High quality speech at low bit rates (e.g., 2400 bits per second) is one of the important objectives of current speech research. As part of long range activity on this problem we have developed an efficient computer program that will serve as a tool for investigating whether articulatory speech synthesis may achieve this low bit rate. At a sampling frequency of 20 kHz the most comprehensive version of the program, including nasality and frication, runs at about five times real time on a Cray-1 computer.