Voice Typer

A lightweight, open-source voice typing application that converts speech to text using local inference with Whisper models. Record and transcribe audio with a simple keyboard shortcut for seamless integration with any application.

Features

• Keyboard-Driven: Toggle recording with a configurable hotkey (default: Cmd+Alt)
• Local Inference: Uses whisper.cpp via the PyWhisperCPP wrapper for offline, private speech recognition
• Universal Compatibility: Works with any application that accepts pasted text
• Simple Interface: No GUI required - just press the hotkey, speak, and release to insert text
• Customizable: Configure your preferred language model and hotkey

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• A working microphone
• Linux, macOS, or Windows

Setup

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/lladdy/voice-typing.git
   cd voice-typing

2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install the required dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

1. Run the application:

   python run.py

2. Press and hold your configured hotkey (default: Cmd+Alt) to start recording.

3. Speak clearly into your microphone.

4. Release the hotkey to stop recording and transcribe.

5. The text will be automatically pasted at your cursor position.

Configuration

You can customize the application by modifying the VoiceTyperConfig in run.py:

config = VoiceTyperConfig(
    recording_hotkey="<cmd>+<alt>",  # Change to your preferred hotkey
    model_name="base.en"             # Change to use different Whisper models
)

Available model options:

• tiny.en: Fastest but less accurate (English only)
• base.en: Good balance of speed and accuracy (English only)
• small.en: More accurate but slower (English only)
• medium.en: Most accurate but requires more resources (English only)
• tiny, base, small, medium: Multilingual versions

Project Structure

• run.py: Entry point for the application
• voice_typer.py: Core application logic
• audio.py: Audio recording and processing
• speech_to_text.py: Speech recognition using Whisper.cpp
• keyboard.py: Keyboard interaction and hotkey handling

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Whisper by OpenAI
• whisper.cpp for efficient local inference
• PyWhisperCPP for Python bindings to whisper.cpp