WAV Play Transcription Tool

UPDATE 2023-07-19

Besides this program probably not working on recent Windows versions, there are better ways to get this done now.

I recommend that you use the 'Whisper' speech-to-text AI models for transcription via the 'Whisper.cpp' code. It's fast, it does a good job on generic English, and is MIT-licensed.

If you want to go at it old-school, yeah, here is my stuff from way back when...

Coded in a hurry in Delphi 5. Should work under Win32 platforms (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP).

Provides a way to play short segments of WAV files repeatedly, with automatic advance after a user-specified number of times played. This allows accurate transcription of audio materials while the user concentrates on the typing, rather than flipping back and forth between a text editor and a WAV playback application.

Starving (now ex-)Student-Ware. If you find my WAV Transcription Tool useful, send me congratulations at welsberr@onlinezoologists.com, or better yet, drop me what you think it was worth to you at my PayPal account.

The software is provided with NO WARRANTY. It works on my system, but I can't guarantee what it will do on yours. Try it at your own risk.

Download the WAV Transcription Tool. (MD5 (wvplay.exe) = ee4aaa5cb4035d48ae74eb3fc7b635dd)

How to Use the WAV Transcription Tool

Download the application file and put it in the directory of your choice.
Launch the application.
Click on the "Load" button. A dialog box allows you to browse for WAV files on your system. This also sets values based upon the length of the WAV file, so this is always the first step.
Select a useful value for "Loop Length". This is the length, in seconds, of the portion of the WAV file that is played at one time. I suggest a value in the 3 to 10 second range.
Select a useful value for "Loop Iterations". This is the number of times that you want to hear the same segment of the WAV file. By repeating the playing of the current segment, the user can confirm word selection and word order. I suggest a value between 3 and 5 repetitions.
Select a useful value for "Increment". Once a segment has been played the indicated number of times, the starting position for the next segment is found by adding the "Increment" number of seconds to the current starting position. Setting this to a value of 1 to 3 seconds less than the "Loop Length" allows the user to connect two successive segments by the overlap in content.
Move the second, larger slider to indicate the relative starting position in the WAV file. If you are familiar with the WAV file, you can skip to the general vicinity of the section of interest this way.
Click on the "Play" button. This begins the playback of the WAV file using the values given by the user.
Skip to different places in the WAV file by adjusting the second, larger slider bar.
Adjust listening parameters by changing the "Loop Length", Loop Iterations", and "Increment" values. These values are updated even during playback.
To end playback, click on the "Cancel" checkbox.