating systems. System 6 was shipped with various Macintosh computers until it was succeeded by System 7 in 1991. The boxed...
or later. It remained the recommended version for slower machines even after the release of MacInTalk 3 and Pro.
MacInTalk 3, Pro
MacinTalk 3 introduced a great variety of voices. Apart from the standard adult voices 'Ralph', 'Fred' and 'Kathy', and children's voices like 'Princess' and 'Junior', various novelty voices were included, like 'Whisper', 'Zarvox' (a robot voice with melodic background sounds, with a similar voice called 'Trinoids' also included), 'Cellos' (a voice that sung its text to an Edvard GriegEdvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
tune
In the Hall of the Mountain King
In the Hall of the Mountain King is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg for the sixth scene of Act II in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, which premiered in Christiania on February 24, 1876....
, with similarly-singing voices like 'Good News', 'Bad News', 'Pipe Organ'), 'Albert' (a hoarse-sounding voice), 'Bells', 'Boing', 'Bubbles' etc.
Each of these voices came with its own example text, that would be spoken when one hit the 'Test' button in the Speech control panel. Some would just say their name, language and the version of MacinTalk they were introduced with. Others would say funny things, like 'I sure like being inside this fancy computer', 'I have a frog in my throat... No, I mean a real frog!', or 'The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of a fast approaching train'. These voices as well as their test texts are still in Mac OS X today.
With the increase in computer power that the CPUs in AV Macs and PowerPC based Macintoshes provided, Apple could afford to increase the quality of the synthesis. MacInTalk 3 required a 33 MHz 68030 processor
Motorola 68030
The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
and MacInTalk Pro required a 68040
Motorola 68040
The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 ....
or better and at least 1 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of RAM. Each synthesizer supported a different set of voices.
Text-to-speech in Mac OS X
Text-to-speech has been a part of every Mac OS XMac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
version. The Victoria voice was enhanced significantly in Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X v10.3
Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...
, and added as Vicki (Victoria was not removed). Its size was almost 20 times greater, because of the higher-quality diphone samples used. (sample)
A new, much more natural-sounding voice, called "Alex" has been added to the Mac text-to-speech roster with the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
With Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, voices are available in additional U.S. English and other English accents, as well as 21 other languages.
Speech recognition
Apple hired many speech recognition researchers in 1990. After about a year, they demonstrated a technology codenamed Casper. It was released as part of the PlainTalk package in 1993. Although available for all PowerPC Macintoshes and AV 68k machines (it was one of the few applications that made use of the DSPDigital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
in the Centris 660AV and Quadra 840AV), it was not part of the default system install prior to Mac OS X. The user had to do a custom installation of the OS to get speech recognition capabilities.
Apple's speech recognition is voice-command oriented, i.e. not intended for dictation. It can be configured to listen for commands when a hot key is pressed, after being addressed with an activation phrase such as "Computer", or "Macintosh", or without prompt. A graphical status monitor, often in the form of an animated character, provides visual and textual feedback about listening status, available commands and actions taken. It can also communicate back with the user using speech synthesis.
Early versions of the speech recognition provided full access to the menus. This support was later removed, since it required too many resources and made recognition less reliable, only to be re-added in Mac OS X 10.3 as a "universal access technology" called spoken user interface.
The user can launch items located in a special folder, called "Speakable Items", simply by speaking their name (while the system is in listening mode). Apple shipped a number of AppleScript
AppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....
s in this folder, but aliases
Alias (Mac OS)
In Mac OS System 7 and later, an alias is a small file that represents another object in a local, remote, or removable file system and provides a dynamic link to it; the target object may be moved, and the alias will still link to it...
, document
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
s and folder
Folder
Folder may refer:* File folder, a kind of folder that holds loose papers* Folder , a virtual container within a digital file system, in which groups of files and other folders can be kept and organized...
s can be opened in the same way.
Additional functionality is provided by individual applications. An application programming interface
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
lets programs define and modify an available vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
. For example, the Finder
Macintosh Finder
The Finder is the default file manager used on Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems; it is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications...
provides a vocabulary for manipulating files
Computer file
A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is durable in the sense that it remains available for programs to use after the current program has finished...
and windows
Window (computing)
In computing, a window is a visual area containing some kind of user interface. It usually has a rectangular shape that can overlap with the area of other windows...
.
