Frequently Asked Questions...
Where can I download the Vocoloid voice synthesizer ?
You know the Miku Hatsune thing.
Where can I download that voice synth program?
Answer:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/2604287
You'll need a bittorrent client like uTorrent or Vuze to download it, if you don't already have one.
 Yamaha FB-01 Midi Keyboard/Synthesizer Tone Module ~ Great Sounding FM Voices US $75.00 
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 EMU Xtreme Lead XL-1 64 Voice Synthesizer Module 808 909 Drums Phat Synth! US $99.99
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 E-MU Xtreme Lead -1 64 Voice BPM Synthesizer!!! US $61.00
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 NORD Lead 2 RACK 16 voices 4 output Virtual Synthesizer by Clavia US $750.00
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 Studio Electronics Code 4 Voice Rackmount Analog Synthesizer! US $3,299.00
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 Alesis QS8 64 Voice Master Controller/Synthesizer Good Condition US $479.95
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 Roland RS-9 RS9 64 Voice Synthesizer 88 Keys US $399.99
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 VENOM 12-Voice Virtual Analog Synthesizer Brand New! US $518.69
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 Roland JV-1080 Super JV 64 voices Synthesizer Sound module Rack US $149.99
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 Korg Triton LE Synthesizer Piano Keyboard Workstation Voice Name List Manual US $19.99
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 WALDORF MICROWAVE XT SYNTHESIZER - 10 Voice Orange -Free Shipping US $795.00
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 M-AUDIO Venom 12-Voice Virtual Analog 49 key Synthesizer Avid - OPEN BOX NEW US $375.00
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 Roland JV-1010 64 Voice Synthesizer Module US $104.50
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 Roland JV-1010 64 Voice Synthesizer Module US $199.99
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 ALESIS S4 Rack Mount QUADRASYNTH 64 Voice Digital Synthesizer US $99.00
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 Oberheim TVS-1 Two Voice SEM Synthesizer - Excellent! US $3,599.00
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 Oberheim FVS-1 FOUR Voice SEM Synthesizer with Programmer - Just Serviced!!! US $7,999.00
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 DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS DSI PROPHET 08' 8 VOICE ANALOG SYNTHESIZER SYNTH MODULE US $1,150.00
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 M-Audio Venom 12-Voice Virtual Analog Synthesizer US $499.00
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 ROLAND JV-1010 64VOICE SYNTHESIZER MODULE US $199.99
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 M-Audio Venom 12-Voice Virtual Analog Synthesizer MIDI Keyboard W/Box US $300.00
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 Roland JV-2080 JV 2080 64-Voice Synthesizer Module Expanded with four SR-JV80 US $269.99
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 Vintage Oberheim 4 Voice Synthesizer Manual-- Ultra Rare-- Wow! SEM US $150.00
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 E-Mu Proteus 2000 128-Voice Synthesizer Synth Module SUPER CLEAN MINT! US $249.00
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 SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITS/Split Eight/ vintage analogue synthesizer/synth/8 voice. US $999.00
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 Roland XV-5080 128 Voices Standard Synthesizer, Xv5080 (JV-1080 Rackmount) US $169.16
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 Pop Music Voices for Yamaha SY77 Synthesizer US $6.99
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 IR3109 ROLAND Voice Filter IC Chip JX-3p JUPITER 8 6 4 MC-202 synthesizer SH-101 US $25.00
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 Dave Smith Tetra Four-Voice Analog Synthesizer 110-240V US $849.00
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 4900 YAMAHA INSTRUMENT VOICES TYROS PSR 3000 1500 9000 710 KEYBOARD SYNTHESIZER US $20.00
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 Korg R3 37-key MMT Analog Modeling Synthesizer/Vocoder Keyboard 8Voice Polyphony US $599.00
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 VINTAGE RAPMAN RAP-MASTER KEYBOARD SYNTH SYNTHESIZER VOICE EFFECTOR RAP-1 US $49.95
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 Alesis QS6.2 Synth Keyboard Synthesizer 64 Voice Expandable NEW US $550.00
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 Oberheim OB-MX 10 Voice Analog Synthesizer Vintage Rare AS-IS + cards US $2,840.00
