About VoiceChatter

VoiceChatter is a free, cross-platform voice communication (chat) application. It was designed with gaming in mind, but can be used for many other purposes.

Why write VoiceChatter? Because there is no voice communication application that I am aware of that has excellent voice quality, AND supports all major platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac). I am a Linux hobbiest, and I would like to play games on it. However, the the two most popular applications either do not support Linux or have inferior voice quality.

Now you can have the best voice quality available on your platform of choice.

If you wish to try out VoiceChatter without setting up your own server, you can connect to "vcserver.dyndns.org", port 8787. Just leave the username and password fields blank. You can also simply click on this link to connect to the public server.

You can also try the VoiceChatter "sandbox" server, which will allow you to try out VoiceChatter's admin features. This server will grant you full admin access and reset itself and its configuration every 15 minutes, so feel free to change any settings you like. The server address is vcserver.dyndns.org port 8888, and the password is "server". Here is the URL version.

We still need help! What we need most is a sound artist and possibly a graphics artist. See the contribute page for details.

VoiceChatter 1.5.0 Released

VoiceChatter 1.5.0 has been released! VoiceChatter is now fully secure! The details:

  • All communication between client and server is now encrypted
  • Added the option to use the CELT audio codec
  • Moved GUI layouts to the wxWidgets' XRC format, allowing users to customize their client if desired
  • Fixed an issue where assigning multiple users into/out-of groups could only be done 4 at a time
  • Fixed tab key traversing in main screen

    • Please note that old 1.4.x clients will not be able to connect to 1.5.x servers, HOWEVER, 1.5.x clients CAN connect to 1.4.x servers (but encryption will not be used)

    Posted Nov 19, 2011

    VoiceChatter 1.4.7 Released

    The newest version of VoiceChatter is now available!

    Highlights include:

  • VoiceChatter client configuration is now stored in your Windows user's directory. Your current configuration will be automatically and silently moved/imported. This is to fix an issue where configuration wasn't being properly saved if you don't run VoiceChatter as admin.
  • Plugins can now be enabled while connected to a server
  • Using the database backend for server configuration will now be tolerant to being briefly disconnected from the database server

    • A complete list of changes can be found in the Changelog.txt file included in the installation.

    As a side note, this will likely be the last 1.4 release. One of the priorities for the next version will be the inclusion of the CELT audio codec. This codec has less latency AND sounds better than speex even at the same bit rate, so it's an obvious upgrade. However, this will break the network protocol. Remember, all clients/servers with the same first two version numbers (i.e. 1.4.x) are compatible with each other. Therefore, the next version will be 1.5.0 and both client and server will need to be the same version.

    UPDATE (2011-11-19): New (1.5.x) clients CAN connect to old (1.4.x) servers, but encryption will be turned off.

    Posted Aug 12, 2011

    VoiceChatter 1.4.6 has been released!

    This new release greatly expands what is possible with plugins. In that vein, it also comes with a new overlay plugin that will render the clients that are in your channel right into the games that you play. It is highly customizable, even allowing you to have different settings for different games. In addition, the client will save its position properly when it is closed while minimized.

    Posted Mar 13, 2011

    First VoiceChatter Hosting Sites Now Available

    I'm proud to announce that two hosting companies are now providing professional VoiceChatter server hosting. Branzone covers the North American region, and is hosting servers in Dallas, Texas. Kazi Networks covers the European region, and is hosting servers in Sweden.

    Branzone is currently offering the first month of VoiceChatter hosting for free, so hurry and sign up!

    A big thanks goes out to these companies for supporting VoiceChatter.

    I'd also like to thank Branzone for providing hosting for the VoiceChatter website.

    Posted Dec 04, 2010

    VoiceChatter Client 1.4.5 Released

    This is a bugfix only release and only affects the client. The changes are as follows:

  • Fixed crash on exit in mac client
  • Fixed initial scroll position of properties panel when the contents do not fit in one page
  • Fixed audio event that plays when other clients connect to the server
  • Fixed occasional missing MOTD in properties panel when reconnecting to a server
  • Fixed the "transmit" icon when first creating a new phantom

    • Posted Dec 04, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.4 Released

    This release fixes a critical bug that was introduced in version 1.4.3. The bug could result in loss of configuration settings in both the client and server if the configuration file got too large.

