Greetings and Welcome to LGR Oddware: Exploring the Forgotten World of Sound Devices

In this episode of LGR Oddware, we're taking a closer look at hardware and software that is odd, forgotten, and obsolete. Today's focus is on the Digispeech Plus, a parallel port sound device that promises more than just simple digitized speech. As its name suggests, it can do digital speech, but also offers additional features that set it apart from other devices of its kind.

The DSP Digispeech Plus: A Sound Blaster Compatible Wonders

The Digispeech Plus is an interesting device that not only boasts compatibility with the popular Sound Blaster sound card, but also offers PCM sample playback and FM synthesizer emulation. This means that users can enjoy a wide range of sounds and music, from digitized speech to synthesized melodies. The device's capabilities are further enhanced by its AdLib emulation, which allows it to mimic the sound of classic games and software.

The History Behind DSP Solutions Digispeech Plus

The DS311 is a model of the Digispeech Plus, which was released in 1994. At that time, the device was sold directly through the company or one of its partners, and its price was around $150. The manufacturer, Digispeech Incorporated, later changed its name to DSP Solutions in 1993. Despite being a relatively rare device, it has gained a reputation for being a capable sound card alternative.

Unboxing the DSP Solutions Digispeech Plus

When we received the Digispeech Plus, it came in an unassuming box made of plain white cardboard. The device itself is small and compact, with a speaker housing that houses the parallel port connector. The packaging was sparse, but the device was included in a notepaper note with a recommendation to try playing Super Fighter on it.

The Unique Features of the Digispeech Plus

So, what makes the Digispeech Plus stand out from other sound devices of its kind? For one thing, it's Sound Blaster compatible, which means that users can enjoy high-quality audio playback. The device is also capable of OPL2 and FM synth over parallel, making it a great alternative to other sound cards of its time.

The Documentation: A Treasure Trove of Information

When we took a closer look at the documentation that came with the Digispeech Plus, we were amazed by the wealth of information contained within. The device's capabilities are detailed in excruciating detail, from the 16-bit stereo PCM playback to the OPL capability. This level of documentation suggests that the manufacturer was confident in the device's abilities and wanted to provide users with all the information they needed to get the most out of their investment.

