Probably like a Raspberry Pi today that my library currently rents out. No idea how popular it is but could well be as none were available when I asked.
@herbderbler15852 жыл бұрын
The old voice is legit how it had to sound due to the tech of the day. We all know 2019 tech means the "new" voice is clearly a caracature of the old bitcrunched speech. They did a decent enough job balancing the need to mimic the original while actually making it fully intelligible, but you can never shake the knowledge that it's a gimmick. I guess this is why an old machine that's arguably inferior to even a crappy smart phone is still a highly coveted relic. I compare the satisfaction of hearing the original voice to the sound of degaussing a CRT monitor. Long dead tech for a reason, but darn will it be missed.
@lepidotos2 жыл бұрын
I know the reasons, but as someone with no nostalgia for them, I honestly think CRTs are still the best display technology and will be until microLED comes around, and it was a mistake getting rid of them so soon instead of improving them.
@MaximRecoil Жыл бұрын
"Long dead tech for a reason" No good reason, i.e., no performance-related reason. CRTs are still the best looking direct-view video displays and they have no lag. They were ditched because they are expensive to manufacture and heavy/bulky for a given screen size. I think 42" is the largest size a CRT was ever made in, and it was a few hundred pounds. There's no reason they couldn't still be making CRT computer monitors though, since something like 25" or 27" is plenty large for a monitor and that's well within the practical size limitations of a CRT. I would take a Sony GDM-FW900 over any monitor made today (they are highly sought after now and sell for four or five thousand dollars; and it has nothing to do with nostalgia). For that matter, I'd take the CRT monitor I'm using right now (21" Mitsubishi Diamondtron) over any monitor made today, which is why I'm still using it (I've been using it daily since 2006, and it was already 2 years old when I bought it). A few years ago it was down for about a week while I had it apart to fix and recap it, and I bought a new 27" LCD monitor to get me by, and I hated it. What a relief it was to my eyes when I got my CRT back up and running.
@westelaudio94310 ай бұрын
Well it's still an educational a toy for children. Which a smart phone definitely is NOT.
@DonSMDT9 ай бұрын
i've got an old monopoly game that my grandma used to own that had similar bitcrushed voices and like yeah there is an appeal to a little old thing trying to talk
@RowanBird7798 ай бұрын
@@MaximRecoil I have a 22" LCD LG Flatron monitor that has this really annoying checkerboard pattern whenever your eyes move while looking at the screen
@pepitosbazzeguti10732 жыл бұрын
2:43 the jingles you listen as the Speak&Spell turn on are the same you can listen at the very beginning of the song "Home Computer" by Kraftwerk. Being one of the first examples of personal computer, I think it's a pretty awesome reference.
@davidmurray591 Жыл бұрын
I thought that too! never realised that's where the sound came from
@RetroDawn Жыл бұрын
Yep, and some of the other sounds of the original, that are also in that song, are faithfully reproduced. I'm always playing that song in my head when I use this with my son.
@brianhebert61528 ай бұрын
It's also heard in the Eurodisco novelty song "Woodpeckers from Space" by VideoKids
@WigWoo12 жыл бұрын
Wonder why a 2019 would still look so primitive. They could have put a nice LED or OLED screen in there. I think the new keyboard is a step down
@RhizometricReality2 жыл бұрын
Have you learned nothing about capitalism?
@WigWoo12 жыл бұрын
@@RhizometricReality yes. Make an enticing product that catches peoples attention so they will want to purchase it
@penatio2 жыл бұрын
This is basically a shelf decoration.
@danieljones99372 жыл бұрын
@@RhizometricReality From a capitalist standpoint, these are going to flop. An almost certain loss for the makers. A 2019 version of the S&S is a DOWNGRADE from the 1979/1980 version, and it's not even about build quality, they're /technologically/ inferior. Ironically, I suspect whatever SOAC is under the epoxy resin would be capable of a lot more than this; it's a shame 8BG didn't remove it (especially as he dislikes the product) and check. Then again, the part may not be traceable from its markings anyway. It's a shame, really; they really could have made the S&S a much better product for not a massively higher pricepoint.
@EdKolis2 жыл бұрын
Wasn't it labeled as 80s Retro Edition or something on the box? Clearly it exists for nostalgia.
@droknron2 жыл бұрын
Imagine being the 8-Bit wife, your husband runs to the door, excited for a package. It's a Speak and Spell then he runs off to his backyard workshop and all you hear is him spelling out words on his Speak and Spell haha EDIT: I see a lot of people in the reply to this comment think I'm being offensive. Let me be clear, I love David's content and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I wasn't making a disparaging remark about him or his content nor was I making any kind of comment about his home life. It was just a joke about a grown man buying and using a children's toy which out of context is funny. If the joke offended you or you thought I was being mean, that wasn't my intention with my joke at all.
@lunoseleno2 жыл бұрын
8-Bit Wife...? Niiiiiice ☺️
@allanfulton89222 жыл бұрын
😂 I'm sure it's not a surprise to her anymore and obviously she doesn't mind.
@player1videogames1282 жыл бұрын
This made me laugh hard!
@X3fern2 жыл бұрын
@Nathan Danielson what do you mean
@lunoseleno2 жыл бұрын
😂😂😂😂 oh boy she better run
@alexjeanedvard2 жыл бұрын
The reason it doesn’t have the Texas Instruments logo on it is because it is not made by TI, but a company called Basic Fun which acquired the rights in 2019. How cool would it have been if someone else would have thought of that and marketed some weird voice synthesizer machines instead. Just a thought ✨
@RhizometricReality2 жыл бұрын
Hmm copyright and patents and licenses and other capitalist stuff
@R90002 жыл бұрын
"Basic Fun", huh. Well half of that name really shines through in this product, and it's not the second half.
@hdofu2 жыл бұрын
yeah these days Texas Instruments is creating super calculators that blur the line between computers and adding machines... that kids can now emulate old Nintendo consoles on so they can play pokemon in class.
@ybunnygurl2 жыл бұрын
Basic Fun, gets rights to produce limited runs of classic toys... They do a poor job of it. Unless its a worlds smallest those are a good jod. (Also Basic Fun is a Mattel company.)
@Cr4z3d2 жыл бұрын
@@ybunnygurl ya, worlds smallest is fun
@bobbyvarnell93502 жыл бұрын
These seemed incredibly hi-tech when they came out, I remember playing with one in the early 80s, it was like having a robot, or talking computer. If I was shown an IPad back then, I wouldn’t have believed it, it would have seemed like magic!
@SpottedBullet2 жыл бұрын
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. --Arthur C. Clarke
@supersmashmaster432 жыл бұрын
That was my thought when the iPad and iPhone were new. I was 6 when the iPhone came out and 9 with the iPad, both seemed magical in my eyes.
@nickdavis5312 жыл бұрын
Interesting fact - the speak and spell was used by music duo LFO from Sheffield and Leeds in England. The sound chip on the original sounds way more bit crushed and more interesting for sure. Original speak and spell all day long.
