Early Computer Speech Synthesis

The first computer-based speech synthesis systems were created in the late 1950s, and the first complete text-to-speech system was completed in 1968. In 1961, physicist John Larry Kelly, Jr and colleague Louis Gerstman used an IBM 704 computer to synthesize speech, an event among the most prominent in the history of Bell Labs. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer (vocoder) recreated the song "Daisy Bell", with musical accompaniment from Max Mathews. Coincidentally, Arthur C. Clarke was visiting his friend and colleague John Pierce at the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility. Clarke was so impressed by the demonstration that he used it in the climactic scene of his screenplay for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the HAL 9000 computer sings the same song as it is being put to sleep by astronaut Dave Bowman. Despite the success of purely electronic speech synthesis, research is still being conducted into mechanical speech synthesizers.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Vocoder
• synthesis
• vintage synth
• analog synthesizer
• analogue
• analog
• synth

[sinborn41214]

hey the computer singing "daisy daisy" at 0:48 sounds alot like most pop singers nowadays

[ElisVlog]

this is better voice synthesis than Microsoft Sam in 2003

[gmosphere]

daisy daisy

[skybabylon1]

In the 1950's singing was hard to do...then VOCALOID was created

[aadz93]

sounds better than t-pain

[aadz93]

sounds better than t-pain

[crashtestdummy6666]

Daisy Daisy give me your answer Ooo. Eye half graydee all for the love of you. It wont be the stylish marriage, I cant afford a parish. But you who sweet around the sit, of a bicycle built for Ooooooo.

[nickantibarney]

he's doing hamlot!

[DanFiebiger]

This is an edited version of the ten-minute-ish 10-inch record that Bell Labs put out in 1963 to show off their speech synth. But it wasn't the first. There was a more basic one at the 1939 New York World's fair, now also posted on You-Tube. Early vocoders were used during WWII and later wars to scramble and send top-brass messages and orders to commanders in the battlefield. A good book on the subject: "How to Wreak A Nice Beach" ("How To Recognize Speech", get it?) by Dave Tompkins.

[superspit]

"......I'mmmmmmm haaaaaalf craaaaaazzzzzzy, all for the love of youuuuuuuuuu....".....Love that bit, love analog tape fatness!

[greyhoundgill]

I can't let you do that, dave