Conclusion: A Capable Sound Device Worth Exploring

Despite being a relatively rare device, the Digispeech Plus is a capable sound card alternative that offers more than just simple digitized speech. Its Sound Blaster compatibility, PCM sample playback, and FM synthesizer emulation make it a great choice for users looking to upgrade their audio experience. While it may not be as well-known as other devices of its kind, the Digispeech Plus is definitely worth exploring for anyone interested in sound devices and their history.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Greetings and welcome to LGR Oddware.Where we're taking a lookat hardware and software that is odd,forgotten, and obsolete likethis little thing right here.Another one of thoseparallel port sound devices.This is the DSP DigispeechPlus, and as the name impliesit can do digital speechplus other things.I think I'll let it speak for itself.- I do morethan simple digitized speech.I am also Sound Blaster-compatiblewith PCM sample playback andFM synthesizer emulation.- Yeah, that's right.In addition to its Digispeech standard,it's also Sound Blastercompatible, with AdLib emulationand all kinds of interesting thingsover a parallel printer port connection.Yeah, let's check it out.All right, it's time tocheck out the DSP SolutionsDigispeech Plus, the DS311.And yes it does come in aoverwhelmingly underwhelming box.Just plain white cardboard box.As far as I know, thiswas never sold directlyto a retail or anything,at least not this model.You had to get it directlythrough the companyor through one of their partners.And this one in 1994 went for about $150,probably, more or less. Ican't find a concrete price.But some other similar devicesfrom DSP were around thereso we're going with that.And yeah, DSP used to be knownas Digispeech Incorporated.They changed it in 1993, with this DS311having the DSP Solutionscompany name on there, and yeah.Got some stuff inside.And yeah, thank you very much to Brandonfor hooking me up with this,just on loan to check out.He's sent over a number of things.Awesome supporter of the show.And he included a notewith this one as well,and actually recommended thatI try playing Super Fighterwith it and seeing how that performs.I will have to do that.An appropriate game torecommend checking out,coming from the founderof Super Fighter Team.Yeah, anyway, thanks again Brandon,because the DigispeechPlus is not an easy deviceto come across.And yeah, this is pretty muchthe whole thing right here.It's just a parallel port sound devicepacked into a little speakerhousing with some I/O on there.And despite being aparallel port sound devicethis is not a clone ofthe Covox Speech Thingor the Disney SoundSource, or any of those.And that's what makesthis Plus version special.This is a Sound Blaster compatible,and it's not just an OPL2 orthree FM synth over paralleleither, it's got SoundBlaster compatibility.And yeah, if we checkout the documentationyou'll see a whole bunchof lovely numbers hereyou can peruse at your leisure.But, check that out, I mean,the whole thing with thiswas that it was a 16-bitstereo PCM playback thingwith also OPL capability.So, very much like anoriginal Sound Blaster.Not the later ones like the Pro or the 16or anything like that.Just the OG Sound Blasterwith all the kind of supportthat you would really expect.Quite capable, if it doeswhat it says it does.And yet, despite the documentation sayingthat it's \"the firstexternal sound peripheralto deliver 16-bit CD quality musicwith stereo audio capabilities,\"that's just simply not true.In fact, DSP Solutions themselveshad already done it before this.And that was with the DS301A,known as the PortableSound Plus from 1993.Now I don't have one of these,but VWestlife has covered thatover on his YouTube channel.So, check that outif you'd like to see a littlebit of that being used.And really, as far as I cantell the Digispeech Plus hereis effectively a rehousedversion of the DS301,the Portable Sound Plus.In fact, if we open it up here.Here's what it looks like inside.You've basically got the same kind of gutsas the Portable SoundPlus, as I understand it.There's almost all the samechips and parallel interfaceand all that kind of stuff being used.Even the same DS301 chipthat the Portable Sound Plusgot it's model number from,built by Texas Instruments.So it's in this triangularcase that's kind of a reusedthing from Digispeech or DSP.We'll get to that here in a sec but yeah.It's just all packed into here instead.And on the front of it,you have a multitudeof interesting things.Starting with of course,the built-in amplifiedspeaker right there,got a volume knob,three and a half milexternal microphone inputand then outputs for headphonesyou get dual outputs.I guess the idea beingto have multiple usersat the same computer, eachone of them capable of stereoor mono headphones, andeven a built-in microphone.So we'll have to give that a test.But it doesn't end there of course,we have some things around back.So we've got a stereo onand off switch right therefor changing the output for the headphonesto be stereo or mono.We have line in