    Posted Oct 23, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.3 Released

    As the title says, version 1.4.3 has been released. Only two changes since the beta - a crash/failure on auto-reconnect has been fixed and the ability to bind to a hostname in addition to an IP address has been added. Enjoy!

    Posted Oct 08, 2010

    Sandbox server now available

    I've put up a sandbox server that you can use to play around with the admin features of VoiceChatter. The server will reset itself every 15 minutes and restore all of the settings. So feel free to change anything you like.

    Address: vcserver.dyndns.org

    Port: 8888

    Password: server

    URL: Sandbox Server

    Posted Sep 12, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.3 BETA Released

    VoiceChatter is still progressing nicely. The next version isn't too exciting on the client side, but there are some nice changes in administration features. Here's the short list:

  • Added the ability to store the server configuration in a database (MySQL only for now, but can easily be extended to any database)
  • Improved auto-reconnect feedback
  • Added a "debug mode" executable that can print a helpful stack trace if VC crashes (client only - server executable always has this behavior)
  • Modified some admin privileges for finer control
  • Restructured some of the client codebase to allow the VC protocol/functionality to be used in external applications

    • The list isn't long, but the actual code modifications were extensive, so there will probably be issues. Please report all issues found in the forums.

    Posted Sep 11, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.2 Released

    There isn't much to say that hasn't been said in the Beta news. The only change since the beta is a server crash fix when setting the channel password. Download away!

    Posted Jun 26, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.2 BETA Released

    This release mostly addresses concerns of server administrators. However, a compatibility option for using stereo output was added to the client, which is necessary on some sound cards.

    Major highlights:

  • Added ability to search the server's logs from the client
  • Added "hostadmin" user, which has some special abilities.
    • The hostadmin user can only be used through the remote admin interface
    • The hostadmin user can only be accessed from a specific list of IP addresses
    • The hostadmin user's password cannot be changed without manually editing the server configuration and restarting the server (same goes for renaming the "hostadmin" user)
    • The hostadmin user can change the max slot count and voice codec of the server
  • The remote admin interface now requires a username along with a password, and operations will be restricted to the permissions of the user
  • Added the ability for users to change their own password
  • URLs are filtered out of text-to-speech in chat

    • Also, I have upgraded to Visual Studio 2010! Unfortunately, the SAPI test-to-speech interface on Windows does not compile with Visual Studio 2010, so support for that has been removed until a solution can be found.

    Lastly, all clients/servers from 1.4.0 through 1.4.2 are compatible with each other (although some features implemented in newer clients will not work on older servers and vice versa).

    Posted Apr 17, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.1 Released

    This is a bugfix release. The following problems were fixed:

  • Some of the elements of the right click menu for your own phantom have been properly grayed out
  • Fixed a server crash when someone tries to page their own phantom (this option is now grayed out in the client as well)
  • Fixed the ability to click on URLs in the chat window

    • Posted Feb 27, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.0 Released

    The next evolution of VoiceChatter is now complete and available for download. A few small changes were made since the beta:

  • Fixed an issue where clients would be immediately switched back to the idle channel after leaving it
  • Fixed the option to make text chat be spoken by text-to-speech
  • You can now create a phantom in the channel that you're currently in
  • Closing phantoms very quickly will now properly...well...close the phantoms

    • Also, I've released a php file that serves as an interface to the VoiceChatter server's remote admin interface. This should make it very easy to create web apps that interface with the VoiceChatter server. It is also in the downloads section.

    Posted Feb 13, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.4.0 BETA Released

    The next version of VoiceChatter is ready for testing! Lots of great new features are included in this version. Here's the short list:

  • Added URL handling so that you can click on URLs like this to connect to VoiceChatter servers
  • Added private messaging
  • Added phantoms (listening/talking in more than one channel at once)
  • Optimized audio code to reduce CPU usage while idle
  • Added "default channel" server setting, which is the channel where newly-connected clients will show up
  • Added Windows Service support to the Windows VC Server. You can now register VC servers as Windows services so that they will run at startup and survive logouts (see --help for details)

    • Posted Jan 31, 2010

    VoiceChatter 1.3.0 Released

    I'm pleased to announce the release of VoiceChatter 1.3.0. This is pretty unusual, but no problems were found with the beta version, so this is simply the 1.3.0 version with the beta tags removed. Enjoy!

