Keyboard Speak & Read

Bent by Max Sentry

This is a circuit bent Speak & Read (Texas Instruments) with a Push-Button Keyboard added. Each of the 6 "keys" are individually tunable by using the tuning pots beneath each key. The entire keyboard is also tunable as a whole by using the Master Tune knob.The keys are cool little half-ball-bearing pushbuttons, and the tuners are high quality Noble pots discretely mounted in the bottom panel. It ALSO has the following:

• Loop Grab Button (also a cool half-ball-bearing pushbutton)
• Loop Hold Switch
• Bright Green LED (that flashes in time with the unit when it performs various functions)
• 3 Glitch Switches (randomly re-arranges the speech particles into alien gibberish)
• Reset Button
• Volume Level Knob
• 1/4" Output Jack

The way the KEYBOARD works is that, while the unit is playing (regular or with the GLITCHES) you select a LOOP and HOLD it. Then, while pressing the keys, you tune each one to your liking (diminishing right to left, left to right, or whatever). It's pretty simple and pretty stable.

As for playing live, the Volume Knob controls the 1/4" Output Jack, so even with the Volume all the way down, you can select new Loops using the existing 1/8" Headphone Jack as a monitor, and then raise your Output Volume once your Loop selection is complete.

 It doesn't have a battery cover because the extra components at the bottom of the box prohibit the latch from closing normally. I will include a white plastic cover held in place with a piece of tape, but it doesn't need it to hold the batteries in. Batteries not included.

YOU CAN LISTEN TO SOUND SAMPLES OF KEYBOARD

SPEAK & MATH/SPELL AT:

http://montyman1.googlepages.com/home

(not the Speak & Read unit, but the sound and operate very similarly.)

I have some other things at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~montyman1/

If you have any questions or comments at all, please email me at:

montyman1@hotmail.com

I prefer PayPal, but will accept Money Orders in U.S. Dollars.