Text to Speech chip for SpeakJet - TTS256

The TTS256 is an 8-bit microprocessor programmed with letter-to-sound rules.
This built-in algorithm allows for the automatic real-time translation of English ASCII characters into allophone addresses compatible with the Magnevation SpeakJet Speech Synthesizer IC.
Combine this with the SpeakJet to build a complete text-to-speech solution.

The TTS256 is offered in a through-hole, 28-pin package. Supplied power should be +5V. Very few connections are required for operation:

The TTS256  contains over 600 rules for pronouncing English text.
While it does a pretty good job of the task, with a less than 5% error rate in most sentences, it will mispronounce some words.
Often times, some creative spelling will help.

Features:

• Narrow 28-pin DIP
• Companion chip to Magnevation SpeakJet and Savage Innovations SpeakGin
• Built in 600 Rule database
• 9600bps (8-N-1) serial interface (non-inverted TTL level)
• Generates speech codes from ASCII text
• Compatible with Arduino, Basic Stamp, OOPic, Pic, and any processor with serial output

Documents:

• Datasheet (note: The correct character to append to the end of text is 0x0D and not 0x0A as listed)
• Tutorial (Adding the TTS256 to the SparkFun VoiceBox Shield)