Create 80s Sounds efects with Soundgin & Arduino/Raspberry PI - Part 1

Dive into this captivating video series as we transport you back to the soundscapes of the 80s
by showing you how to harness the power of the remarkable Soundgin chip to create retro sound effects with an Arduino, Raspberry PI, or any serial port-equipped processor.

Visit my eBay store.

0:00 Introduction
0:20 What exactly is the Soundgin
1:10 Series outline
1:31 Part 1 outline
1:49 The Soundgin's block diagram
2:46 Soundgin compared to the AY-3-8912 Complex Sound Generator
3:40 Soundgin compared to the Votrax SC-01 Speech Synthesizer
4:10 Explanation of a single Soundgin Voice
5:59 The Soundgin sings Daisy Bell
6:47 Explanation of how Modulation Works
8:46 Changing the output sound in real-time
9:44 How to hook a Soundgin up to your Arduino or Raspberry PI
10:25 Soundgin Commands
12:21 Trailer for Part 2

[erikburman]

Wow, stop teasing! I bought your SoundGin chip on eBay and now I can't wait for more information from you. This whole thing has a lot of potential! I'm sure there are a lot more vintage voice synth nerds like me who are just waiting for something like this to come along. Please keep this series going. Also please post some links to the Arduino code.

[erikburman]

Your Soundgin has arrived and awaits activation. I'm ready for Part 2.

[jjqformerlyjailbreak]

Every chip manufacturer need someone to design YT Vids about their chips, taking after this guy. ☝️ I’m in love with this chip now.
You earned a sub today.
God Bless.

[IanPorter-nu]

Just to be pedantic, the AY-3-89XX wasn't present in the 1982 model of the ZX Spectrum (pictured). We had to make do with very basic beeps. The AY-3-8912 featured in the later ZX Spectrum 128.

[katiehultay]

I wanted to say thank you for making your speech chips and testing/dev boards available on eBay. In the past few years, I have taken a keen interest on speech chips and learning electronics (I know little but enjoy learning). I looked online regarding SpeakJet & Soundgin project, specs, etc.

I hope it is OK to ask a few questions. Basically, I want to hook it up to a Teensy board (LC or 4.0 -- both 3.3v tolerant). I have a DB9 adapter (never used one before) and think I only need to utilize, GND and TX (maybe RX too?).

On the Soundgin board I purchased from you, I see a few areas that I would like more info on.

1. The jumper area labeled J2 (with D, B, R columns).
2. The area marked J1 (with S, 0, 1, 2, 3, Q columns).
3. The area marked J3 (bridged to the rs232 part of the board).

thank you :)

[tomcharlesworth]

A great and informative video! But why do you need two complex sound generators (CSG) to mimic the SC-01? Is it because phoneme N (played back on CSG-A) transitions to phoneme N+1 (played back on CSG-B) has to blend from A to B? What algorithm (or envelope) do you use for blending?

[sergecaron]

What a fantastic chip! You mention a SoundGin Arduino library, but I can't find it anywhere. Is it still available somewhere?

[rustyhaddock]

Scott, I've had a SoundGin chip and development board for years. Just curious, what's sparked the renewed(?) interest?