First post, by Paralel
I came across the description for an interesting item recently, a Digispeech Plus (Model Number: DS311 or DS311A):
(Yes, this is literally the best image I could find of it anywhere)
Anyone ever seen/heard of this item before? It has interesting specifications:
"Easy installation: just plug into a parallel printer port and install the software on your network or hard drive."
"...SoundblasterTM and AdlibTM compatible."
"Simultaneous synthesized music and digital audio playback"
Playback:
Stereo PCM Playback.
8/16 bits linear per channel: 11.025kHz, 22.05kHz, 44.1kHz
8 bits u-law per channel: 11.025kHz, 22.05kHz, 44.1kHz
Mono PCM playback:
8 bit linear: 4kHz to 44.1kHz
8 bit u-law:4kHz to 44.1kHz
8 bit a-law:4kHz to 44.1kHz
16 bit linear 4kHz to 44.1kHz
Mono Adaptive PCM decompression (ADPCM) and playback:
DVI 4 bits per sample(BPS): 4kHz to 44.1kHz
OKI(TM) 4 BPS:4kHz to 44.1kHz
Soundblaster 4 BPS:4kHz to 44.1kHz
Soundblaster 2.6 BPS:4kHz to 44.1kHz
Soundblaster 2 BPS:4kHz to 44.1kHz
CVSD 1 BPS:4kHz to 44.1kHz
Voice decompression:
CELP 1.1 b/s: 8kHz
RELP 1.65 b/s:8kHz
Synthesized voice:
LPC: ~300 bytes/second
Synthesized music:
Mode 1: 9 melodic voices
Mode 2: 7 melodic, 4 percussive voices
Mode 3 (speech/music): 9 melodic voices, ulaw/Linear PCM @ 4kHz to 11.025kHz
Mode 4 (speech/music): 7 melodic, 4 percussive voices, ulaw/Linear PCM @ 4kHz to 11.025kHz
One thing that confuses me though, wasn't even the original Sound Blaster capable of 8-bit per channel audio?
The Digispeech Plus is not to be confused with Digispeech, the company that makes the product (the company was later known as DSP Solutions), nor the predecessor to this product which was known as the Digispeech (no Plus) and was model number DS201 or DS201A and used a serial connection.