SAM text to speech: the Software Automatic Mouth voice online
SAM, short for Software Automatic Mouth, is one of the first speech programs for home computers. It talked on the Commodore 64 in 1982, and its buzzing, robotic voice lives on in memes, retro games and chiptune music.
This guide explains where SAM runs today, what its settings do, why its licence is unclear, and how to make a retro voice you are free to publish.
Where SAM comes from
SAM was published in 1982 by Don’t Ask Software for the Commodore 64; the rights now belong to SoftVoice, Inc. It turns text into phonemes with a part called the reciter and then into sound, which gives it its famous mechanical voice.
SAM in your browser
Hobbyists reverse-engineered SAM, ported it to C and then to plain JavaScript; the JavaScript port has a demo page where you type text and hear it. Its settings are speed, pitch, throat and mouth, and the original SAM voice uses speed 72, pitch 64, throat 128 and mouth 128. Changing throat and mouth turns it into other classic presets.
The licence question
The port’s author says SAM is abandonware: the code is reverse-engineered from commercial software, attempts to contact the company failed, and so it cannot carry an open-source licence. Using SAM for a meme among friends is one thing; for a game, an app or a monetized channel, the rights are unclear.
A retro voice you may publish
For a robotic, old-computer sound you are free to use, voice the line with one of SuperClonica’s ten stock voices, which are free under OpenRAIL-M, and add a lo-fi effect. Our Microsoft Sam guide shows an 8-bit, 11 kHz version in a few lines of Python, and our robot voice guide shows a ring-modulated one. Install the engine with python -m pip install superclonica-cpu, or try any catalog voice free on its page with 30 to 100 characters.