The present disclosure describes example systems, methods, and devices for generating a synthetic speech signal. An example method may include determining a phonemic representation of text. The example method may also include identifying one or more finite-state machines (“FSMs”) corresponding to one or more phonemes included in the phonemic representation of the text. A given FSM may be a compressed unit of recorded speech that simulates a Hidden Markov Model. The example method may further include determining a selected sequence of models that minimizes a cost function that represents a likelihood that a possible sequence of models substantially matches a phonemic representation of text. Each possible sequence of models may include at least one FSM. The method may additionally include generating a synthetic speech signal based on the selected sequence that includes one or more spectral features generated from at least one FSM included in the selected sequence.