[ Retro Scan of the Week ] The Voice — Odyssey 2 Speech Synthesizer
November 5th, 2007 by Benj Edwards
I acquired this slick brochure promoting “The Voice” some years ago when I bought a nice collection of Odyssey 2 stuff. The Voice add-on unit apparently added speech synthesizer capabilities (and enhanced sound effects, according to the flier) to Magnavox’s Odyssey 2 console. I don’t own a “The Voice,” but I’ve always wanted one. They’re very rare, so if anybody has one they don’t want anymore, let me know.
Did anyone out there have one of these units?
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November 5th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I’ve got one of these – I grew up with it, as my parents purchased an Odyssey 2, Voice, and most of the US released games (no Power Lords, sadly, but all three big-box games) on clearance before I was even born.
The Voice is a real blast; there’s a cart called (if I recall correctly) Type & Tell that does nothing but allow you to type in words that the Voice then reads aloud. This was fun when I was five years old, and it said things like “dog” or random keyboard mashings like “IAUSDHOQWSOIDJ.” And of course, it got to be more and more fun over time as I learned various more grown-up words that I compelled the poor robot voice to recite at full volume in the living room. 😀
November 6th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Great story, Nick. When I was a kid, we had a voice synthesizer program for the Atari 800 called “S.A.M.” It was an absolute blast to make it say both gibberish and curse words. My brother’s favorite thing to make it say was “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is” from an Alka-Seltzer commercial. I still have that computer’s voice stuck in my head to this day.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Haha! Good times, guys! I actually still have the system with The Voice and a few games. It has a box but its pretty beat. Have not used it since I was a kid so I’m not sure if she works properly or not. I’m going to have to dig it out and have a whirl! But I always favored my Vectrex 😉