1980s text-to-speech app goes viral after fans turn it into Hatsune Mike and Daft Punk machine

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An old speech synthesizer, originally created by a developer in 1980, is now popular online. People are discovering they can use it to create music similar to Daft Punk, covers of songs by Hatsune Miku, and even entirely new Vocaloid tracks.

Klattsch is a speech synthesizer that creates sounds reminiscent of older technology. Developed by Tony Gies, known as “the government man” on X, it’s a simplified version of the parallel-formant synthesizers popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as Votrax and SAM. You can find more information about the project on its GitHub page.

Gies initially shared the project on April 30th, jokingly calling it a “1980s-level speech synthesizer.” The post quickly went viral on X, gaining millions of views as users started inputting sound elements and adjusting settings to create music.

i made a state-of-the-art-for-1980 speech synth just for laughs

— the government man (@me_irl) April 30, 2026

Retro speech synth turns into Daft Punk and Vocaloid trend

Klattsch allows users to create speech by typing out sounds using a special code called ARPABET. They can then fine-tune characteristics like pitch, vibrato, and breathiness before generating the speech as either audio or video. A built-in demo includes pre-recorded phrases like “hello,” “goodbye,” “I’m sorry Dave,” and “hhhgregg.”

What started as a fun online tool quickly became something more when people realized its robotic voice could sound remarkably like the vocals used by Daft Punk. The creator even shared his own version of their song “Doin’ It Right,” claiming he’d almost managed to replicate it perfectly.

The synth has become popular with Vocaloid enthusiasts, particularly those aiming to emulate the sound of Hatsune Miku or reproduce Japanese Vocaloid songs. Online, people are sharing their creations using the synth – known as ‘klattssch’ covers and experiments – including Japanese tracks uploaded to YouTube shortly after the tool gained traction.

I learned this weekend that if you create even a somewhat functional speech synthesizer, you’ll be flooded with a huge amount of detailed vocal music submissions – so much that it could even crash your browser, Chrome.

— the government man (@me_irl) May 5, 2026

Gies was surprised by the project’s rapid popularity. He shared on the klattsch website that it “gained traction faster than anticipated,” and users have already requested features like piano roll support, a tracker mode, and compatibility with both DAWs and trackers.

Klattsch is versatile and can be used in many ways: directly in web browsers, on servers with Node.js, or from the command line. It’s also free to use and modify, as it’s open source and published as an npm package, making it easy to integrate into games, apps, and websites.

Originally created as a joke, klattsch has surprisingly become a unique online music tool. It’s a quirky mix of old-school computer voice, the style of Daft Punk, and a homemade version of Vocaloid software.

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2026-05-06 18:19