@TransistorBased2 жыл бұрын
I think more people have used the Speak and Math
@mottrex Жыл бұрын
And OMD before them, Genetic Engineering is the song I believe.
@williamdrum98999 ай бұрын
Limp Bizkit used it in their cover of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes"
@jeshkam6 ай бұрын
EL! EF! OH!
@joonglegamer98982 жыл бұрын
If the screen was a bit better, I think kids would still love it. A students mom gave me a ride home from the school I was subbing at a few years ago, and I invited her in for a cup of coffee, the kid came along (I think he was 8 or 9), he saw my speak & spell (the button version from 1978), and started playing with it. 2 Hours later he was so addicted to it we had a hard time prying it from his hands - he was totally obsessed with getting the words right.
@trespire2 жыл бұрын
@JoOngleGamer Hope the coffee was good.
@roblyman15452 жыл бұрын
The really impressive thing is what an index it is of how far chips have come. The original Speak&Spell was truly cutting edge, driving phoneme data through the LPC engine in a TMS5100 chip, drawing them from 128 KB PROM-the largest capacity ROM you could get at the time. It was state of the art stuff. The new one probably plays 16-bit samples from a gigabyte flash memory like you can buy in an SD card through an off the shelf DAC…the chips probably cost less than the display.
@RhizometricReality2 жыл бұрын
Cost? 3$. You pay? 30
@kaitlyn__L2 жыл бұрын
What’s the sample rate of the original phoneme recordings? The crunchyness of the audio (aliasing etc) reminded me of early digital drum machines, AKA no lowpass filter because then it would sound muffled due to sampling too slowly.
@roblyman15452 жыл бұрын
@@kaitlyn__L My understanding is that the original didn’t play sound samples at all…the TMS5100 was a formant synthesizer that modeled the human vocal tract. The “samples” were target values for the formant peaks, plus whether it would play a noise source for fricatives, or a tuned pitch for vowels. I’m not sure if there was a low-pass filter at the output, or if so what the cutoff would have been…it does share that “primitive drum machine” sound. Ironically, for a little more money in the new one, they probably could have used a cheap ARM processor and simulated the original chip in software, and gotten a sound closer to first S&S.
@kaitlyn__L2 жыл бұрын
@@roblyman1545 oh, I totally knew it pieces together the phonemes, but the sample part was just an assumption on my end. So that’s basically like.. well, you could do it on analogue synth modules with the right patches maybe? But in a tiny chip, pre wired just for that. Yeah I mean that’s even more impressive. The audible stair-stepping made me think few-samples but it could just be a low-bit DAC for control of those voice synthesis functions, I mean plenty of synthesisers with save-able patches had that problem with filter sweeps etc too.
@josugambee37012 жыл бұрын
Ham radio operator speaking here... There is at least one system that does software-synthesis like that. The RLC repeater controllers have a 16-bit microprocessor and a DAC, but not much ROM. The spoken messages you hear over the air strongly resemble the pieced-together phonemes that the TMS5100 produce. Probably because when the controller was designed, the processor was pretty fast but memory was still relatively expensive. So they used a hybrid approach of doing DSP in the processor but still storing the speech as phonemes. It has a bank of a couple hundred phrases that can be spoken under various conditions, including letters, digits, and some other things. Messages are assembled as macros by stringing the phrases together such as "WELCOME. TO. THE. (whatever callsign) REPEATER. P. L. IS. ONE. HUNDRED. HERTZ." Weirdly the official documentation for the RLC-3 lists word #437 as "SEXY". I have no idea why that's included, but oh well.
@tbrooks25792 жыл бұрын
I loved my Speak & Spell back in the 80's best Christmas present ever. 😁
@PauloOrtolanCinemaniaco2 жыл бұрын
Back in Brazil, in the 80s', when my father worked for Texas Instruments, the company gave gifts for my brother and me. One of the gifts was the Speak and Spell. I learned how to pronounce the letters and some words in English. I liked the CODE function and when I learned how that works I did CODE on paper with a lot of words and tried it on the toy. When I learned a programming language, I implemented the CODE function in BASIC and later in Java. That's not hard to do. I had lots of fun with this.
@retromodernart4426 Жыл бұрын
Did you know that one could make a plug-in and get the Speak & Spell to say whatever you want? There was a plan in a magazine for an adapter board to hook it up to a ZX81, the speech chip was very good at the time, it was fun working with and very rewarding and all worth it when the Speak & Spell was talking like a sailor, LOL...
@qwertykeyboard59019 ай бұрын
Back in 2021 or something I actually reverse engineered the code function on the modern one! I was bored, didn't want to play on my phone, and was at someone else's house.
@Squonk062 жыл бұрын
This product is clearly a nostalgia vehicle for older folks who remember these from when they were young. What I find ironic is that modern parents who buy one of these for nostalgia reasons can use the justification that it can be used as an educational tool by their kids, which is exactly the same justification many of them will have used back in the 80s and 90s, as kids themselves, when they begged their own parents to get them a computer so they could play games.
@tarstarkusz2 жыл бұрын
I don't know WHO this is being marketed for. Any kid who had the original growing up in 1978 is simply too old today to have small children. I was 9 years old when this came out, which is probably slightly on the high age range for this product, but I'm 52 today. My kids are grown. Even if I had a kid at 40, they'd be 12 today and that is just too old for this. It certainly doesn't appeal to kids today. It's BADLY overpriced. 29 bucks for this thing is OUTRAGEOUS.
@benh14672 жыл бұрын
Yep. Just think how many they're going to sell just from the vintage computing community who watches youtubers.
@MarcusTDM2 жыл бұрын
@@tarstarkusz eh! I had my youngest at 41, he’s 4 now, he can use an android tablet better than i can, he definitely wouldn’t find a speak and spell exciting!
@dwaynezilla2 жыл бұрын
@@tarstarkusz god damn the combination of these two comments is fantastic. Spot-on.
@soniccookie6552 жыл бұрын
@@tarstarkusz I think that if someone got it several years after it came out (not sure how long it was for sale though?) and had kids late, probably their kids could be in the right age range. But I’m guessing it’s meant for people to give to their nieces, nephews, and grandkids.
@michelealessandrini34212 жыл бұрын
A friend of mine had it back in the 80s, it was really astonishing. I remember she was afraid of the "angry" voice it had when you did multiple mistakes, she prayed me in panic not to write wrong just for the fun of it.
@mikeselectricstuff2 жыл бұрын
Is that 8-pin chip a SPI flash? If so, it's hackable...
@cyberguy45672 жыл бұрын
So... doom?
@stellarbastard982 жыл бұрын
@@cyberguy4567 doom on a segment display is practically impossible
@chrisakaschulbus49032 жыл бұрын
@@stellarbastard98 "doom on a segment display is practically impossible" It's always people like you that need to shit in the batter, ruining the cake for everyone. What do you say in your defense?