In music
The MacinTalk speech synthesis can be heard in a few songs:- "Repeating Yesterday" from As I Lay DyingAs I Lay Dying (band)As I Lay Dying is an American metalcore band from San Diego, California. Founded in 2000 by Tim Lambesis and having completed their first Line-up in 2001, the band consists of vocalist Tim Lambesis, drummer Jordan Mancino, lead guitarist Nick Hipa, rhythm guitarist Phil Sgrosso, and bassist Josh...
's Shadows Are SecurityShadows Are SecurityIllusions is a re-recording of a song called 'Illusion' from the As I Lay Dying/American Tragedy split album.-Charts:Album - Billboard - Personnel :As I Lay Dying*Tim Lambesis – lead vocals/harsh vocals*Nick Hipa – lead guitar...
album used MacInTalk in the intro. - "SatisfactionSatisfaction (Benny Benassi song)"Satisfaction" is a Benny Benassi track from his 2003 album Hypnotica. The track was Benassi's debut single and most successful song, peaking at number 2 in the UK. It was also used in a TV commercial for an Australian beer, and Wendy's hamburgers...
" by Benny BenassiBenny BenassiMarco Benassi , better known as Benny Benassi, is a Grammy Award winning Italian disc jockey and record producer of electro house music. He is best known for his 2002 summer club hit "Satisfaction"...
, as well as other songs by him - "Toby's Mac" by tobyMacTobyMacToby McKeehan , better known by his stage name TobyMac , is a Christian recording artist, music producer, hip-hop/pop artist, singer-songwriter, and author....
- RadioheadRadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
's song Fitter Happier from the OK ComputerOK ComputerOK Computer is the third studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 16 June 1997 on Parlophone in the UK and 1 July 1997 by Capitol Records in the US. It marks a deliberate attempt by the band to move away from the introspective guitar-oriented sound of their previous...
album (and featured in the background of Paranoid AndroidParanoid Android"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, featured on their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The lyrics of the darkly humorous song were written primarily by singer Thom Yorke, following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar...
from the same album) - Fall Out BoyFall Out BoyFall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
used MacInTalk at the beginning of Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your BoyGrand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy"Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy and the second single taken from their 2003 album, Take This to Your Grave. The breakthrough mainstream success that Fall Out Boy received with the follow-up release of their 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree...
(Millennium Version) and at the end of the last track and bonus tracks on their Infinity on HighInfinity on HighInfinity on High is the fourth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released on February 5, 2007 by Island Records as the follow-up to the band's commercially successful 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree. Pre-production began in the group's hometown of Chicago, where writing and...
album - The French band Air uses several Macintosh voices in their track "How Does it Make You Feel"
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" is a song by the American alternative rock band The Flaming Lips, released as the second single taken from their 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It reached #18 in the UK Singles Chart as the highest charting single from the album, after which the...
by The Flaming LipsThe Flaming LipsThe Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
features the "Zarvox" voice - Many Aphex TwinAphex TwinRichard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
tracks including Funny Little ManCome to DaddyCome to Daddy is a 1997 EP by electronic music artist Richard D. James, commonly known as Aphex Twin. "Come to Daddy [Pappy Mix]" — often simply called "Come to Daddy" — is one of Aphex Twin's best-known songs; it peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart...
and Cow Cud Is a Twin...I Care Because You Do-Song titles:Several of the song titles are anagrams:* of Aphex Twin: "Wax the nip"* of The Aphex Twin: "The Waxen pith", "Wet tip hen ax", "next heap with"* of Richard David James: "Acrid Avid Jam Shred"* of Caustic Window: "cow cud is a twin"...
also feature PlainTalk - The song John Orr the Arsonist by And Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were NoneAnd Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 because of the presence of a racial...
features a short monologue using this voice - The Intro from OutKastOutKastOutkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
's StankoniaStankoniaStankonia is the fourth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released October 31, 2000 on La Face Records. The album debuted at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling over 530,000 copies the first week. Stankonia received general acclaim from music critics, based on an aggregate...
album features the "Bells" voice - The song "Pomme-C" by French singer CalogeroCalogeroCalogero is a French singer.-Early years:By the age of six, Calogero had already taken an interest in music...
on the album Pomme-C features a short monologue at the very beginning using voice Vicky - "DWYL" by Phil JoelPhil JoelPhilip Joel Urry is a musician known as a solo artist in addition to being the former bassist for the Christian rock group Newsboys. He uses the name Phil Joel professionally due to pronunciation issues with his surname....
