:: I'm looking for this ROM, but can't find it anywhere. Did you dump it? (BTW, I think the correct title is "SP'''0'''256".) —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 22:02, 1 October 2007 (CEST)
::: Nah, haven't dumped it yet. That'd mean finding it, and finding the IO board, desoldering it, attaching it to the IO board somehow and then figuring out how to read the serial data... I think there may be an image of the ROM as a resource in the Spectactulator ZX Spectrum emulator in a DLL, that may be an easier way to get it, but I have to check it's actually the original AL2 ROM :) btw, it is SPO256 according to the datasheet. [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 01:27, 3 October 2007 (CEST)
:::: I think Spectaculator uses prerecorded samples. —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 17:06, 3 October 2007 (CEST)
::::: It does, but it also has the ROM as a resource in the DLL. It's 2K, same as the real one. [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 22:14, 3 October 2007 (CEST)
:::::: Good news, everyone! Joe Zbiciak has uploaded a dump of the AL2[http://spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/sp0256-al2/] — and he even has Microchip Technology's permission! (I'm not sure if they would allow redistribution, though.) —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 23:26, 3 October 2007 (CEST)
::::::: BTW, are you ''sure'' that's the same ROM? The µSpeech has its own 2K ROM (containing Z80 code). —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 03:18, 6 October 2007 (CEST)
:::::::: Yes, this is the correct ROM. I assume the Currah has a ROM to add functionality under BASIC etc. There may also be some other software for the SSA-1 for the CPC, maybe even a Z80 one to provide RSX's like |say,"hello", can't remember. [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 06:21, 8 October 2007 (CEST)
::::::::: You ''assume'' so? — I thought I just said that it ''does'' have such a ROM! :) I'm still not sure whether to believe you. What's the MD5SUM of the ROM in Spectaculator? Is it <tt>54db0ac274146f8c95f8fbd7bab62cdf</tt>, <tt>052f6af718337e35e76693723e1d73e3</tt>, or is it something else? —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 20:37, 8 October 2007 (CEST)
:::::::::: Yes, I ''assume'' that's what the Z80 code is for, you didn't say what the Z80 was used for :) The md5 is not the same as either of those above, and the ROM does not appear to be Z80 code. It may well be encrypted, but I don't really care since I've got the official download now and Joe was also good enough to provide a disassembly to go along with it :) [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 03:13, 10 October 2007 (CEST)
== Rename ==
I feel as if I should probably fix this each time I leave a comment on this page, so here goes. Unless there are any objections, I'll rename the page to SP0256 and mention that it's often referred to as the "SPO256". (The datasheets certainly use an '0'.) —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 21:08, 8 October 2007 (CEST)
: The ARCHER datasheet definitely uses an 'O'. The GI datasheet is not a particularly good scan, and the font doesn't distinguish between the '0' and the 'O'. Look at the word 'ROM' and compare that to 'SPO256A' at the top of the page, they look the same. The last two pages of the GI datasheet show the chip in the circuit diagrams with as 'SPO256', the 'O' is identical to the word 'OUT', and slightly different to the '0' where it says '10,11,13'. The chip I have does not have any other '0' or 'O' printed on it to compare. This would suggest that it is supposed to be the letter O. [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 03:03, 10 October 2007 (CEST)
:: Were you looking at [[:Image:Sp0256al2 datasheet.pdf|this copy]] of the Archer datasheet? If so, please do take a look at [http://support.radioshack.com/support_supplies/doc17/17517.htm these scans]. However, the GI datasheet would seem to be a more authoratative source. Any chance of a link to that? :) —[[User:Stuart Brady|Stuart Brady]] 17:54, 10 October 2007 (CEST)
::: Yes, I was looking at that, and now I see it's actually OCR'd. The GI datasheet is here [http://baec.tripod.com/datasheets/SPO256.pdf]. [[User:Executioner|Executioner]] 14:37, 11 October 2007 (CEST)
'''Edition :'''
I did a brief edit thanks to Hermol from CPCRulez who gave me this list of games using the vocal synthetiser from amstrad.
He also made some video (available on youtube/cpcrulez) demonstrating such "performances"...
Also it's a shame those hardware weren't more documented, nor implemented in emulators or soundtrackers...
The demoscene did nothing with it !
But this had a good potential in fact.
Imagine a song from Daft Punk with this card used...Harder, Better, Faster Robot rock.
Sort of.
---MacDeath. 2 oct 2009.