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The Covox Speech Thing (also known as Covox plug) was a piece of computer periphery used to output digital sound. Basically, it was a primitive 8-bit-DAC that was plugged between the printer port of the PC and the printer, and offered thus an analogue signal output. Image File history File links Covox-Stecker. ...
This article is about the unit of information; for other uses, see Bit (disambiguation). ...
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC or D-to-A) is a device for converting a digital (usually binary) code to an analog signal (current, voltage or charges). ...
LPT is the original, yet still common, name of the parallel port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers. ...
One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ...
The circuit was marketed around 1986 by Covox Inc., for about 70 USD, but as its parts were several times cheaper than the complete plug, and as its design was fairly simple, people soon started to build and construct their own variants — one of them is shown here. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...
The plug was widely used long into the 1990s, as real sound cards were still very expensive at that time. The plug was also quite popular in the demoscene. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...
A Sound Blaster Live! Value card, a typical present-day PCI sound card. ...
The demoscene is a computer subculture that came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit micros (the Atari ST and the Amiga), but demos first appeared during the 8-bit era on computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. ...
An inherent problem of the design is that it requires very precise resistors. If normal parts are used, the values get shuffled, especially for quiet sounds, resulting in distortion. Another problem is the fact that one cannot print and make sounds at the same time. Whenever something is printed, loud noise is created. Nevertheless, the sound quality of the Covox plug far superior compared to what the PC speaker sounds like; and even today, a self-built Covox plug is still a good and cheap way to give old computers sound capabilities. The PC speaker is the most primitive sound system used in IBM compatible PCs, and in fact used to be the only one in use in PC games before more technologically advanced sound cards such as AdLib or the Sound Blaster were introduced as ISA plug-in cards in the...
Commercial products
- Covox Speech Thing. The simplest form.
- Disney Sound Source. A somewhat popular device, marketed by Disney Software in early 1990s, appeared to be a sophisticated Covox-idea based DAC. The low price of $14[1] got the device some popularity. It used external power (ran on batteries) and involved some circuitry to turn it on / off. Sound quality was also superior due to sound filtering schemes used. Games that run on Disney Sound Source should run without problems on simpler Covoxes, however, not any software for simple Covoxes would run on Disney Sound Source.
The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...
Features In its simplest form, Covox received 8-bit, mono signal through parallel port and produced analog output that could be amplified and played back on loudspeakers. Sampling rate wasn't fixed by hardware means, and, theoretically, Covox can support any sampling rate. In practice, however, LPT port speed limits make it rather hard to achieve even standard CD-quality 44100 Hz. Closeup of a loudspeaker driver Yamaha loudspeaker. ...
The sampling frequency or sampling rate defines the number of samples per second taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. ...
Advanced versions of Covox-like devices featured:
- Both DAC and ADC converters;
- ADCs with tiny microphone preamplifiers;
- DACs with amplification;
- Sourcing power from serial port;
- Numerous sound-enhancing (hi-fi) features, like filters or equalizers;
- Stereo capability, either by using two parallel ports or one port with switching using strobe signal (pin #1).
Compatibility Covox plug couldn't directly substitute any of popular cards of that age (AdLib, Sound Blaster, Gravis Ultrasound, etc), but several games / platforms supported it directly. Notable entries include: AdLib, Inc. ...
The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was for many years the de facto standard for audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, before PC audio became commoditized, and backward-compatibility became less of a feature. ...
The GF1 chip Gravis Ultrasound or GUS is a sound card for the IBM PC compatible system platform, made by Canadian-based Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd. ...
- Lemmings — had special promotional edition named Covox Lemmings, released with Covox sound cards; the game is identical to original game but contains a "Covox" level and seven more additional levels.
Popular DOS-based trackers used on demoscene included Covox support, for example: Lemmings, a Commodore Amiga computer game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in 1991, was one of the most popular computer games of its time. ...
The most recent logo (Sierra Entertainment) Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher active from 1980 to 2004. ...
Kings Quest IV screenshot (low resolution 160x200 version. ...
Space Quest is a series of six computer games that follow the adventures of a hapless janitor named Roger Wilco, as he campaigns through the galaxy for truth, justice and really clean floors. Initially created for Sierra On-Line by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (who called themselves the Two...
Wolfenstein 3D (commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is the computer game that started the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5, 1992. ...
For CD-ROMversion: 42MB hard disk space; 2X CD-ROM drive. ...
ModPlug Tracker Tracker is the generic term for a class of software music sequencers which, in their purest form, allow the user to arrange sound samples stepwise on a timeline across several monophonic channels. ...
Also, numerous emulators existed, for example, Virtual SoundBlaster could be used to emulate Sound Blaster on Covox, Covoxer could emulate Tandy 1000/2000 music synthesizer on Covox. Scream Tracker 3. ...
Fasttracker 2 Fast Tracker, specifically Fast Tracker 2 (FT2), is a software product that was one of the most widely used trackers in the world. ...
Impulse Tracker 2. ...
A Tandy 1000 machine The Tandy 1000 was a line of more or less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores. ...
The Tandy 2000 was a computer which used the Intel 80186 microprocessor. ...
Several operating systems have a driver for Covox available for install:
In reverse, DOSBox allows to emulate presence of Covox (as Disney Sound Source) on a machine without such physical device connected. The Windows 3. ...
Windows 95 (codename Chicago) is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical user interface-based operating system released on August 24, 1995 by the Microsoft Corporation. ...
Windows 98 (codename Memphis) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft. ...
Tux the penguin, based on an image created by Larry Ewing in 1996, is the logo and mascot of Linux. ...
64 bit MenuetOS MenuetOS (also known as MeOS) is an operating system written in assembly language (FASM) by Ville Mikael Turjanmaa for the 64-bit and 32-bit x86 architecture computers. ...
DOSBox is an emulator which creates a DOS-like environment intended for running MS-DOS-based PC computer games which may not run properly on newer PCs. ...
External links - Powering devices from PC parallel port, an article of LPT-port devices, including Covox.
- List of games that support Disney Sound Source at MobyGames.com.
- Disney Sound Source programming info.
- A collection of software for Covox, including Windows driver.
- Linux driver for Covox by Michael Beck.
- (Russian) Covox schematics and software.
- (Russian) Covox Digital-Analog Converter, a comprehensive Covox history overview.
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