Kiwi IRC VS Mumble

> At that point you've just reimplemented a less-standard version of matrix with extra steps though.

There are IRCv3 specifications that allow this richer experience, and they are at least as standard as Matrix. Check out https://ergo.chat/ with modern clients like https://sr.ht/~emersion/goguma/ (Android), https://git.sr.ht/~emersion/gamja/ https://kiwiirc.com/ (web), or https://git.sr.ht/~taiite/senpai (TUI)

> but in practice using your enhanced server from an unenhanced client will always be painful

IRCv3 normally makes sure new specs don't make it worse for older clients. Could you give me some examples to see if we can fix that?

First try the web-based ones - https://kiwiirc.com/ - https://mibbit.com/

Un client en ligne : https://kiwiirc.com/ Un serveur français : https://www.epiknet.org/irc/

You can take a look at kiwi irc: https://github.com/kiwiirc/kiwiirc and configure the channels it joins.

Their IRC link is on their homepage. If you don't have an IRC client you can use https://kiwiirc.com/ in browser.

It depends. There's a lot of people on/around IRC who really like it (see libera and all the other networks), and yeah there definitely are people spinning up new smaller networks. Especially with things like https://sr.ht/~emersion/gamja/ and self-hosted https://kiwiirc.com/ , as well as really polished client experiences like irccloud, it's easier to convince people to join in.

Right now I'm working with a dev from libera on a client that aims to replicate a lot of things experience-wise from newer chat services. Hoping that with that, smaller self-contained servers can become more of a norm~ But for now, your best bets for finding activity are probably Libera and a couple of the other larger networks.

I use https://kiwiirc.com and it allows me to create a temporary account without an e-mail. I think you need an e-mail if you want to 'reserve' your name

I think Sonobus is overkill. I suggest you look at a couple of relatively old-school gamer voice chat tools - Mumble or Teamspeak. Mumble is open-source and the connection is always encrypted, Teamspeak is commercial but the free tier should be fine for you - but you have to make sure to manually turn encryption on yourself. It has been a long time since I used either, so I don't know which is easier. Both of them require you to run their matching server software.

Mumble's latency is unbeatable imo, it's basically their main focus and shows.

The sticking point for me is the lack of persistent messages, something the devs strangely think is a privacy plus. Issue open since 2016: https://github.com/mumble-voip/mumble/issues/2560

If you drop out for a minute you won't have access to anything that was posted in chat, which makes it useless for anything other than voice only comms, that might suit some business purposes but I've always needed to post links or screenshots in chat during meetings.

There's any number of alternative chat applications available, like Element, Mumble, Teamspeak etc.

Mumble?

I think Mumble might fit what you're looking for. It's been a very long time since I've used it, but it seems to still exist: https://www.mumble.info/ - I've used previously for exactly what you're describing, events with lots of crew dispersed around and no budget for radios. I had it installed on an AP running OpenWRT so it was just a case of plugging that in and getting people to install the app and connect to it.

Along with the options already mentioned, if you're not into TeamSpeak, there is an open source alternative called Mumble which operates in the same manner. No internet required, and is supported on multiple platforms.