- The song "Man That You FearMan That You Fear"Man That You Fear" is a promotional-only single from Marilyn Manson's second studio album, Antichrist Superstar, and is the final song on the album. It is a very gentle song, comparable to "Coma White" on Mechanical Animals...
" by Marilyn MansonMarilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
ends with the MacInTalk voices repeating, "When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed". MacInTalk voices are used again in the music video and live performances of "Antichrist SuperstarAntichrist Superstar (song)"Antichrist Superstar" is a promotional-only single from Marilyn Manson's second studio album of the same name. The song itself is symbolic of the climax of the concept album's story, the point where the abused and wretched victim at the center of the tale takes on the identity of the nihilistic...
". The MacInTalk voices repeat "You might as well kill yourself - you're already dead" at the end of the song. - Most of Mr Oizo's TranssexualTranssexual (EP)Transsexual is an EP from electronic musician Mr. Oizo. It was released June 11, 2007. This was the first record released by Oizo on the Ed Banger Label. The voice in this album is the Macintosh system voice "Junior", who claims to be the reincarnation of Michael Jackson.- Track listing :*A1....
EP and Lambs AngerLambs AngerLambs Anger is the third album by Mr. Oizo. Although this album contains many of Mr. Oizo's trademark avant-garde elements, it also has many elements of Electro and French House not previously heard in his albums, most notably French electro-rapper Uffie's guest track, "Steroids"...
album contains MacInTalk voices - Korea Idol T-araT-araT-ara is a South Korean girl group formed by Core Contents Media in 2009. Before their debut, there was a high level of interest in the group as they were called "Super Rookies" and had been training for three years prior to debut....
's song Bo Peep Bo Peep from the Absolute First AlbumAbsolute First AlbumAbsolute First Album is an album by South Korean girl group T-ara. The album was initially planned to be released earlier as a mini-album, however, it was decided that a full album would be released instead...
introduction part 'Don't lose your temper so quickly' - EBM band Apoptygma Bezerk used MacInTalk Kathy's voice in "Kathy's Song (Come Lie Next To Me)". The VNV Nation Remix also uses the Victoria voice
- In electro house producer Skrillex's track titled "I Wish You All The Luck Of The World", MacInTalk Alex's voice can be heard repeating "David, I wish you all the luck in the world" several times in various pitches
- Rob & GoldieGoldieClifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
's 1997 track "The Shadow (The Process Mix by Rick Smith for UnderworldUnderworld (band)Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
)" makes extensive use of the Victoria voice, reading a dictionary definition of "shadow" and a poem from the book Process; A Tomato Project. - In Sonic CD, the music track for Metallic Madness' past stage contained MacInTalk voices, saying "Sonic dead or alive is mine"
In film
MacInTalk's 'Ralph' voice serves as the voice of the computerized autopilotAutopilot
An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. An autopilot can refer specifically to aircraft, self-steering gear for boats, or auto guidance of space craft and missiles...
, "Auto", in the 2008 Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
·Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
film WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
. "MacInTalk" is credited as the voice of Auto in the film's end credits.
In television
MacinTalk was used to perform the part of the wheelchair-using motor neurone diseaseMotor neurone disease
The motor neurone diseases are a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurones, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, breathing, swallowing and general movement of the body. They are generally progressive in nature, and can cause...
patient with a voice synthesizer in the animated Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode "Ready, Willing and Disabled", who would later appear again in "Brian the Bachelor
Brian the Bachelor
"Brian the Bachelor" is the seventh episode from the fourth season of Family Guy. It originally broadcast on June 26, 2005 and was written by Mark Hentemann and directed by Dan Povenmire. The episode sees Brian becoming a contestant on The Bachelorette and falling in love with the bachelorette,...
" and "Brian Goes Back To College
Brian Goes Back to College
"Brian Goes Back to College" is the fifteenth episode of Family Guy 's fourth season. The episode originally aired on Sunday November 13, 2005. Guest stars on the show were Ralph Garman, Mark Hentemann and Phil LaMarr. The episode was described by show creator Seth MacFarlane to be "a real treat...
