Lab Notes: Transcription with Vibe and Buzz

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By Nelson Garcia

Vibe and Buzz are free audio/video transcription programs. 

Vibe

Vibe is an on-device transcription program that will take an audio file or a video file and convert whatever is spoken in that file into text that you can format in a bunch of different ways.  It is simple to use, and it runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is open source in both the software and the engine that it is using. It uses Open AI Whisper engine to do the transcription. 

Useful features include:

  • It can function offline
  • It will transcribe into over 90 different languages.
  • It has diarization (speaker recognition) and can edit\change speakers.
  • It can be saved in various formats including .txt, .srt., .docx, and .pdf.
  • It can summarize transcripts with llama or Claude (additional steps required)
  • Optimized for GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).
  • It will NOT translate from English to another language, but it can translate into English from over 90 languages.
  • Note: Like other transcription software\programs, it doesn’t handle crosstalk very well.

Where to download it:

https://thewh1teagle.github.io/vibe

How to Get Started with Vibe

StepWhat You DoNotes / Tips
1. Download / InstallGo to Vibe’s GitHub Releases page and download the version for your OS.Windows users can get the .exe file, macOS users the .dmg or .app file.
2. Launch the AppRun Vibe. It will open a GUI where you can load files or use a microphone.The interface is intuitive and cross-platform.
3. Add an Audio / Video FileImport an audio or video file to transcribe.Supports common formats like MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, and more.
4. Configure SettingsChoose your transcription model, set language, enable GPU if available, etc.GPU acceleration can speed up transcription significantly.
5. Run TranscriptionClick the ‘Transcribe’ button to begin.The app displays a live progress indicator while transcribing.
6. Review & EditReview the text and correct errors or punctuation.Transcripts may require manual cleanup for accuracy.
7. Export / SaveSave your output in TXT, SRT, PDF, or DOCX formats.SRT or VTT formats are ideal for captions.
8. (Optional) Summarize / ProcessUse summarization or analysis features if enabled.Integrates with local AI models like Ollama.

Tips for Getting Good Results

  • Use clear, high-quality audio with minimal background noise.
  • Choose a model size that balances speed and accuracy. Enable GPU acceleration if available for faster processing.
  • Split very long files into smaller segments for better accuracy.
  • Adjust timestamp and segmentation settings for subtitles.
  • Always review and correct transcripts before final use.

Buzz

Buzz transcribes and translates audio offline on your personal computer and you don’t need internet connection for it to work. It is free, and open source. The interface is simple. It uses OpenAI’s Whisper to do this. However, setting up translation requires additional setup with either Ollama or Groq.com and this is more complicated to setup.  Despite the translation issue, Buzz does transcription very well and the program is very easy to use. It runs on both Windows, Mac and Linux systems.  Useful features include:

  • It can import several audio and video files such as .mp3, .wav, .m4a, .mp4, .avi, .mov and several others.
  • It has “Live Recording” feature so you can transcribe using your PC’s microphone.
  • You can save your transcript in .srt, .txt, and. vtt format.
  • Will transcribe in 100 different languages
  • Many models available (tiny, medium, Large, etc.)
  • Very accurate using the large model although it took the longest to complete
  • Note: The translation portion is not very intuitive and requires advanced user setup
  • Note: It does not offer diarization

Where to download it:

https://github.com/chidiwilliams/buzz/releases/tag/v1.2.0

How to Get Started with Buzz

StepWhat You DoNotes / Tips
1. Download / InstallDownload the .exe from GitHub ‘Releases’ page and download the version for your OS.Windows users can get the .exe file, macOS users the .dmg or .app file.
2. Launch the AppRun Buzz. It will open a GUI where you can load files or use a microphone.The interface is intuitive and cross-platform.
3. Add an Audio / Video FileImport an audio or video file to transcribe.Supports common formats like MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, and more.
4. Set Options/Choose ModeChoose Transcribe (speech-to-text) or Translate (speech-to-English). Select model size, input language and export option.Advanced settings have option for AI translation but setting up is very complicated for the average user.
5. Run TranscriptionClick the ‘Run’ button to begin.The app displays Status progress. Larger models take longer but are more accurate
6. Review & EditReview the text and correct errors or punctuation.Transcripts may require manual cleanup for accuracy.
7. Export / SaveExport your final text in formats like TXT, SRT, VTT for subtitles or documentation.SRT or VTT formats are ideal for captions.
8. Optional: Batch ProcessingBuzz supports transcribing multiple files simultaneously for efficiency.Need a robust computer for batch processing.