@JacobHollis962 жыл бұрын
@@stellarbastard98 that's what they said about the idea of computers, mobile phones, smartphones, and pretty much everything else you can think of that advanced our civilization.
@CommanderTK90912 жыл бұрын
@@JacobHollis96 on a display of that size, it’s literally not possible.
@NorthernChev2 жыл бұрын
Man, I wanted one of these when I was a kid back in the ‘70s SOOOOOO badly. But, I was just a little too old to need what it offered. I just wanted it for the amazing technology. Most toys back then didn’t have this kind of amazing functionality in one package like this did.
@williamthompson59882 жыл бұрын
"There's not much here" welcome to modern electronics. It's all done using anonymous microcontrollers or the mystery blob
@Astro-Rabby2 жыл бұрын
And everything is so SMALL, too!
@polaris9112 жыл бұрын
@@Astro-Rabby it's impressive and also depressive at the same time
@Adrian-wd4rn2 жыл бұрын
Well. I mean...Advancement in technology. The original needed ALL of that to do simple spelling games. Meanwhile, a board/processor etc that sits in my pocket blows away any computer from the 1960's-early 2000's...
@MrCptjsparrow2 жыл бұрын
Right. The reduction in board size has less to do with cost reduction and more to do with improvements in technology.
@FlanylShirtman2 жыл бұрын
I remember as a kid getting the raised button model for Christmas, then about a year later the membrane surface ones came out. I thought that was so cool and futuristic, I was jealous of the kids who got them. Looking back now, with my clicky mechanical keyboard under my fingers, I'd have to say raised buttons all the way.
@bepaque2 жыл бұрын
that Dark guy ripped off your comment, he always seems to do that on like every video he's on
@kaitlyn__L2 жыл бұрын
It’s funny how that keeps happening. Membrane buttons, then capacitive buttons, and then modern touchscreens (themselves essentially millions of capacitive buttons). I too lusted after such things as a child while now I’m like, annoyed when even the pick-up selector on a guitar is floppy instead of with a very strong positive clicky action. (Of course I also have mechanical keyboards. I like Box jade and pink switches, and classic ALPS of course.)
@bepaque2 жыл бұрын
@@kaitlyn__L I too am annoyed at the state of technology interfaces, everything is moving to touchscreens and becoming unnecessarily complicated, even in cars nowadays where obviously you don't want to be distracted by menus or bad controls in general. I am also involved in the mechanical keyboard hobby, I like kailh box jades but I can't afford a whole keyboard of them, both because of the price and because of the noise haha. I use linears now (lubed gateron yellows) but I'll probably move to something tactile soon.
@amandanw2 жыл бұрын
I think I'd agree about the raised buttons. When I was a kid back then, I had some similar Texas Instruments toys that had the flat buttons. I didn't have the exact toy that's in this video, though, just some similar ones by the same company that were out at about the same time. Anyway, I wish mine had had the normal buttons. The flat ones were super hard to push. You had to mash on them until your fingers were sore. One of mine was the blue piano-like toy, the Speak & Music. Try to play a song on that, having to mash every button for two seconds to get it to make any sound at all! Also, it was supposed to be a piano, but you couldn't press more than one note at a time. I mostly played around with the sound effects since I couldn't use it in any piano-like way. And then of course the covering started to peel and curl, and no adhesive on earth could get it to stay in place. I loved my Talking Teacher, though. I don't think that one was Texas Instruments. The flat buttons worked ok on that. I played that thing for years. My mom bought the cartridges of higher levels and different subjects as I got older. I'd pretend it was a computer. 😆 Hardly anybody had an actual computer back then.
@kaitlyn__L2 жыл бұрын
@@amandanw in many ways it was a computer! Just not one you could program yourself :) really liked your story though, especially the “piano” frustrations! That just screams a product designed by engineers rather than musicians x) “Carl, does it make a note when you press it? Okay, it’s good to go.”
@TampaTec2 жыл бұрын
I agree, Money saved on circuit board, the company should've improved the screen. I think parents will buy this for nostalgia for kids under 5.
@TheCoolDave2 жыл бұрын
Yea, making these in bulk from China...in their form, I bet they cost like $2-5 to make and selling for $30. They could of afforded to put a little better screen and still make a good profit... A kid will play with this for 5 min, and say give me my ipad.....
@theninjamaster672 жыл бұрын
@@TheCoolDave I'd say 5 bucks is a high estimate honestly the most expensive part would be the body of the device but everything else like the cheap little speaker, circuit board, and screen likely costed literal cents so the 2 dollar estimate is probably much closer.
@Cappytain1012 жыл бұрын
I think if they would’ve kept the high-quality voice but made the screen like the old one this would’ve sold gangbusters.
@Abc-to6im2 жыл бұрын
I'm not a kid from the 80's I'm from the 2000's but mate, watching this videos just make me so happy and nostalgic although I never experienced that childhood. I think it's because I got to play with some 80's toys and I just thought they were cool. I love your videos so much! Please keep it up, and thanks for bringing to us this experience again!!!!!
@kenji6422 жыл бұрын
Fun fact: the speak n spell shares some chips with the Chrysler "Electronic Voice Alert" system found in chryslsr cars from the era
@Alibm802 жыл бұрын
@Capt Shiny lol!
@jackkraken38882 жыл бұрын
"The door is ajar. " Me on weed:"Woah dude, how did the door turn into a jar."
@Mogipbob2 жыл бұрын
"Your door is ajar"
@LegoWormNoah1012 жыл бұрын
I don't think the manufacturer intended these Speak & Spell remakes to actually be used as a toy. Looking at it as a novelty decoration that won't be used very often helps me understand the cheapness and intentionally bad screen. It's just not meant to be played with!
@pleasedontwatchthese95932 жыл бұрын
Yeah, im sure its sold in the adult toy aisle next to the funko pops and stranger things toys
@Lachlant19842 жыл бұрын
Yes it is meant to be played with, I play with mine.
@joey_after_midnight2 жыл бұрын
It does look like... 'Its the Thing, Came from Sharper Image'
@sorrenblitz8052 жыл бұрын
It's really more meant to teach small children to read and spell and talk it's kinda designed to be used more by parents WITH their children.
@tarstarkusz2 жыл бұрын
The problem with that theory is that we are simply too old unless it's a shelf queen. I'm 52 years old. I don't have 6 year old kids. I couldn't have 6 year old kids unless I had a much younger wife. By 35, getting pregnant and carrying full term is very difficult. The first part of Gen-X is just too old to have small children. The 2nd half of Gen-X and Gen-Y don't have fond memories of these things. The novelty was long gone by the mid 80s. Also, Gen-Y is way more nostalgic for the 90s than the 80s and never saw the 70s.