for line levelinput instead of a microphone,and power going to anAC adapter, nine volt.Which is this little thing right here.So yeah, it does need external power.It does not get power overparallel, least not enough.And of course you got thatright here, permanently attachedjust a standard 25-pinprinter port kinda cablethat plugs into theLPT1 or two or whatever.And there was an optionalparallel pass-through availablefor an additional cost if youneeded to plug in your printerand the Digispeech at the same time.And as for the type of IBM PC compatiblethat you could run it on.I mean, it's pretty muchgonna support everythingdepending on which modeyou're gonna be using.But yeah, at its most basic,you can use a DOS 3.3 PCeven one with a 4.77 megahertz 8088with 640K RAM and 1.8 megabytesof storage, it'll do it.But if you want to use anyof these Sound Blaster stuff,then you'll need a 386, two megs of RAMand an expanded memory manager.And it's also worth notingthat it will not workwith Sound Blaster applicationswritten using DOS extenders.So, no DOS/4GW stuff.And yeah, this is not the firstthing that was made by DSP.In fact, yeah before theywere DSP, like I said,they were Digispeech Incorporated.Which was founded in I think 1988,depending on what youread, by Mr. Modie Katzwho is a self-describedserial entrepreneur.And throughout the '80s, hehad put together all kindsof different educational companies,mostly for computer software.And to quote Mr. Katz, theDigispeech came around purelyby serendipity saying,\"In 1989 I ran into anengineer friend from Israel\"who came to me with an ideafor audio for a computer,\"and this is pre-Sound Blaster.\"So he plugged in a shoe boxfull of wires into my computer\"and loaded a software program\"and I listened to theIsraeli national Anthem.\"I was amazed and toldhim to go back to Israel\"and come back with ablack box, not a shoe box\"and give me something inEnglish, not in Hebrew,\"then I'll work with you.\"He came back with itabout four months later.\"So I contacted people I knewat the IBM education division\"and it became the standard\"for all IBM's educational programs.\"And the results of that work,and the first Digispeechproduct was the DS201A.And I have one of those here too.Which came in the sameboring white box as the 301.And this one came along in 1990.I believe the very first one did.Yeah, Revision 1.0.The big difference with this,besides not being called thePlus and not being parallel,this is actually aserial connection thing.It does not have SoundBlaster compatibility.This little part is blocked as well,so you don't have that extra stuff.So yeah, this is a more ofjust the Digispeech standardthat it was using.And it does not do Sound Blaster or AdLib.It just kinda does its own thing,but still pretty impressive.And yeah, that right therewas sort of the main thing,that Digispeech algorithm at 1.1 Kbps.And also supported PCM andCVSD, complex sound generation,and a number of other things.But yeah, you neededsoftware that supported this.And Mr. Katz coming from thateducational software company background,that was the main intentfor this was having it usedin schools and libraries,any kind of educational usethat you might need digital speech.Which was very much athing that was in demandthroughout the late '80s, early '90s.And a lot of the otherdevices were more costlyand required opening up yourcomputer and installing thingsthis didn't, pretty cool.And it also wasn't as limitedas a Covox Speech Thing.And I found this pretty amusing,I was watching an episodeof \"Computer Chronicles\" a while back,and they were talking about these librarycomputer systems that...Look there's a Digispeechjust hanging out right there plugged into,like all of the IBM PS/2sin that particular computerlab in the library.Pretty neat to see it exactly where it wasintended to be used inall kinds of educationaland learning situationswith software made for it.It turns out the Digispeechwas apparently one of the veryfirst companies to be certifiedas an IBM business partner.And Big Blue themselvesendorsed the DS201A,resulting in it sellingover a million unitsaccording to Mr. Katz.With him claiming that theysold a Digispeech audio adaptorwith every IBM computer thatwent into schools in the USA.Yeah, I don't know aboutevery single one of thembut either way it was a lotand as a result, theseoriginal Digispeech modulesare pretty darn common.In fact, I've just got two of themthat I've picked up oneBay over the years.It's the Pluses, the Portable Soundand the 311 that are not common.And also, I just got tomention this really quick.While doing research for thisand seeing folks talkingabout the original Digispeech.I ran across this newspaperarticle talking about,oh, we'll soon be swearingat computers and vice-versa.It's just the way this is written.I encourage you to pausethe video for a secondand just look at this bit of the articletalking about text-to-speech,it's just hilarious looking backand knowing where we would gowith computers talking to us, early 90s.So yeah, we got the 201 andthen the Portable Sound Plusand then the Digispeech Plus.Well was there ever a