Tips for Getting Good Results

  • Use clear, high-quality audio to minimize transcription errors.
  • Choose larger models for higher accuracy if your system can handle them.
  • Best for transcription–translation setup is complicated.
  • Split long files into smaller segments for smoother performance.
  • Always review and correct transcripts for proper nouns and technical terms.
  • Use playback and looping to align text with audio accurately.
  • Export in SRT or VTT formats for captioning and subtitle use.
  • Keep your model and app updated for improved accuracy and stability.

2025 Update: dtSearch Desktop Demonstration video (originally published in 2014)

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By Alex Roberts

Note: Here is a quickstart video that demonstrates how to set up a new dtSearch index and search it. Index set up is also described in the dtSearch Guide parts III and IV. Searching an index will be detailed in future posts.

Here is a brief 12-minute video that demonstrates how to set up a new dtSearch index and how to run searches within an index.

Licenses for dtSearch are available for CJA panel attorneys with current, active cases at no cost.  If you are interested in obtaining a license, please fill out a dtSearch request form, at: http://nlsblog.org/2014/03/25/dtsearch-desktop/.  

Note: like most litigation software programs, this program was developed for Windows-based operating systems and does not work with Macintosh operating systems.

dtSearch Guide – Part IV: Updating an Index

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By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

This is part of a series of posts focusing on dtSearch software. In this installment we cover how to update an index.

When you receive more productions, you can choose between two approaches. One option is to update the existing index but adding the new productions into the existing index. The other option is to create a new, separate index.

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dtSearch Guide – Part III: Creating an Index

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This is the third post in a multi-part blog series on the dtSearch software. In this installment we cover how to create an index.

By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

The first step in creating a dtSearch index begins in Windows Explorer. Pick a location for your index where it won’t need to be moved later, and where the documents you plan to index can also be stored. It is important these things 1) stay together and 2) don’t move so that a search will produce results. A good location is on a flash drive.

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dtSearch Guide – Part II: User Preferences

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By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

This is the second post in a multi-part blog series on using the dtSearch software. It guides you through configuring user preferences.

Setup/Preferences

After you install dtSearch, there are a few settings we recommend changing.[1] These changes will stay in place on that computer going forward. If you installed dtSearch on additional computers using the same license key, the settings on each computer will need to be changed in the same way.

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dtSearch Guide – Part I: Introduction to dtSearch

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By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

This is the first post in a multi-part blog series on using the dtSearch software. It provides an introduction to dtSearch.

What is dtSearch?

dtSearch is a software program that allows you to search large amounts of text quickly. It does this by building indexes based on the words it finds in each file you point it to, creating a word index that it continues to refer to with each search. It can be used to search entire folders of data that contain different file types. There are two steps to using dtSearch. Step 1 is building an index. Step 2 is searching it. It is a simple and effective tool for searching discovery, creating brief banks, and viewing different file types even if the associated program is not installed on your computer.

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Lab Notes: TrialPad

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By Nelson Garcia 

If you are looking for Mac-friendly courtroom presentation software, TrialPad is an option. Although NLST does not support Macs, we understand that some panel members rely on them and thus have created this overview.

TrialPad is an iPad application developed by Lit Software. It has no relation to Trial Director. It is meant to help present evidence in court, and includes the ability to mark exhibits, zoom live, and organize and search exhibits and files. It does not require internet or wi-fi, and supports multiple formats. You can find more information, including cost, here: https://www.litsoftware.com/

Note: While TrialPad works well with large document collections, you might need to use a flash drive or external drive to store documents that exceed the capacity of the device’s internal storage capacity.

