Step 1: Use Whisper to Transcribe Your Voice

Whisper is a free and open-source speech-to-text AI model developed by OpenAI. It excels in transcribing voice with remarkable accuracy, even if the source audio file has significant background noise.To use Whisper, you can use apps that are powered by the AI model. However, I prefer to use the Whisper Jax implementation that’s available for free on the Hugging Face website. This tool allows you to record a voice clip using your microphone, upload an audio file, or submit a YouTube video to get it transcribed.

Personally, I record my voice using my PC’s voice recorder (or my phone’s) and then upload that file to the website. I do this because I like to store my voice recordings along with the written notes. If you don’t want to do that, you can simply use the microphone feature on the site to directly transcribe your voice.

Step 2: Use ChatGPT to Summarize the Transcription Into Concise Notes

After you’ve transcribed your audio file using Whisper, you’ll get an unstructured text blurb as an output. It’ll be messy, verbose, and look like a huge wall of text. We need to clean up the text by eliminating all fluff, structuring it, and presenting all the ideas with clear, easy-to-understand formatting. To do this, we’ll be using ChatGPT—even the free version will suffice. Simply open the AI chatbot and enter the following prompt:

I have a long transcribed text from a voice recording, and I need your help to create concise notes from it. Please identify and summarize the key points, decisions, actions, and any other relevant information from the text. Organize the notes in a structured format for easy reference.

Here’s the text: {Insert transcribed text here}

And that’s it! ChatGPT will process the text and give you a neatly formatted output that’ll be easy to reference in the future.

Step 3: Save the Notes Inside a Note-Taking App

Once you have the transcription in summarized note form, the final step is to save it to a note-taking app of your choice. You can keep it inside of Apple Notes or Google Keep. I personally prefer using Notion for its more advanced features. And that’s it! You now know how to turn what you say out loud into concise, easy-to-read notes and save them for quick retrieval and future reference.

The Main Problem With My SystemWhile the free solution I shared above is powerful, there are a few drawbacks. The one that bothers me the most is that I need to jump around three to four different apps, which include my voice recorder app (your phone’s default should do), the Whisper-Jax web app, ChatGPT, and finally, Notion, to complete the process.Another issue is that the entire system hinges on using Whisper. So, if you’re using the online Whisper Jax free demo, you’d need to be okay with waiting during peak hours. Whereas, if you decide to install Whisper locally, the process can get somewhat technically daunting, and you still need to have a powerful system to ensure decent transcription speeds.I can understand these drawbacks being a problem for some users, so here’s a super user-friendly alternative—AudioPen.

AudioPen—One App to Transcribe, Refine, and Organize Your Voice Notes

AudioPen is an all-in-one tool that can transcribe your voice, refine it, give it structure, and store it as notes so you can access them whenever necessary. Furthermore, it’s a web app that’s not dependent on your system specs to perform optimally.

It has a free version, but it’s somewhat barebones. It only allows you to record (not upload) voice notes, and each recording is limited to 3 minutes.To use it, simply click on the Microphone button and start talking. Once done, press the stop button to submit your recording. AudioPen will take a few seconds to a minute to transcribe what you said and present all the key points in a clean and structured note. The free account has a limit of 10 notes, so you’ll need to delete older notes to create new ones if you reach the limit.

I do see the free account working for many people, especially if you are okay with capturing smaller voice recordings and copy-pasting the notes to another note-taking app to free up space on AudioPen

Speaking is faster and more natural than writing, letting you capture spontaneous ideas in real-time. With tools like Whisper for accurate transcription and ChatGPT for refining transcribed text blurbs, you can turn chaotic thoughts into clear, actionable insights. AudioPen simplifies this even further by combining transcription, refinement, and organization in one app. This superpower ensures you never lose track of your ideas, keeping your creativity and productivity at their peak.