    Posted Dec 13, 2009

    VoiceChatter 1.3.0 BETA Released

    Just as the title says, I've released VoiceChatter 1.3.0 BETA. Please keep in mind that this is a BETA version, so expect and *report* any problems that you find. I don't have time at the moment for a full change list, but I'll update this new post soon.

    Also, I've set up a public beta server at vcserver.dyndns.org port 8787. Feel free to use it whenever you like.

    UPDATE: here's a quick copy+paste of the changelog.txt:

  • Fixed inbound/outbound volume modifier sliders on Mac version
  • Fixed alt+tab icon on windows
  • Improved user editor dialog positioning
  • Encrypted passwords when transmitted over the internet and in the server configuration file
  • Added a properties panel to the main screen for showing....properties!
  • Added ability to globally mute clients
  • Moved network configuration settings to the "advanced" tab in the configuration dialog
  • Added per-client volume control
  • Fixed spurrious noise when a muted client tries to talk
  • Fixed the ability to connect to a different server while connected to another one
  • Added "ping" functionality to the server so that it can be polled to see if it's still running
  • The client will no longer send voice data if no one else is in the same channel
  • Added "-d/--daemon" switch to windows server that will hide the console window. This does NOT protect against logouts!!
  • Allowed non-admins to view the MOTD after connecting to a server
  • Added support for MacOSX 10.4 and MacOSX 10.5 for both ppc and intel chips. NOTE: ran into another snag on the 10.4 version, so I'll release this as soon as I figure out a fix.
  • Added channel moderation functionality

    • UPDATE 2: I think I sorted out the MacOSX 10.4 version. It has been added to the downloads page.

    Posted Nov 14, 2009

    VoiceChatter is now on sale!

    I'm proud to announce that the VoiceChatter server is now commercially available. For the time being, I'm offering a 50% discount for the first 6 months of licensing. The full commercial license agreement can be found here. If you're interested in adding VoiceChatter server hosting for your company, please contact me at cweiland@voicechatter.org.

    Please note that this ONLY applies to commercial hosting services. If you're not collecting payments in return for VoiceChatter server hosting, there are no fees - you are only bound by the GPLv3.

    If you like VoiceChatter and would like a commercial host, be sure to tell your favorite hosting company about VoiceChatter. Any help in spreading the word is much appreciated.

    Posted Sep 06, 2009

    VoiceChatter 1.2.0 Released

    I'm proud to announce VoiceChatter 1.2.0 has been released! A few major changes were done that should improve the software quite a bit. Some highlights are:

  • Added preliminary plugin support
  • Fixed a window refresh problem when the contents of the client list are bigger than the window itself on the mac
  • Added Microsoft text to speech support (windows only)
  • Included the "VCServerManager" application for monitoring/restarting VC servers after crashes or reboots (linux/mac only)
  • Upgraded to wxWidgets 2.8.10 (most noticeably fixes the border around the chat box in the windows client)
  • Fixed a bug where clients would not be notified when another client got kicked
  • Fixed multi-monitor window placement in certain configurations

    • I'll be posting some more documentation soon on the plugin support. However, please note that this implementation is just a start, so I could use suggestions for what kinds of things would be helpful or required for any plugins that you'd want to write.

    Posted Aug 30, 2009

    VoiceChatter public server available

    I've set up a VC server that anyone can use to try out the software without having to go through the hassle of setting up your own server. You can access it at the address "vcserver.dyndns.org", port 7878. Leave the username and password fields blank. I don't mind how you use it as long as you are not flagrantly abusing it.

    Posted Jun 07, 2009

    VoiceChatter 1.1.3 Released

    This release fills in a lot of miscellaneous gaps in the last few versions. Here's a quick rundown of noteworthy changes:

  • Fixed a bug in sending chat messages that would prepend an extra character
  • Added ability to specify a specific network interface for the server to bind to (IPv4 only)
  • Added ability to specify where the server will write its log file
  • Added task bar icon functionality and the ability to minimize to the taskbar (windows/linux only)
  • Fixed a crash when disconnecting a remote admin connection soon after sending a command
  • Added a native input manager for mac, which should substantially improve input latency

    • Note: If you happen to experience a crash on startup with the mac port of this version, try opening ~/.voicechatter/vchat.conf and set "Use Native Input Manager" to "false". If you run into this issue, please post on the forums to let me know.

    Posted May 17, 2009