follow-up to this?Because the other one did decently well,especially the original Digispeech.The Portable Sound Plus, not as much.So it's kinda no surprisethat while there wasa follow-up planned in the formof the PCMCIA Portable Soundin 1994, I'm doubtful that itwas actually ever released.There's only some very briefmentions of it being announcedthat I can find, but that's it.And then shortly afterthat, Modie Katz was oustedfrom DSP Solutions in 1994.An IBM guy ended up replacing himfrom their EduQuestdivision and the companyjust kinda fizzled intoobscurity after that.And with it, the devices themselvesespecially what I believeto be their final one here,The Digispeech Plus.So yeah, without further rambling,let's just go ahead and getthis plugged into a computerand try it out with thesoftware it came withas well as some gamesthat directly support it,and don't support it.The AdLib/Sound Blaster emulation stuff.Yeah, let's get to it.Alrighty got the lovely CompaqPresario 425 going here.'Cause I don't have a soundcard in it at the moment.I do have one, but I took it out.So at the moment it'sjust a normal 486 computerwithout a sound card, just a PC speaker.Got the Digispeech Plusplugged into the parallel portand I've gone ahead andinstalled the software.It came with two disks.Really, all I needed was this one,this DigiNet disk reallydoesn't do much of anythingthat I can tell.I mean, it includes a lot ofthe same files as this one.Perhaps it was used for someother networking productthat they had, I don't know.It's got some NETAUD driversand software on there,but this is all we need for this.And it put everything inthis DIGIPLUS directoryand that's what we get.So we can go aheadand run Digi Setup.And yeah, it already did this earlier,but just to give you anexample of how it does it up,you just tell it whichproduct you're looking for.So there's a few different ones.Of course, the Portable Sound Plus,just basically the same thing.The Digispeech Plus. CD Net Sound?Maybe that's what thisnetwork disk is for.Whatever, Digispeech Plus.Anyway, you can also seesome other stuff here.LPT1, it detects this as a Pentium.It's actually a 486 overdriveDX4, but it's okay.And yeah, IRQ7, DSP versionand all these other stuffthat doesn't really matterlet's just play the test audio clip.Oh, yeah.I love that.It's so cheesy, perfectlymid 90s, beautiful.So yeah, that's all youcan do in here pretty muchis just perform a couple oftests, make sure it's set upand it is, 'cause I've already done it.And there are a few otherprograms that it comes with herethat you can use in DOS.Like Digiplay and Digirecord.So play back and recordingjust through DOS,basically just handling PCMand a few other types of sound,files, DS Panel, I thinkthat's a Windows thingyeah, we'll get to that.A lot of these are actuallyWindows at the moment.PDigi is a pretty important one though.That'll have the parallelaudio driver goingin the background.And this is pretty much how a good numberof the Digispeech programsor programs that supportthe Digispeech standardwill know that it's there.And as far as I can tell,this actually does workfor things that just supportthe earlier Digispeechas well as this one.And it allows you to mess aroundwith the other applicationsthat it came with.So, here's Digiplay.That's just playing the ding sound effectfrom Windows 3.1 that's on here.And got some stats for whateverfile you're playing, cool.Now a couple of programs thatwere supposed to be on hereat least according to the manuals,you got DOS-talk and DOS-reader,some tech to speech programs, Digispeech.But for some reason they'renot included on the disksthat it came with.And they're not includedon my other ones either,for the serial ones.So I decided to check out thePortable Sound Plus drivers.Just downloaded a copyof those on archive.organd they are in here.So we can just run DR.bat, for instance.- Welcome to DOS-reader.- DOS-reader! So let's openup one of the sample filesthat it came with.-Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,even though the sound of itis really quite atrocious.If you say it loud enoughyou really sound precocious,supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.- Indeed. And of course,you can change all ofthe standard options,pitch, speed, volume, and filter.But yeah, here it is just with all thethings changed around.-Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.- And naturally you can just have it readwhatever text files areon your system, so...- Sometimes balls and fartsand other such nonsensethat has somehow become required on LGR.Life is odd.- Yes it is, DOS-reader.- Thank youfor using DOS-reader.