". It was furthermore used in "Peterotica
Peterotica
"Peterotica" is the twenty-fourth episode from season four of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on April 23, 2006, and was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Kurt Dumas. The title of the episode is a portmanteau between "Peter" and "Erotica". The plot follows Peter's brief career...
", when Stewie plays with "the speech function on his Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
", & also in "April in Quahog
April in Quahog
"April in Quahog" is the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 11, 2010. The episode features the Griffin family as they attempt to live out their last day on Earth, after hearing an announcement on...
" where MacinTalk Fred voices Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
. Using Talking Moose
Talking Moose
The Talking Moose is an animated talking utility for the Apple Macintosh. It was created in 1986 by Canadian programmer Steven Halls. It is the first animated talking agent on a personal computer and featured a moose that would appear at periodic intervals with some joke or witticism...
software, Stewie gets his laptop to say "Stewie is cool." It was also used to introduce episodes on the anime Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998...
. Also in the Transformers Animated Feature length episode Transwarped, the Autobot Perceptor's voice actor was credited as plaintalk. It was also used in the short-lived cartoon Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? is an American animated television series that aired on Cartoon Network from 2002 to 2003...
as the voice of Robot Jones' father, Dad Unit, and Robot in the first season. It was also used as the voice for the Red vs. Blue character, the lying A.I Gary/Gamma. Junior was voicing Robot Jones in the 2000 episode of The Cartoon Cartoon Show, Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?. All Macintalk voices will voice the crazy & evil computers, & it will be heard in the upcoming episode of The Problem Solverz
The Problem Solverz
The Problem Solverz is an American animated television series produced by Made 100% in Burbank and Mirari Films and created by Ben Jones, a member of the art collective Paper Rad, for Cartoon Network...
, "Macintosh Mayhem." An episode where All Macintosh computers go crazy & evil & take over the world. Roba will be voiced by Macintalk Fred in the upcoming tv show, "Neon Knome
Neon Knome
Neon Knome is an unaired Problem Solverz Pilot episode. Unaired in 2010, PFFR or PFFFR, Williams Street Studios, & Cartoon Network Productions produced it instead of Boulder Media Limited & Mirari Films. It is created by Ben Jones & is Rated TV-14. It was only featured @ [adultswim.com], Cartoon...
." Macintalk Junior will voice Bobert in season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball
The Amazing World of Gumball
The Amazing World of Gumball is a British/American animated television series created by Ben Bocquelet. It first aired on May 2, 2011 in the United Kingdom as a sneak preview and officially premiered on September 5, 2011. It premiered a week later on May 9, 2011 in the United States on Cartoon...
, but Junior will also dub Bobert in the season 1 episodes.
In video games
- MacinTalk was used in the game No More HeroesNo More Heroes (video game), is an action video game for the Wii video game system. It was directed by Goichi Suda , developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Marvelous Entertainment Inc., Ubisoft and Rising Star Games...
. Before each boss fight, the Whisper voice would announce the current boss's name. - "Vicki" was used in the video game Grand Theft Auto IVGrand Theft Auto IVGrand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
as the voice of the DJ of the in-game radio station "The Journey". - The 2009 video game MachinariumMachinariumMachinarium is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. It was released on October 16, 2009 for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, on September 8, 2011 for iPad 2 on App Store and on November 21, 2011 for BlackBerry PlayBook. Demos were made available on September 30,...
features several Macintalk voices in its ambient music. - The 3DO3DO3DO may refer to:*The 3DO Company, a video game company that developed:**3DO Interactive Multiplayer, a video game console, 1993–1996***List of 3DO games, a list of games released for the 3DO...
version of Star Control 2 used "Bruce" as the voice of the Slylandro Probe. The game credits the voice of the Probe as 840AV. "Agnes" was also used as the voice of the Captain's ship's computer, heard on the first encounter with the Orz race.
Hardware
Apple produced a microphoneMicrophone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
called "Apple PlainTalk Microphone". It was introduced alongside the AV-enabled Quadras
Macintosh Quadra
The Macintosh Quadra series was Apple Computer's product family of professional high-end Apple Macintosh personal computers built using the Motorola 68040 CPU. The first two models in the Quadra line were introduced in 1991, and the name was used until the Power Mac was introduced in 1994...
in 1993 but was also sold separately. It had a longer connector, and the tip was used to provide it with extra power. It was designed to be positioned on top of the screen
Computer display
A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
and to be sensitive to sound from the front.