@klinkske2 жыл бұрын
Very true. I showed my speak and spell from the 80’s and the 10 year old girl looked at me, speaking dutch, interested in english lessons. She was not interested in it at all. She was thinking ‘you are weird being enthusiastic about that’
@JadePlays3646 ай бұрын
Now spell ANSWER
@joannajeter99942 ай бұрын
F-R-E-E-D-O-M
@Random_Furry1915 күн бұрын
Wrong try again
@shanehebert3962 жыл бұрын
I agree. There is zero purpose for it as the original one was intended. Kids have stuff that is so much better that this may as well be a stone tablet and chisels. Totally nostalgia and if you get it for your kids, it'll never be used. I didn't even realize they came out with a new one. I can't even believe that someone greenlighted it as a legit product.
@kiyosenl.38892 жыл бұрын
From the perspective of someone who wouldn't give their younger kid an ipad or computer or phone i think it has some merit, but its just mot really meeting modern standards, like it just could be better in every way, i would rather make something myself out of an Arduino and 3D printed case then buy this
@volvo092 жыл бұрын
Yeah, once a kid touches modern tech "it's all over", especially if they've seen a game, or a video, or they spot their parents using them, then all of a sudden they want what mom and dad have.
@YKSGuy2 жыл бұрын
@@kiyosenl.3889 Ya there are piles of more advanced products from companies like leap frog that do the same and more.
@Zveebo2 жыл бұрын
I have a friend who picked this up - her kid loved it. Just because kids have iPads doesn't mean they can't enjoy anything else (witness the fun kids can have with a cardboard box…) A lot of this is old people making assumptions about what kids enjoy.
@d.vaughn89902 жыл бұрын
@@ZveeboI agree that many young kids will enjoy this product today. Not every kid has an iphone. Many parents are hesitant/concerned about giving their child a phone until they are "older". I disagree with you, that most of the grumbling is coming from older people. I am 52 - I think it's kinda cool! On a side note, I feel sorry for people who grew up with technology since day 1. Most post Gen x'er's will never understand my point of view - but there's more to life than the insatiable quest for the latest and greatest tech.
@petebutler51392 жыл бұрын
I think we can all agree the new Speak and Spell is just a novelty gift for adults born of the era. As is the re-issue of the Evel Knievel stunt bike playset by Ideal and the re-issue of the Big Trak by MB, all of which I own, lol. Would you consider making a comparison video of the Big Trak; new versus old? Thanks again for your refreshing content and I always look forward to your videos! Merry Christmas 🎄
@rnistuk2 жыл бұрын
There's a re-issue of the Evel Knievel stunt bike!?!?! I require this to live!
@petebutler51392 жыл бұрын
@@rnistuk oh yeah, there have been a couple over the years but the one that’s on the market now is the best example of the original. It’s made by a company called California Creations and sells for about $40. I bought two of them and they work exactly as they should! There are a bunch of KZfaq videos of 50 year old kids jumping their EK in their driveways. Took mine to my 30 year class reunion and after a few beers, we were fighting over who gets the next go! Now go getchu one and have as much fun as I did!
@adventureoflinkmk22 жыл бұрын
I remember crash dummies being revived in 2004 when I just became an adult lol
@Clay36132 жыл бұрын
@@petebutler5139 The motorcylce device/crank made for that has been used by multiple franchises. I have Crash Bandicoot toy from 1999 that looks identical aside from color.
@petebutler51392 жыл бұрын
@@Clay3613 My son loves crash bandicoot. I will try and find that toy. Do you have a name for it?
@Calthecool2 жыл бұрын
“Well, it’s time to take this thing apart.” Me: “it’s just going to be an epoxy blob isn’t it.”
@computernerdinside2 жыл бұрын
Just a thought, those original batteries you took out of the new speak and spell are probably still good, and that tab was the only thing keeping it from turning on.
@nodak812 жыл бұрын
lol, that's all I could think about during the whole video.
@herculesbrofister2652 жыл бұрын
That's funny that the box would say Try Me when it has that tab preventing it from turning on.
@BeersAndBeatsPDX2 жыл бұрын
@@herculesbrofister265 The tab was most likely supposed to be removed at the store.
@fun2building2 жыл бұрын
Just like a virtual pet!
@graealex2 жыл бұрын
The battery compartment needed a redesign anyway, as nowadays most countries will require it using an actual screw, so kids can't take out the batteries and swallow them. Parents complained that it gave their kids too much energy.
@johndododoe14112 жыл бұрын
C-cell batteries can't be swallowed by small kids. Though D cells are safer, being the size of duplo® bricks. This new circuit is small enough to allow a much flatter case.
@graealex2 жыл бұрын
@@johndododoe1411 CPSC requires all access to batteries in toys marketed for children up to 3 years be through a cover with a screw, regardless of battery size. Battery size is only relevant for toys marketed at older children. The Speak and Spell is marketed towards 7 - 15 years, so the C-cells might not have counted as a safety hazard, if they hadn't been shrinked. Obviously the driving force for using these large batteries was the vacuum fluorescent display, that the new version doesn't have anyway.
@a4000t2 жыл бұрын
These the same kids eating tide pods? figures :)
@jhnhnck2 жыл бұрын
My mom bought one for herself a couple months back. We played around with it and didn’t have any issues with the screen. Maybe there’s some variation between units. FWIW we had a ton of fun with it
@bitcoochie40932 жыл бұрын
Your mom doesn’t know how to spell?
@jhnhnck2 жыл бұрын
@@bitcoochie4093 Yeah she totally can’t. Nobody is allowed to buy things they just want and don’t need to have.
@untrust20332 жыл бұрын
@@bitcoochie4093 The 8 bit guy cant spell too apparently :D
@james21752 жыл бұрын
@@untrust2033 Nithar kan I. Doo I nid wan?
@oddball1192 жыл бұрын
BAZINGA!!!
@HailAnts2 жыл бұрын
You used to occasionally see these units’ screens used in low budget sci-fi movies, as they were the only thing that could display numbers _and_ letters! Sometimes they’d use its voice too!
@-IMAGINE_ Жыл бұрын
As soon as I heard this thing in "Heaven Says" I wanted this so bad so I could make it sing. Idk what the hell is wrong with me but I want one of these from 1978 and look at when this comment is being written 😭💀💀
@JadePlays3646 ай бұрын
Now spell ANSWER
@rianeablaza533 ай бұрын
ME ASF
@spoon31412 ай бұрын
@@JadePlays364 f r e e d o m
@RickTheGeek2 жыл бұрын
I remember as a kid in the 80s seeing the speak and spell (and it’s brothers the math and reading ones) and being amazed that it could TALK! And it was so cool being in ET too!
@volvo092 жыл бұрын
Yeah, those were 2 cool things! Making it talk, and the fact that it was in the hottest movie of the time as a critical part of the plot!
@joey_after_midnight2 жыл бұрын
They should have had a Majel Roddenberry "module" for when the kids got a little older and into Star Trek.. 'Working...'
@KasumiKenshirou2 жыл бұрын
The one my family had must've been released after ET came out, as it would give sentences referencing the movie, such as Elliot releasing the frogs.