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 Venom - 12-Voice Virtual Analog Synthesizer US $499.00
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 Roland fantom xr 128 voice rack synthesizer sampler sample tools expantion US $649.00
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 Korg microKORG 37-mini Micro key 4-voice Synthesizer & Vocoder PROAUDIOSTAR US $399.00
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 Dave Smith Instruments Tetra Multitimbral Four-Voice Analog Synthesizer US $772.59
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 Ensoniq SD-1 32 Voice Music Production Synthesizer Keyboard SD1 SD 1 US $350.00
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 Roland Fantom XR Rackmount Synthesizer/Sampler 128-Voice W/ Flash Memory Card US $559.99
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 Alesis QS6 64 Voice Synthesizer Reference Manual Book US $16.95
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 Roland JUNO-D 64 Voice Synthesizer Keyboard Workstation for repair US $249.00
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 Lot of 2 ROLAND JV-1010 64 VOICE SYNTHESIZER MODULES US $199.90
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 Korg Microkorg XL 37-key Music Synthesizer With 8 Voice Vocoder Microphone Kit US $499.99
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 Roland Super JV-1080 Synthesizer Module w/Orchestral Voices Expansion Card US $249.00
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 Oberheim OB-MX ObMX spare voice card 2 voices RARE vintage analog synthesizer US $747.00
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 Used Roland JV-2080 JV 2080 64-Voice Synthesizer Module WorldWide Ship US $269.99
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 Korg microKORG 37-key Mini 4-voice Synthesizer/Vocoder. New B-stock Micro Synth! US $319.00
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 Roland JV-1080 64 Voice Synthesizer Module US $229.99
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 Oberheim FVS-1 Four Voice SEM Vintage Analog Synthesizer! NEW BUSHINGS! SERVICED US $5,499.00
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 Korg R3 8 Voice Analog Synthesizer with Radias Engine US $599.00
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 Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 PE (8-Voice Analog Synthesizer) US $2,099.00
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 Oberheim OBXA OB-XA OB XA Vintage Analog Synthesizer! 8 Voice! US $3,499.00
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 Dave Smith Tetr4 Tetra Analog Synthesizer Module 4 Voice Desktop Module US $849.00
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 Brand New Kurzweil PC3 Synthesizer Keyboard Workstation 76 Key 1024 Voices! US $2,195.00
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 Vintage Japanese Synthesizer 80's Yamaha DX7 Voice ROM Cartridge 3 US $60.00
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 Vintage Synthesizer Japanese 80's Yamaha DX7 Voice ROM Cartridge 4 US $60.00
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 Korg Microkorg 37-key Music Synthesizer With 4 Voice Vocoder & Mic Kit US $419.95
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 Korg microKORG 37-mini Micro key 4-voice Synthesizer & Vocoder ..PROAUDIOSTAR-- US $299.00
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 Korg Microkorg 37-mini Micro key 4-voice Synthesizer & Vocoder US $245.00
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 E-MU PROTEUS 2000 128 VOICE EXPANDABLE SOUND MODULE POLYPHONY SYNTHESIZER RACK US $239.95
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Voice Synthesizer
Roland VP550 Voice Synth/Keyboard at CES 2008
Intellivision: a Game Console Far Ahead of Its Time
The Intellivision was a revolutionary video game console developed and released by Mattel (the company probably best known for Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars) in 1979. It was the first 16 bit game console ever released and introduced a lot of new concepts and technologies: innovative game controllers, superior graphics and sound, game downloads, home computer extensions, a voice synthesis device and a synthesizer keyboard for example.
The CPU used in the Intellivision was a General Instruments CP1610, a general purpose microprocessor capable of supporting 16-bit addresses and 10-bit instructions. The US release used a CPU clock of 894,886.25 Hz while the european release used a 1 Mhz clock, due to the different NTSC / PAL specs, which means that games were running up to 10% faster on european consoles than on their US counterparts!
