Why I built Ravecho

Hi guys,

I built Ravecho (https://ravecho.com), a web app for real-time, spoken AI voice conversations. I've been working on it for around a year solo.

Instead of typing back and forth in a text box, you talk directly with AI portrayals of historical figures (Einstein, Lincoln, Cleopatra), classic literary characters, events, or cloned family voices.

Why I built it & technical features:

Originally I built this so you could talk to any character. It was super fun talking to Batman or The Joker in their actual voices and personalities... until I realised I’d probably get sued by one of the big media companies. So to not get sued I focussed on historical characters and events. It comes with a whole bunch of stuff like collecting artifacts, tracing their journey on a map and other things.

After talking to fictional characters I realised that you could create a realistic representation of a loved one. I lost my mum when I was young and would have enjoyed talking to her after her passing. This is a slippery slope but it may help some people. You can also talk to relatives that date a lot further back.

A few things I’ve added:

• Dinner Party Mode: Seat a few historical figures at the same table, drop in a question, and listen to them debate each other. Also give them a few wines to enjoy their dinner.

• Family Legacies: Like I ,mentioned I realised this tech could be huge for preserving family history. You can import a standard .gedcom file to map your family tree, then clone a loved one's voice from a short audio clip so future generations can sit and talk with them.

You can try the historical and literary figures for free on the site. The family voice cloning requires a paid tier just to cover the underlying voice processing costs.

I'd love to hear your feedback on the overall feeling of the site. Does it feel semi natural? Any features you think I should add?

Cheers, Tim