[Microbit-Python] A sound related long shot...

[Damien George]

The moons are many and the sticks are long... I will see what can be done :)

On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 1:23 PM, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> So I was thinking about the amazing example Larry posted yesterday of
> the 20yo calculator turned into a multi-part sequencer with effects etc...
>
> Could we do something just as amazing... would we even want to try..?
>
> Then I remembered - as a child of the 1980s I had an original BBC B at
> home and one of the most amazing feats Superior Software pulled off was
> a 7.5k program called, simply, "Speech!". To give you an idea of what it
> was like I found this on YouTube:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8wyUsaDAyI
>
> I think the Dalek like timbre of the voice gives it a certain "death to
> all humans" charm, don't you think..? This article briefly explains how
> it works:
>
> http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/Speech.html
>
> Given that we already can "do" music, I wonder if we can do a very
> simple speech synthesiser such as the "Speech!" utility of yore. I know
> that the BBC want kids to relate to their devices and making it able to
> say Dalek-esque "EX TERM IN ATE" like vocalisations would knock people's
> socks off.
>
> It would also be yet another differentiator that puts MicroPython in a
> positive light. I also imagine some rather interesting educational
> resources being written to explain how it works.
>
> So, thoughts..? Is this even possible..? I imagine a very simple API
> such as this:
>
>>>> import microbit
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World")
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", pin=microbit.pin1)  # Lke music API
>
> Perhaps specify pitch of voice using an arbitrary range from 0 (lowest)
> - 9 (highest) with 4 being the default setting:
>
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", pitch=9)  # Castrato
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", pitch=0)  # Basso Profundo
>
> A similar range may also work for speed of delivery of speech:
>
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", speed=9)  # Presto!
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", speed=0)  # Molto Lento
>
> Combinations would be fun:
>
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", speed=9, pitch=9)  # Chipmunks
>>>> microbit.say("Hello, World", speed=0, pitch=0)  # Death of HAL9000
>
> I realise all of the above is VERY SPECULATIVE and hand-wavy on my part.
>
> Could this be done? Would we want to do it? What would need to happen if
> it were possible?
>
> Thoughts, constructive critique and ideas most welcome!
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Nicholas.
>
>
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