The CP1610 featured eight 16-bit registers - using a 16 bit CPU in a video game console was quite exceptional indeed. It had 1.2 kb of RAM (including 512 byte video memory) and 7 kb ROM (which included the "Executive ROM" - some kind of a mini-OS - and the "Graphics ROM" which included often used sprites for example). It's graphics performance was outstanding for the late 1970's, allowing a 160 x 196 pixel display using a 16 color palette (all colors could be used simultaneously), plus eight hardware supported sprites offering collision detection, mirroring and streching.
The game controllers were quite different too, as they featured a "disc" (somewhat similar to the Apple iPod clickwheel) instead of a joystick as well as a twelve-button numeric keypad. The disc was capable of 16 direction detection and games usually shipped with "overlay cards" that could be inserted into the controllers (in front of the numeric keypad - switching games required inserting a new cartridge AND flipping the overlay cards).
In 1980 the Intellivision became available in the entire US for US$299, the console was the first to pose a serious threat to Atari's dominance (Atari was the number one video game console producer back then). Mattel sold 175,000 consoles in 1980, with 19 availalble games. After Mattel realized that the game market offered good revenues, they launched their own software development group which became known as the "Blue Sky Rangers".
In 1981, Mattel launched a service that allowed to download games via cable TV. In 1982, Mattel sold 2 million consoles, more and more companies started developing software titles for the Intellivision.
The "Keyboard Component" should transform the console into a home computer, it was planned to include a MOS 6502 CPU (the one used by the C64 later on), 64K RAM and a built-in cassette tape drive. But during the process of developement many reliability problems occurred and the hardware was far too expensive. After repeated delays the Keyboard Component project was officially cancelled in 1982. Apparently about 4000 Keyboard Components had been shipped to selected customers for testing purposes, they are extremely rare today.
As Mattel managers had been aware of the Keyboard Component problems for a long time, they had launched a secondary project in mid 1981 that could replace the component in case of a complete failure. It was released as Entertainment Computer System (ECS), it featured a keyboard with a cassette recorder interface and included 2k of additional RAM. It lacked the originally planned 6502 CPU and the 64K RAM extension, but it was functionalm cost effective and was finally able to turn the Intellivison into a home computer.
Shortly after, Mattel introduced a 49-key Music Synthesizer keyboard which could turn the Intellivision/ECS combo into a multi-voice synthesizer. Unfortunately, the ECS received very little further marketing push and further hardware and software developments for the ECS were cancelled.
Intellivision was also the first game console to provide real-time human and robot voices during game play. The IntelliVoice module, which was required for using this feature, used an SP0256 Orator "voice chip" developed jointly by Mattel and General Instrument. But the IntelliVoice didn't sell as well as expected, and only a few games supporting it were ever released.
In 1983 Mattel also introduced the Intellivision II (which only introduced a revamped case) and the System Changer module (which allowed to play Atari 2600).
In 1983 and 1984 the video game market crashed. The new home computer systems became more and more popular and interest in classic game consoles vanished. Furthermore there was now a large number of video game consoles available, further subdividing the market. In 1983 Mattel Electronics posted a $300 million loss, in early 1984 the division was closed.
A liquidator purchased all rights, hardware and software sales continued until most of the inventory had been sold. Later on, Mattel Marketing executive Terry Valeski created INTV Corp. which sold the remaining stock via retail and mail order. They then introduced the INTV III, which was nothing but an Intellivison inside a new case, and continued developing a few games. The console was discontinued in 1991. More than 6 million Intellivision consoles were sold during 12 years, and a total of 125 games were available.
Keith Robinson, a former Mattel programmer, finally purchased the software rights, founded Intellivision Productions and released Intellivison emulators including the classic Intellivision games available for MacOS, Windows and modern-day consoles.
About the Author
Jos Kirps is the creator of several software and web projects, including Galaxiki, a science fiction galaxy where site members can get their own solar system and the Joopita.com web directory and search engine.
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