@dangerotterisrea2 жыл бұрын
The professor!? I think that was the maths one I think
@boxman1392 жыл бұрын
1:44 I like the subtle "dammit" that David uttered.
@vest8162 жыл бұрын
I thought somebody was whispering in the cubicle next to me. I had to rewind to confirm it was my headphones.
@audvidgeek2 жыл бұрын
i will say that my old Speak and Spell was an amazing teaching tool for my son when we adopted him from China at 4 years old, not knowing a bit of English. He played with it for hours. Within 6 months he was speaking in sentences, and in a year, could spell most common English words...I think this device contributed to this fast learning!
@herculesbrofister2652 жыл бұрын
The fact he's Asian and therefore smart helps, too. And chinese are legendary hard workers
@varahunter682 жыл бұрын
@@herculesbrofister265 is this a compliment?
@MarioRBSouza2 жыл бұрын
I remember it when an American English teacher of mine, resident in Brazil, brought a model like this from the US. I created a computer course at his English school and developed some language learning software for TRS 80. As an electrical engineer, this caught my attention and was a very important and expected moment for me. I remember like it was today. Thanks for sharing.
@hjalfi2 жыл бұрын
Regarding hackability: I can't read the number on the chip, but I'm willing to guess that the little eight-pin chip next to the blob is a flash SPI rom containing certainly the audio samples but possibly also the software. It'd be interesting to dump it and see what's there. If you're very lucky it might be reprogrammable. I'm sure there's something cool you could do with it.
@danman322 жыл бұрын
Sure, change what's in Flash, but what good is that if you don't know what CPU is being used?
@hjalfi2 жыл бұрын
@@danman32 If you find some machine code you can figure out the CPU from there --- there are automated tools which do this. I've just been helping on a project to decode a similar board for a music player toy (which was why the chip caught my eye). We've figured out it's an exotic 8051 clone with 16-bit instruction extensions, it loads its program from flash, and I even have a compiler backend for it. Sadly I don't have any actual hardware because the Aliexpress seller who sent it to me ripped me off. I wouldn't be surprised if this board used the same hardware, in fact, as the AC1082 CPU is very popular in MP3 players.
@DangerousPictures2 жыл бұрын
@@danman32 the flash probably only stores the samples and dictionary.
@shaanee2 жыл бұрын
I doubt thats a flash rom... but there’s a good chance its programmable ... it might just be licensed from TI and has been reverse engineered.. just a matter of tracking down the details.
@JohnSmith-xq1pz2 жыл бұрын
I'll be honest. If I had the knowledge and skills I'd teach it bad words
@ChrisDreher2 жыл бұрын
That brings back memories! Our family had the Speak & Spell with an expansion pack and a Speak & Read. "Wrong, try again" is burned into my mind. ;-)
@jsteezy802 жыл бұрын
I can still hear it in my mind today lol
@TyphinHoofbun2 жыл бұрын
I had the Speak & Spell (red), Speak & Read (yellow), and Speak & Math (gray), but didn't have the optional expansion cartridges.
@psoarchive2 жыл бұрын
In my own personal opinion the real reasoning why "Speak & Spell", "Speak & Read", Speak & Math(? think that was the name at least), and that other TI unit I can never remember the name of, were actually discontinued was because companies, such as VTech, came onto the scene in the late 1980's with vastly more sophisticated educational computer toys that incorporated virtually everything that all four of the TI units did into a single device with a pixelized LCD screens that offered simple animations and a better selection of games. For a period of a few years the major retailers of the era (K-Mart, Toys'R'Us, Brendles, etc...) often had anywhere from a half-aisle to a whole aisle dedicated to these edutainment electronics with all the big $100+ models being on display to try out. VTech is still a major player in the educational game-cartridge based video games console and hand held systems market, having released at least a good half-dozen or more educational video game system system platforms since the turn of the century. So it isn't that these types of educational toys have gone away, rather they've morphed into something quite different looking than what we use to have.
@laurad34972 жыл бұрын
We had speak and math, none of the others. It was gray and navy.
@psoarchive2 жыл бұрын
"Speak & Spell Compact" Was the name of the fourth device I couldn't recall the name of when leaving my original comment. Speak & Spell Compact was less than half the size of the regular Speak & Spell, used only a single 9v battery, and had no display screen. I had one as a young child.
@Blitterbug2 жыл бұрын
Seeing as we're taught to read from five/six in school, this would make a great infant-school or home-school teaching aid. Speaking from experience with my own four kids, now all adults, even if it never gets much home use, it still makes a great device for hard-pressed teachers to give out to six-seven year olds.
@Somelucky2 жыл бұрын
I explained to my kids that the Speak & Spell was my iPad before when I was young and before I got a computer. Seeing their wide eyes trying to contemplate the change in technology is priceless.
@kevnar2 жыл бұрын
"C... R... A... P.... that is incorrect. The correct spelling of jungle is..." The entire purpose of this thing back in the 80s was making it say funny words.
@caeserromero30132 жыл бұрын
100% That's basically all I ever did with mine. Spell Apple: W.A.N.K.E.R that is incorrect you spelled WANKER 😂
@jmreagle2 жыл бұрын
Yes, exactly. It was better than looking up dirty words in the dictionary.
@inphanta2 жыл бұрын
If they really wanted to keep the brand alive, they should’ve just made a Speak and Spell app that maybe sounds like the original, with in-app purchases replacing the modules on the original unit. As an educational device for teaching kids to spell, it would’ve made a lot more sense.
@SFVYachtClub2 жыл бұрын
Congratulations on posting the stupidest take of the day
@inphanta2 жыл бұрын
@@SFVYachtClub you’re welcome.
@2GlitchinAwesome2 жыл бұрын
With in app purchases? Maybe they could include everything in the price of the app.. I do actually see this selling tbh
@eekee60342 жыл бұрын
@sunshinepossum "Ludicrous" was how I viewed a lot of paid upgrades from the 80s on. When the program a company sells cheaply or even gives away free is clearly the part with all the engineering hard work, why do they make you pay so much for bits of data to work with it? But it all makes sense in the bizzarre worlds of economics and marketing. Sometimes, to be fair, the little bits of data cost more than you'd expect.
@Talamasca0072 жыл бұрын
You can download a free Speak 'n' Spell game app on your phone, no purchases necessary. Nostalgic enough for me but like he said, I doubt the kids in the family would be impressed with the new 3D model.
@gregorymccoy67972 жыл бұрын
Played with one as a kid. Thought I was living in the future. It was entertaining for it's time. Geez, I'm the target market.
