SAM

SAM (Software Automatic Mouth), was a speech synthesis program developed by Mark Barton and sold by Don't Ask Software

It was launched in 1982 for the family Atari 8 bit, Apple II and Commodore 64

It was one of the first commercial all-software speech synthesis programs

Don't Ask Software also marketed PokerSAM, a talking poker game, and also licensed the SAM engine for use with other games, such as Tales of the Arabian Nights for Comodore 64

Technology

Apple II

Used an included expansion card containing an 8 bit DAC

The hackers created a modified version of SAM, which instead used the computer's one bit audio output (adding a lot of distortion) if the card was not present

Atari

It used the integrated POKEY audio chip

Disabling interrupt requests and turning off the ANTIC chip during voice output

Audible output was extremely distorted voice when graphics and text display was activated

Commodore 64

Used the 4 bit volume DAC from the onboard '64 SID audio chip

Which significantly reduced its quality compared to the versions of Apple II and Atari

Trivial

SAM was used as the basis for the original MacInTalk speech synthesis program

The technology was recreated for the voice of the character “SAM” in the program Chipspeech

SAM was used to create the voice of Trogdor in the Homestar Runner game Peasant's Quest

SAM was used to create the voices of the characters in the 2017 game Faith: The Unholy Trinity

SAM was used to create the voice of the main character in the 2024 game Cash Cow DX