klattsch Turns 1980s Speech Synthesis Into A Singing Instrument
Crash United has introduced klattsch, a retro vocal synthesizer for desktop and Android, built on the design behind DECtalk and the machine voices of that era.
It’s not a simple clone of a familiar speech synthesizer, though: it’s based on the original, foundational 1980 formant synthesizer design that is the progenitor of the family, which previously only existed in an MIT lab.
Developer Crash United researched and implemented Dr. Dennis Klatt’s original proof-of-concept design for what later became the foundation of Stephen Hawking’s voice.
Not content to stop there, they dug deeper and implemented three other foundational speech synthesis engines, dating back decades, all based on the original research published by the pioneers of the field.
klattsch uses no samples. It’s based entirely on what was technically possible in 1980. It’s a chain of oscillators, noise and resonators, buzzy and unmistakably artificial, with the synthesis parameters exposed and editable. You type text or draw notes on a piano roll, give them phonemes in English or Japanese kana, draw the pitch curve by hand, and layer several voices.
Here are some examples of what people are making with klattsch:
You can also share your work with links.
Features:
- Piano roll editing with freehand or point-by-point pitch curves and selectable note transitions
- Per-note phoneme control, with English text and Japanese kana input
- Several voice parts at once, each on its own synthesis engine, including sine-wave speech and a formant wave function engine
- Backing track import, WAV export, and video export with visualizers
The developer has also announced an upcoming beta of a DAW plugin, based on the same speech synthesis engines, with a crossgrade purchase option.
The “classic” version of klattsch – without the piano roll editor, polyphony, and extra voice engines – is available for free in your web browser.
The Android version of the app is free on Google Play with a one-time pro unlock. The DRM-free bundle for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android is $9.99 via itch.io. Visit the klatts site for details.