@mccrh77372 жыл бұрын
I had one as a kid and it helped alot with early schooling. I think the new one should have brail on the keys and a word-by-word talking features. Both would be useful for kids with disabilities :) This device could be retooled to be a very useful device for many people, just gotta think outside the box ;)
@marklechman22252 жыл бұрын
Wanted one of these soooo badly as a kid. I remember a couple of friends bringing theirs to school after Christmas break. Of course we would try to make it say all kinds of bad words but the Speak & Spell knew better! 😂
@pauligrossinoz2 жыл бұрын
You've got to be joking ... the original wouldn't say f### or c### ? Why would they even bother to code that limitation? Now I think about it ... that means that they gave the early test models to teenagers to play with, of course! ;-)
@pauligrossinoz2 жыл бұрын
@Shawn Beattie - yeah, silly me. Of course they didn't have generic speech synthesis back then. They must have recorded a dude saying each word, and he sure as hell wasn't going to record rude words! 🤣
@princeoftherealm2 жыл бұрын
Almost passed out at 2:58 lmao
@freeuploads42902 ай бұрын
Glad I wasn't the only one who had intrusive thoughts about that.
@HighTen_Melanie2 ай бұрын
Really enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for sharing. I had the 80s version of the Speak and Spell in 1983 when I was around 7. I absolutely loved it. I was the only child in my class to have one. Being dyslexic, it was a good way to learn to spell. I’m so grateful to have had an interactive toy that was a fun way to learn, considering the technology at the time. I recently bought the “ET model” on eBay can’t wait to receive it! My Dad has just informed me that my old one still works so will end up with an extra one. I also had speak and maths but unfortunately it apparently died. It was never quite quite as fun.
@DaedalusYoung2 жыл бұрын
"ET phone home!" "Nah, you're stuck here, no circuit bending in _this_ Speak and Spell for you."
@mozamboni2 жыл бұрын
Proof positive that David can talk about ANYTHING and it is a worthwhile episode!
@caprisun6910 Жыл бұрын
This was my favorite toy growing up (the 80s version is the model im familiar with) theres something about the voice that ive always loved. Hearing it makes my heart sing with nostalgia ❤
@lettuce73782 жыл бұрын
I love the new studio! first time watching in a while, and you're production is still the same level of amazing!
@MichaelBennett12 жыл бұрын
The difference in those batteries shows how efficient electronics have become in power usage terms - might be down to the display too though.
@ElectroDFW2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, the VFDs were power hungry.
@RhizometricReality2 жыл бұрын
This is not efficient or cool. They could of made it usb recharged and spent 50c more per unit but no you need to still use wasteful disposable cells.
@MichaelBennett12 жыл бұрын
@@RhizometricReality Nearly all types of batteries can be recycled. Our local council does at least.
@sowa7052 жыл бұрын
@@RhizometricReality adding a li-ion battery,protection circuit, charging chips and a usb connector would quite a lot to the cost, also its going to run for a VERY long time on those AA's
@MrDuncl2 жыл бұрын
@@RhizometricReality Having just found a swollen Li-ion Battery in one of my cameras I would say there is a far better chance of this still working in twenty years time than any device with a rechargeable battery. Anyway, I expect you could put rechargeable NiMH AAs in it.
@bobblum59732 жыл бұрын
At 5:04 when the case is open, the small white rectangular part may be what I've seen in other devices, a holder for a few small coin cells which provide the short-lived power for the demo mode. Pulling that tab out switches from the (probably dead) coin cells to the batteries in the main compartment.
@nomusicrc2 жыл бұрын
I got the vintage one that has the flat buttons on it last year I absolutely love it I didn't know they re-released these I wouldn't have bought it anyways thank you for this video comparing them and actually taking it apart
@tldchuck5043Ай бұрын
I just turned 31 and I remember absolutely loving these things when I was around 6-10yrs old. I still have this one, the grey one and the yellow one.
@megaglowz85402 жыл бұрын
I was honestly waiting for "Petscii Robots invade the Speak and Spell" And the challenge of getting it to run on the older model :)
@damionlee76582 жыл бұрын
But can it run Doom?
@QuantumScratcher2 жыл бұрын
@@damionlee7658 Well done! The 8-Bit Guy will now send you 42 Commodore 64s.
@damionlee76582 жыл бұрын
@@QuantumScratcher oh no, I have been told I have enough of those here. My wife would crucify me if I get any more to fill my shelves.
@QuantumScratcher2 жыл бұрын
@@damionlee7658 Oops...
@morganrussman2 жыл бұрын
Honestly, that does sound like it would be a good name for a game.
@Renville802 жыл бұрын
I think you were spot on with your assessment, David. Nostalgia is the only thing going for these, and given that originals can still be had for a decent price, one would be better off just seeking out one of the originals instead. I never had one myself eith, but knew some kids who did. The closest I got was a Mattel Brain Baffler game for Christmas one year.
@BacAttack2 жыл бұрын
The new one said, "That is right," whereas the old one said, "That is correct." The old one is gramatically correct.
@dan12162 ай бұрын
"They shouldn't have called it 'Speak & Spell'. They should have called it 'Speak Like the Devil.' - Dane Cook.
@adamgardner282 жыл бұрын
I loved my Speak & Math, even played the "Number Stumper" guessing game even in high school. I was always hoping TI would re-release it with a dot-matrix screen like on their TI graphing calculators.
@alexjeanedvard2 жыл бұрын
If anyone hasn’t watched The 8-Bit Guy’s video on Voice Synthesis, now would be the perfect time. It is delightful and the reason why I knew he wouldn’t regard this remake very highly 💫
@SurprenantJamesAB1DQ2 жыл бұрын
If I were on the design team for the 2019 edition, I would have lobbied for a USB charging port and Bluetooth capability to drive modern earbuds. I think that since the modern edition could not be a 100% clone of the original, these features would bring a couple of 21st century technologies to the product w/o killing the nostalgia factor. Unless of course the design team felt part of the retro appeal would be for today's child to experience the thrill of changing batteries just like grandmama did before the turn of the century, Great video as always David, thanks!
@matttintoshplus53692 жыл бұрын
It would cost wayyy more tho, kind of unnecessary
@VraerynDaDragon2 жыл бұрын
@@matttintoshplus5369 Not really. Charging circuits, bluetooth radios, and small lithium batteries...they're a dime a dozen nowadays. Really, they could have enabled all this tech with one or two additional PCBs that may even be smaller than the one that is already in there. Even adding a headphone port would be as simple as routing the signal that already goes through the speaker to a muting circuit that re-routes the audio signal when something is plugged in. Adding all that would cost nothing at all, even that modern one likely uses off-the-shelf components that probably cost pennies, the only thing the company needed to "make" is the plastic shell, I am fairly certain all they really did was load a custom firmware on a generic LCD board with audio decoding capabilities. All the tech mentioned by James could probably have been added with little to no dent in profit margin.
@kaitlyn__L2 жыл бұрын
I like how the eBay listing for a “1978 vintage” unit you show is clearly actually the 2019 reissue going by the picture - no TI logo.
@bfs872 жыл бұрын
David has once again made my day, all of the videos have a unique infinitely re-watchable characteristic.
@joshmcgootermier23012 жыл бұрын
Wow. Just gave mine from the 80s to my daughter. So glad you made this.
