This is just a quick demo of my Commodore VIC-20 with a VIC-1011A RS-232C adapter and serial cable chain running to a Votrax Type ‘n Talk text-to-speech synthesizer. The program is Scott Adams’ Adventureland from 1981 via a Penultimate+ cartridge. As with all the Scott Adams adventure games for the VIC-20, it just automatically works with the Votrax.

While this is not the most exciting video, as a fan of vintage speech synthesis, this is a big win for me, as I’ve struggled for years getting the right cable combination and settings to make the Votrax work. I now need to try it on some of my other vintage computers, including a Commodore 64 and Apple II (with Super Serial card), although I’m not sure it will be quite so automatic. I also need to find out if the VIC-1011A will work directly on a Commodore 64 (I believe that’s the case).

Anyway, hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing and hearing a little of this fairly unusual setup in action: