Real-time Speech Recognition & AI Note-taking App

Lycoris is a feature-rich, user-friendly app for macOS, designed to enhance your note-taking experience with real-time speech recognition, transcription, and translation capabilities. With offline and online modes, Lycoris balances flexibility with privacy.

⚠️ Note: Currently, Lycoris is optimized for Japanese users. While it aims to support transcription and translation in 19 languages in the future, the current version may have limited functionality in other languages.

📌 Introduction

✨ Key Features
💻 System Requirements
⚙️ Installation
🚀 Usage Guide
🙌 Support & Contributions
👥 Contributors
📈 Star History

✨ Key Features

key-features

🎙️ Real-time Speech Recognition:
- Offline Mode:
  - Vosk for Real-time Transcription: Lycoris uses Vosk to quickly generate initial real-time transcriptions, which are then refined using Whisper for enhanced accuracy and detail.
  - Whisper for Detailed Transcription: The primary transcription model for offline mode, Whisper delivers high-quality, multi-language transcription. For Japanese-only use cases, Kotoba-Whisper is available as an alternative for optimized Japanese transcription.
- Online Mode:
  - OpenAI Whisper API: For users seeking cloud-based transcription, Lycoris integrates with the OpenAI Whisper API, allowing for high-quality transcriptions with cloud resources.
  - AmiVoice API: Additionally, users can choose amiVoice for specialized Japanese transcription via API key.
🌐 Advanced Translation:
- Whisper + FuguMT: Supports translation from 18 languages into Japanese. Whisper transcribes any of the 18 languages into English, and FuguMT then translates the English transcription into Japanese, ensuring high accuracy.
- Kotoba-Whisper-Bilingual: Specialized for direct bi-directional translation between Japanese and English.
📄 Flexible Note-Taking with Markdown Support: Notes support Markdown formatting, allowing for organized and visually enhanced note-taking.
💬 Contextual Speech Suggestions:
- Sentiment-Based Suggestions: Generate contextual responses in Neutral, Positive, and Negative tones with just a click.
- Text-to-Speech Capabilities: Use Style-BERT-VITS2 JP-Extra to convert suggested responses into natural-sounding speech.
🤖 Real-Time ChatGPT Integration:
- Interact with transcriptions or summaries in real-time using ChatGPT for tasks like summarization and contextual insights. This feature helps streamline discussions or capture essential points without losing context.
📶 Offline & Online Modes: Fully functional offline with local models to ensure privacy; online mode available with API integration for cloud-based services like OpenAI Whisper API.

💻 System Requirements

Operating System: macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
Processor: Compatible with Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3) and Intel processors.
Memory: Minimum 8GB RAM recommended for optimal performance.

⚙️ Installation

Download: Obtain the latest version of Lycoris from the GitHub Releases page.
- For Intel processors: Download the .dmg file ending in x64.dmg.
- For Apple Silicon processors: Download the .dmg file ending in aarch64.dmg.
- Note: Only the version number in the file name changes with each release.
Install: After downloading the .dmg file, double-click it to open. You’ll see the Lycoris application and the Applications folder. Simply drag the Lycoris app into the Applications folder.
Permissions: On first launch, grant necessary permissions for microphone and screen recording as prompted.

🚀 Usage Guide

Download Language Packs:
- Open the app and go to settings (⚙️).
- Download language packs for speech recognition as needed.
Configure API Key (for online features):
- In settings, enter your API keys for services like amiVoice or OpenAI Whisper API to enable extended transcription and AI features.
Create a Note:
- Click "Add Note" next to the search bar.
- Set the speaker’s language, transcription method, and audio source.
- Click "Start Recording" to begin capturing notes in real time!
- With OpenAI’s online feature, you can also receive sentiment-based response suggestions (Neutral, Positive, Negative) for discussions, and use real-time ChatGPT integration to summarize or discuss the transcribed content directly.

🙌 Support & Contributions

Lycoris is available for free on BOOTH to reach a wide audience. Download the appropriate version for your macOS processor:

For Apple Silicon users: Download on BOOTH
For Intel users: Download on BOOTH

If you’d like to support further development:

For Japanese users: Contributions are welcome via Fanbox or by making a voluntary purchase on BOOTH.
For international users: You can support Lycoris by becoming a sponsor on GitHub Sponsors.

Whether you’re a developer interested in contributing or a user wanting to support this project, every contribution helps Lycoris grow and improve for all!