@player1videogames1282 жыл бұрын
How cool, does she enjoy it? With the new technology out I would be interested if it would entities today
@joshmcgootermier23012 жыл бұрын
@@player1videogames128 totally does. She's two so carrying it is quite the workout. I think the one benefit of it is that it is what it is and that there aren't side distractions and applications like using a tablet.
@player1videogames1282 жыл бұрын
So cool! Glad you get to pass that down to your little girl!
@Zeitgeistmusic9972 жыл бұрын
@3:55 I think his original speak and spell had a stroke like Dick Clark in his later years. It sounds like Dick Clark. Those units weren't that slurred.
@vcv65602 жыл бұрын
"Not all change is progress." Paul Harvey. The whole Speak & Spell / Math / Read WAS amazing for the late 70s. Computers and Electronics (formally Popular Electronics) magazine featured an article on interfacing to a Sinclair ZX-81. Feb 83, "Talk Can be Cheap" pg. 39 available now, like so much else on-line!
@Zenas5212 жыл бұрын
I'm surprised they didn't re-release a three in one combo unit. Their was a speak and math, speak and spell, and a speak and... read? They certainly have the space for it.
@racecar_spelled_backwards8682 жыл бұрын
IIRC the OG Speak-and-Spell voice was tied up with Chrysler! Chrysler got TI to do voice modulation in some of their higher end cars (New Yorker) and the S&S was a product of the repurposing of the voice modulator chipset. I also remember Chrysler charging more for a female voice! I think it was Chrysler -> Speak-and-Spell but it may be vice versa.
@racecar_spelled_backwards8682 жыл бұрын
@@slightlyevolved From the early 80's there were 2 models I think 4 was 4KB ROM and the other was 16KB. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bqqnftR0v9Kvnqs.html
@Noweee2 жыл бұрын
Offered the original to my son around his 6yo and he kept using it for a few days, successfully too. There is a narrow market for these kids that doesn't yet own a cellhone and are curious enough. I wouldn't even have tried the new version though, what's interesting is the original sound, and fiddling around with it makes it an entertaining project.
@thinkingfield2 жыл бұрын
This is the only channel where I would watch an unboxing of a speak and spell.
@twocvbloke2 жыл бұрын
My dad got me one at a car boot sale back in the 90s, I think he was more fascinated by it being able to synthesise a human(ish) voice than I was, I found it about as fun to use as a Sinclair ZX81, cos even at that point we had BBC micros (still!) in school that were "better", it was still just as bad mind, but at least you didn't end up with a numb finger that you did from "typing" on the membrane keyboard... :P
@danieljones99372 жыл бұрын
@@McCoy-00 I did. I had a ZX81 with 16K RAMpack back in the day. I remember typing in a two-page hex dump of a game for it from a magazine (I think it was Your Computer or similar) with my dad. It took what seemed like forever. When we were finished, we were supposed to save it and not try and list it as it would crash the machine. I didn't know that and before my dad could stop me I did try to list it and guess what... My dad just walked off at that point. I typed it in again on my own though and it didn't seem to take as long TBH. That time I just saved it. :) I /think/ it was 'Bipods', one of the few 'hi-res' games for the machine.
@superjimnz2 жыл бұрын
The speak & spell WAS amazing for 1978... it must be one of the first consumer applications of a voice synthsizer. I'm still impressed by its capabilities for that era, especially when you compare against other stuff in the subsequent decade or more. We still have the round hard button version which belonged to my older brother.
@hywelw2 жыл бұрын
I don't know if there's a British version of this "reboot" version... but I bet it doesn't make the complete HASH the original British version made of the letter "Z". My cousin had the first generation raised button version and the British version of course had all the British spellings of the words (all the same words I understand - just the UK spellings). What always cracked us up was how the machine would pronounce the letter "Z". Obviously, the Brit version couldn't say Zee (although we knew you Americans used this weird way of saying the letter from Sesame Street which aired here almost unedited at the time too). Pressing Z on the original (and second generation flat button) British version ended up with a completely different sounding voice saying something close to Zead with the sounding a bit like white noise! Oh how we laughed and got more fun out of that noise alone than actually using it for spelling tests! Everything else about the UK version was the same as the American version including its American accent, which today resembles a cruder version of Professor Stephen Hawkins' speech synthesiser.
@AutPen382 жыл бұрын
The thing I most remember was that it used American spellings, which made it somewhat useless as an education aid for British kids. I used to hate how it would say that my spelling of "Colour" was incorrect when it obviously wasn't. Because of this, I've hated America and everything American ever since 1981.
@beardalaxy2 жыл бұрын
Oh man, this brought back some crazy memories. My grandparents still had the one they bought for their kids when I was growing up and I used to play on this thing all the time. When my dad would quiz me on my spelling tests he'd say it in the voice of the Speak and Spell. "That is correct. Now spell *exacerbate* ."
@stellajacobson2312 жыл бұрын
I know this has nothing to do with the actual video but just have to tell you that you have the best intro I've ever come across on KZfaq. It always puts a smile on my face:)
@Squonk062 жыл бұрын
IIRC he's had this version since sometime in mid-to-late 2017, and every time I see it, I hope that he never changes it. It's just perfect at setting the mood for an 8-Bit Guy video.
@vintagethrifter21142 жыл бұрын
Back then, the most common toy that could talk were dolls. Most of the talking toys used a record type disk to repeat phrases. The Mega Toy talking robot from the 1970s/early 1980s used 8-tracks. Teddy Ruxpin used cassette tapes in the mid 1980s. The other feature of Speak and Spell was its digital display. This was also what made the Little Professor calculator popular, another Texas Instrument release around the same time.
@Melissa07742 жыл бұрын
So who makes the new Speak N Spell now? I had one of these when I was a kid in the early 90's. My dad worked at Texas Instruments at the time and he met the guy who did the voice recordings for the Speak N Spell. I also had the math and music ones. But my favorite TI toy was the Voyager. You really need to find one of those on eBay and do a video on it! It was a head set with a microphone, where a guy asks' you questions about different topics in the books that come with it. You could answer "yes," "no," "true," or "false," into the microphone and it would respond. It had all kinds of quizzes and games and stuff. It came with removable cartridges and books on different topics like, space, dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, etc. I still have my old Voyager, but unfortunately it no longer works and I only have one cartridge. I've always wanted to know more about the guy who did the voice recordings for it because he was so funny! My favorite feature was the voice change function. He reminded me of that scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robbin Williams is explaining to the social worker what he does as a cartoon voice actor. He'd be like, "Do you want me to change my voice?" Then you respond yes or no for each one. He'd be like, "OK HOW 'BOUT I SOUND LIKE THIS? or h o w ' b o u t i s o u n d l i k e this? or HOW'boutIsoundLIKEthis?" You get what I mean, right? (I'm trying my best to convey in writing, what they guy in the headset sounded like. It was a breakthrough in voice recognition technology at the time. I really with someone would do a KZfaq video about one and I can't believe no one has, yet.
