Parallel Resonance Synthesizer for Speech Research
Donald A. Glace · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1968
This paper describes the development of a parallel terminal analog speech synthesizer designed for the needs of a nontechnically oriented user who has minimal engineering support. Salient features considered are reasonableness of cost, ease of maintenance and calibration, flexibility of configuration, and compatibility with various input devices. Four vowel resonances, a nasal resonance, and two fricative resonances are included. Resonance bandwidths are manually adjustable over a wide range. The excitation may be either pulses, noise, or a mixture of both. The synthesizer requires 10 time-varying parameter inputs and one two-bit state control. A parameter switch steers the parameter inputs to 14 synthesizer control points according to the synthesizer state. Integrated circuit operational amplifiers are used extensively to provide linear control functions.