thumb|A demo of SAM on the C64

Software Automatic Mouth, or S.A.M. (sometimes abbreviated as SAM), is a speech synthesis program developed by Mark Barton and sold by Don't Ask Software. The program was released for the Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, and Commodore 64. Released in 1982, it was one of the first commercial all-software voice-synthesis programs.

Don't Ask Software also sold PokerSAM, a poker game with speech, and also licensed out the S.A.M. engine for use with other games, such as Tales of the Arabian Nights for the Commodore 64.

Technology

The Apple version uses an included expansion card which contains an 8-bit DAC, although hackers created a modified version of S.A.M. which can instead use the computer's one-bit audio output (with the addition of much distortion) if the card is not present. The Atari version makes use of the embedded POKEY audio chip. Speech playback on the Atari normally disables interrupt requests and shuts down the ANTIC chip during vocal output. The audible output is extremely distorted speech when graphic and text display is turned on. The Commodore 64 makes use of the 64's embedded SID audio chip's 4-bit volume DAC, reducing its quality significantly vs the Apple and Atari versions. When producing speech, the Commodore 64 version blanks the screen as the program accesses memory, although a "light" mode can be activated that leaves the screen active, producing a "gravelly" voice. Active sprites also cause a deterioration in the quality of voice output.

Phonetic Mode

Software Automatic Mouth has phonetic mode. This mode bypasses the phonetic parser and instead accepts phoneme strings directly as input using the International Phonetic Alphabet. This mode facilitates more precise control over pronunciation, and allows fine control over inflection.

Legacy

S.A.M. was used as the basis for the original MacInTalk speech synthesis software.

References

  • Speech Synthesizers for Atari and Apple magazine review
  • Spelling.SAM an Atari BASIC spelling program
  • SAM manual reproduction of the Atari version manual<!--Note: link is now updated and working with new URL)-->
  • Analysis of SAM translated version to C and executable for Windows
  • Run SAM in the Browser translated version to native JavaScript
  • [https://github.com/nietoperz809/JavaSam/tree/master] SAM as JAVA class file for the JVM
  • 2020 Interview with Mark Barton about S.A.M.