@craigjensen68532 жыл бұрын
Wait, there was an actual guy who had that voice? Boy, he must have been fun to work with. I would have loved going to meetings and listening to him speak (and perhaps even spell). I wonder if he ever had to let people go and went up to them and said "spell 'fired'" {employee: f-i-r-e-d} "correct. pack your things".
@Melissa07742 жыл бұрын
@@craigjensen6853 Yeah, unfortunately, I can't remember his name and my dad died four years ago.
@craigjensen68532 жыл бұрын
@@Melissa0774 Sorry to hear that.
@caliado2 жыл бұрын
When I first heard the modern version saying "That is right" I immediately remember the original version saying "that is correct"
@kathrynradonich39822 жыл бұрын
I loved my speak and spell as a kid in the early 90s. Hearing it talk was mind blowing when most electronics were just beeps and boops.
@midimusicforever2 жыл бұрын
I think the remake's design shows proper homage to the original. But it for sure ain't identical.
@WhatALoadOfTosca2 жыл бұрын
It looks a bit like a Chinese knock-off. The printed keyboard is poorly done.
@dcarbs29792 жыл бұрын
@@WhatALoadOfTosca Probably because it is!
@unoyoshiblu7002 жыл бұрын
I am italian, and this was called "Grillo Parlante", in italy. It means "Talking Cricket" as a reference to Pinocchio.
@andrewhillis954410 ай бұрын
THIS DEVICE WAS SO GOOD THAT DEPECHE MODE'S FIRST ALBUM WAS CALLED 'SPEAK AND SPELL' AND OMD USED IT ON THE TRACK 'GENETIC ENGINEERING' FROM THE 'DAZZLE SHIPS' ALBUM ! ! !
@thecaveofthedead2 жыл бұрын
Designed, specced, and priced for Gen-X impulse buying.
@Flatcetera2 жыл бұрын
Designed, specced and priced for late stage capitalism where cutting corners is more important than making a good product. This is not a generational issue, it’s an economic and cultural one.
@harrkev2 жыл бұрын
Now we are just waiting for the keychain version that runs on LR44 batteries.
@HelloKittyFanMan.2 жыл бұрын
Cave: And your attempted point is...?
@HelloKittyFanMan.2 жыл бұрын
@@Flatcetera: The voice got _better,_ actually.
@HelloKittyFanMan.2 жыл бұрын
@Capt Shiny: Yes, it could've stayed like the 80s voice, or even gotten like the 70s one, duh.
@BloomingHeathers2 жыл бұрын
3:31 it's speaking of words
@EvilNightwolf2 жыл бұрын
This means we need a combination of the old visuals and the new sounds. Now i'm just waiting to see that. :)
@johncollins1582 жыл бұрын
You are great in every content you provide, I've been watching you since 5 years, I watched all of your keyboards demonstrations, video games cartridges, 8bit music and much more, thank you!
@j.d.69152 жыл бұрын
I loved my 80's speak and spell. Probably one of the reasons I'm such a good speller. I agree that it had a magical feeling that it could talk, just like the Sound Blaster in the early 90's.
@darktetsuya2 жыл бұрын
I mean I remember having one as a kid, sure yeah it was neat at the time but these days it's just not that novel anymore. I *will* say I was blown away during the teardown and seeing almost nothing on the inside, man the tech has come pretty far since then, huh? Now if they'd re-released the big blocky Entex Super Cobra, that one I might pick up!
@Scarasyte2 жыл бұрын
Somewhere in my house I still have my childhood's Magic Wand Reader. I don't know why but as a child I named mine Simon. "beep boop boop beep! I am your magic wand reader, come read with me". Aww man just typing that gives me a trip.
@moji_mojyo Жыл бұрын
Now spell ànßwęr
@Corad42 жыл бұрын
The one aspect I quite like about the original is how it sounds. I love the way the voice sounds like. The new one is just too clear and it loses that charm
@mrmimeisfunny2 жыл бұрын
"Been on the market for a little bit over a year" "Released in 2019" You really forgot we are almost in 2022. I understand tho.
@The8BitGuy2 жыл бұрын
To be fair, I started this video months ago.
@AndrewHalliwell2 жыл бұрын
@@The8BitGuy to be extra fair, 2020was the year that never... Well... Was.
@cyberyogicowindler2448 Жыл бұрын
As a nerd/nostalgia product they should have put at least an emulator of the original voice algorithm into the remake Speak&Spell (if too expensive, at least use samples of the 1980th authentic voice). For musicians those might be interested too, they should have also added the contents/words of all cartridges those existed for the original, and possibly a synth mode that (particularly if speech is emulated) could play with sound parameters to mimic some circuitbent sound tricks of the original.
@keyhoarder Жыл бұрын
Good point i wrote the same one minute ago. synth mode would be great. so, at the moment, is better to use some speech synthesis or buy arturia microfreak :)
@genevarailfan39092 күн бұрын
I wasn't born until the mid-90s, but I think I had one of these. It seemed vaguely familiar in the video thumbnail, so I clicked. I definitely remember that voice!
@DrTofu832 жыл бұрын
As a kid I loved my Speak'n Spell. The local version had some interesting tidbits: too bad my parents threw it away when it stopped working. I literall wore it down, I self taught myself to read with one of those. However, I'm fairly sure kids here are just periferic demographic. As you told, the aim of the nostalgia market is getting old people like us getting a Speak'n Spell to our kids, get it refused, played once and then dumped somewhere in their room and reclaim it for our mancave. They did a new "Speak'n Spell" in Italy here too, with the same brand name, but now it's a clone with a far different form factor, colorful and with other games. Back then, it was a repackaged Speak'n Spell with a stylized Jiminy Cricket (enough to avoid Disney suing) near the TI logo, and it was rebranded as the "Grillo Parlante" (the name Jiminy Cricket had in the original Pinocchio tale). It was the 80s version, with Italian language in ROM and Jiminy Cricket plastered on it. Otherwise, it was the very same unit
@ClassicGameSessions2 жыл бұрын
I remember the original Speak and Spell pretty well - I was 6 years old when it came out and it made learning to spell a lot more fun for a tech savvy kid! Great to see the comparison of the remake of the classic and the original - there are some differences indeed!
@whogivesacrapaboutastupidc23132 жыл бұрын
While watching this video I realized how much I wanted an original Speak & Spell, so I snuck a peek at that very popular auction site and someone had posted a 1978 Speak & Spell, new in box, for $50 plus $12 shipping. What arrived isn't actually new, but it was in amazingly good shape and included all the paperwork, like it was only played a few times and nobody ever left the batteries in it to corrode. It works marvelously and I didn't know how much joy this silliness would bring me. I've been looking for another 1978 model and I can't find one anywhere - I feel like I got unreasonably lucky. Thank you!
@techpriestsalok81192 жыл бұрын
4:00 wait for wolves as in I see four wolves, Or as in this is for wolves? Also I would be terrified of the original if I got it as a kid, it sounds demonic.