- You're very welcome, DOS-reader.You noticed it says, Speech V4 Engine.There's also a V3 Engine.I believe those are also just compatiblewith the earlier DS201.And also, I don't rememberwhere it is in the manualbut there is several mentionsof it being backwards compatibleor just simultaneously compatiblewith the IBM Speech Adapters.But I haven't been ableto get that to work.I don't know preciselywhich driver is needed.It just says it needs driversand I thought it would bethose speech engine things.I guess not.Not an absolute ton of games that use itfrom what I can tell.But there were a goodnumber of educational titlesand IBM software.And yeah, I just haven'tgotten those to work.You'll see it listedas the IBM Speech Cardor Speech Adaptor, sometimesthe PS/2 Speech Adapter.So it seems like it would support thatand I do have one ofthose Speech Adapter cardsand the little breakout box,which is pretty similarlooking to that, just flatter.I'd like to cover that atsome point in the future.So I'm not gonna worrytoo much about gettingit to run on this,especially 'cause it waslargely educational software.But one thing that will work,there were a few games that were releasedthat specificallysupported the Digispeech.You can see DIGISP.COM there.This is one of GameTek'sJeopardy releases for DOS.I think it's the 1993 one, maybe '92.And yeah, specifically supportsthe Digispeech standard.So you don't even need to put itinto Sound Blaster emulation modein order to get it towork. There's no music.That relies on other thingsand it can't run thosesimultaneously with the Digispeechas far as I can tell.But, let's just get into the game.Yeah, that works.I'm gonna switch overto a direct recordingof the Digispeech here.- Hi everyone,and welcome to Jeopardy.- Here we go, round one.- One daily double will appear on the boardin these categories.- That's it!- And yeah, I mean, itsounds very crunchy,very low fidelity, but it'snot super far off necessarilyfrom a Sound Blaster like an early...- Yes.- Okay, like an early 8-Bit Sound Blasterthrough some crappy speakers.It is really noisy.And hearing that direct recording,it kinda makes it sound evenworse when you got headphonesor actually good speakers.But just on its own, it'sperfectly serviceableand kind of comparable tolike a Covox Speech Thing,maybe a little bit better.However, things get much more interestingwhen you go into SoundBlaster emulation mode.The BMASTER driver, thatsays for the Portable Sound.But yeah, it also just worksfine with the Digispeech Plus'cause it's basically the same thing.It has IRQ7 set there,it doesn't bother with DMA or anything.That's just not a thing.And AdLib seems topretty much work the sameas an original SoundBlaster, caveats of course.So we can go into justany Sound Blaster gamethat is not gonna berelying on DOS extensions,DOS/4GW that kinda thing.Even if you do the \"set blaster\" settingsand try to force something,doesn't recognize that at all.It just is this driver andthe driver will not workwith later DOS games or the DOS extension.Doom, Duke 3D, Quake, SimCity 2000.None of that is gonnaget any sound under DOSwith this driver.Wolf 3D on the other hand will.And see it detects theSound Blaster right there.And there's an exampleof the AdLib emulation.It's not great, but it'sdefinitely not the worstI've ever heard by a long shot.So yeah, I'm gonna switch backover to a direct recordingof the Digispeech Plus with some Wolf 3D.Yeah, honestly, it's not that bad.I mean, again, that's kindaone of those games thoughthat you can get onother parallel devices,sounding pretty good likethe Disney Sound Source,for example.So let's do something that Idon't think that that could do.Specifically, Brandon mentioned it anyway.Yeah, Super Fighter.I think it has eithera setup or an install.Yeah, here we go.It does not support theDigispeech like Wolf 3D.So it's relying completelyon the emulation to do it.So let's do that, get this going.And I'll just play some gameplayagain, recorded directlythrough the Digispeechthrough audio cable.Yeah, he was not kidding when he saidit was struggling with that.It really has a problem playingthe emulated AdLib andemulated Sound Blaster soundslike PCM and FM synth at the same timeit doesn't, at least in DOS,seem to be able to do thatwith anything I've tried it with.In fact another good exampleof that is Duke Nukem II.And yeah, gonna switch over againto a direct capture of the sound.Just listen to this, themusic and the sound effectsnot being able to playon top of each other.Yeah, that's a thing.And another kind of quirkis something that I've noticed on a numberof Sound Blaster clones aswell with certain Epic gamesand other shareware titles.It will detect the Sound Blasterand the AdLib with that driver going,but with games like Xargon here,there are no sound effects,just the AdLib or the imitation of it.Yeah, no sounds.Again, the AdLib emulation is not too bad.All right, one last thing Iwanna try on DOS here real quickbefore we go into Windows is Epic Pinballbecause it has all thatawesome tracker musicand PCM sound effects, no AdLib at all.And so it sounds okay.Extremely lo-fi and crunchy.So it's not ideal,even worse than an 8-bitSound Blaster I think.But tolerable.Yeah, gonna switch overinto direct capture here.Yeah it definitely soundslike you're listeningto it through a wetsock inside of a tin cangoing through a trash compactor.But it's there and it's comingthrough the parallel port,which is just awesome.So let's go into Windows.Yeah. Just got the standardlittle start up sound playingthere because it hasDigispeech drivers going,so check that out.DSP Solutions