Software Automatic Mouth, or SAM, was a 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...

 program for the early personal computer

Personal computer

A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

s; developed and sold by Don’t Ask Software and a distant ancestor of PlainTalk

PlainTalk

PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis 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...

 found in Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

. The program was available for non-Macintosh Apple

Apple Computer

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

 computers (including the Apple II, and the Lisa

Apple Lisa

The Apple Lisa—also known as the Lisa—is a :personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s....

), various Atari

Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...

 models and the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

. Prices ranged from about USD$50 to $200. The Apple version preferred additional hardware that contained DAC

Digital-to-analog converter

In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...

s, although it could instead use the computer's one-bit audio output (with the addition of much distortion) if the card was not present. The Atari made use of the embedded POKEY

Atari POKEY

The Pot Keyboard Integrated Circuit is a digital I/O chip found in the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and many arcade games in the 1980s. It was commonly used to sample potentiometers and scan matrices of switches...

 audio chip. Speech playback on the Atari normally disabled interrupt requests and shut down the ANTIC

ANTIC

Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller is an early video system chip used in the Atari 8-bit family of microcomputers as well as the Atari 5200 in the 1980s. The chip was patented by Atari, Inc. in 1981...

 chip during vocal output. The audible output is extremely distorted speech when the screen is on. The Commodore 64 made use of the 64's embedded SID

MOS Technology SID

The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...

 audio chip.

SAM, released in 1982, was the first commercial all-software voice synthesis program. It was later used as the basis for Macintalk.

SAM was featured in the recent online game

Online game

An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...

 Peasant's Quest, a parody of 1980s adventure games, where it was used to produce the speech of the ending boss

Boss (video games)

A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...

 Trogdor.

External links

• SoftVoice, Inc. — corporate web site.
• Speech Synthesizers for Atari and Apple — magazine review.
• Spelling.SAM — A BASIC spelling program for Atari.
• SAM manual — reproduction of the manual for the Atari version.