Parallel Audio 4.05.And you can select fromthe same few modelsthat you can on DOS,at least with thisparticular set of drivers.It functions like any othersound device on Windows 3.1.We do have some additionalcontrol panel thingies here.And it changes the cursor and everything.We got a test sound file for Windows.Yeah.And it just loops forever.Probably that allows you tochange the volume, here we go.Here is just something elsethat's kind of interestingtoo, mix wave and synth.So, we'll do thatand you'll listen to thesound quality change.Yeah.So the way this works is,in this mode it's onlygoing to be playing waveor I guess the synth,either one depending on whatthe program needs or is playing back.With this one mixed together,it's kind of doing wherethe MIDI playback and PCMwon't play over each other.It just sort of goes back and forthand the sound effects takepriority over the synth.So we'll just leave itlike this right here.And check this out, wehave the DSP Sound Stationit came withjust a nice little soundrecorder and playbackeditor kinda thing.The recording format DSPADPCM, 11 kilohertz, 3-Bitand I do have an external mic plugged inbecause, for whatever reason,I haven't been able to get theinternal one to really workor it's just like so noisythat nothing is coming through.It's a noisy device regardlessbut it seems to work betterwith a external mic, so here we go.And testing the recording of the thing.- And testingthe recording of the thing.- Yeah, wonderful mono,3-Bit, 11 kilohertz DSP thing.And it got a whole bunchof other options as well.Look at all those compression things.And just go straight PCM.I think this is the highestquality one it does,yeah, more or less.16-bit sample size, 22kilohertz mono, yeah.Here it is in the higherPCM, whatever the heck.- Here it is in the higher PCM, whatever the heck.- Ya know. It is what it is, again kinda comparableto an OG Sound Blaster in that respect.And you can save it as WAV filesand you can open WAV files.That lovely one from thetest program earlier.So yeah, that's what itcomes with in Windows,not a whole lot.But of course, being astandard Windows sound device,you can play games andit'll work, so that's fun.Yeah, again that AdLib emulation.That's just using it fora MIDI playback here, but,it's just odd.Some things they sound pretty good,and some doesn't sound very good at all.And yeah, there are no sound effects.In fact, let me justblow up a bunch of stuff.It won't play sound effects at all,unless you go back to, not this.Right here, and do the mix thing.Oh, that music.Anyway, now we have sounds.And it does mix them together,but I can't tell if it's just.I don't know if it's overridingthe sound of the musicbecause it's just so darn loud.Oh, it does seem to do a betterjob of mixing them togetheras it does in DOS come to think of it.Hmm, interesting results regardless.Ah, so yeah, that's aboutit for this thing I suppose.You can just use it asa normal sound card,even though it's not a cardit's just going through parallel.That's pretty awesomein my book, and yeah.Well, let's just play usout with some CANYON.MID.Just standard MIDI playback with thatfunky FM synth emulationthat its got going on.Yeah.Weirdness man.It just misses all kinds of instruments.You just never know with sound devices,and that's why this is so fun to me.Well, one of many reasons,being this particularpiece of Oddware, but yeah.That's what this is.Mmh yeah, I'm really enamoredby this little thing.It's the fact that it doesSound Blaster compatibilityeven if a little lackluster.But I mean, it's doing all thatover just a parallel port man.This is nuts in my mind.I know you can do all kindsof things over parallel.There're even video capturedevices that went over parallel,but this.There's something about havinga Sound Blaster-compatibleover that particular interfacethat is just fascinating to meand I'm just glad that it exists.Especially because Creative Labsnever made anything quite like this.They were going to,there was actually a devicecalled the Port Blasterthat was supposed to come out in 1992.But despite being hyped up and advertisedand even appearing in aCreative Labs catalog or two,it never came out.This on the other hand, absolutely did.Maybe not in very high numbers.In fact, the Portable Sound Plusis easier to find than this.But yeah, it's neat, isn't it?I think it's neat!I really do still wishthat it worked with gamesthat required DOS extendersany DOS/4GW kinda games, Duke 3Din particular being a personal favorite,would've been really cool tohear coming out of this thingwith Sound Blaster emulation.But who knows, maybe somebody can come upwith some kinda software or driver layerto go on top of this andmake it work with thisand the Portable Sound Plus, I don't know.It's probably not muchof a demand for that.Anyway, that's about itfor this piece of Oddware.That demo music.And I hope that you enjoyedthis episode of LGR Oddware.Do check out any number of the othersI've got some linked here.And more episodes of Oddware and other LGRthings are always in theworks, new videos each week.So stay tuned for those and asalways, thanks for watching.\n"