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PDF Gear

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By Nelson Garcia 

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, PDFgear is an alternative free PDF reader and editor.  It works with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android and web browsers. It will let you edit, convert, annotate, organize, and sign PDF documents.

Here are some of the things you can do with PDFgear:

Edit: text, images, links, and fields—similar to editing in Word
Annotate and mark: highlight, underline, strikethrough, add sticky notes, comments, stamps, and shapes
Password protect: you can add a password to a PDF
Convert: you can convert PDFs to and from formats like Word, Excel, etc.
OCR: you can extract selected text
Manage forms: you can fill out forms, make new forms, and add electronic signatures
Organize pages: you can merge, split, compress, crop, rotate, and rearrange pages

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Discovery Diagnostic: When You Should Ask the Government to Produce Discovery in its Original Format

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By Alicia Penn and Sean Broderick

Members of our team have noticed an uptick in the U.S. Attorneys’ offices use of eDiscovery review platforms such as Everlaw, Relativity, and Ipro Eclipse to produce discovery to defense teams.

If these types of productions do not cause you problems and you can open, search, and review discovery when provided in this way, you can stop here and skip the rest of this post.

However, if you open your discovery and find the text for an email in one spot, the metadata for the email in another spot, and the images associated with the email somewhere else with no way to realistically put them back together, read on, my friend, we are in this together.

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GridPlayer: A Free Multi-View Video Playback Tool

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By Nelson Garcia

If you’ve ever needed to play multiple videos at once GridPlayer is an ideal tool. For example, you might want to review footage from several camera angles of the same event.  GridPlayer will let you do that, and it is free and simple to use.

GridPlayer displays videos in a side-by-side layout and supports simultaneous playback. The number of videos you can load depends on your computer’s graphics capabilities and screen size. I’ve successfully played up to eight videos at once.

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Guide: 4Sight UCM Package Explorer

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By Alicia Penn and Nelson Garcia

In a case with wiretaps[1] or pen register trap and trace[2] discovery from phone calls or messages, the government may produce the data to you using Package Explorer. Package Explorer is a proprietary viewer that will let you view the data exported from 4Sight UCM, a program used by law enforcement to process information from phones.

You will know you’ve received a Package Explorer file because it will most often look like this:

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Lab Notes: Pixillion Image Converter

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By Nelson Garcia and Alex Roberts

Pixillion Image Converter by NCH Software is a low-cost versatile tool designed to convert, compress, and edit images across a wide range of formats. A tool like this can be particularly useful if you receive image formats within discovery that won’t open on your computer, or if you need to convert images to a particular format to send to someone else.

For example, iPhones will commonly store pictures in an HEIC format and Windows computers do not have any built-in programs that can open these files. Pixillion can open and convert these files into other formats (like the commonly used JPG format).

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Guide: Transcribing with Shotcut

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By Nelson Garcia

Shotcut is a free, open-source, cross-platform video editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It supports a wide range of formats and resolutions including 4K. Features include subtitles, timeline editing, multiple tracks, and various effects.[1]

Subtitling in Shotcut is the focus of this post.  Through Shotcut’s subtitling feature, you can create video transcriptions. Shotcut can create, import, edit, export, render, and embed subtitles. Shotcut can also import subtitle formats such as: SRT, VTT, ASS, and SSA.  It can translate from most languages to English, and do Speech to Text subtitling in different languages. To do this it uses Whisper.[2] Shotcut also has a Subtitle burn-in feature, meaning it can embed the subtitles into the video so that they are always visible and permanently a part of the file.

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De-Duplication Software

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By Nelson Garcia

What is De-Duplication?

De-duplication, or “de-duping,” is a way to clean up your files by finding and removing duplicates. Over time, computers and storage drives collect duplicate files—whether from downloads, backups, or shared folders. These duplicates take up space and make it harder to find what you are looking for. De-duping removes duplicate files and thus frees up storage space, speeds up searches and backups, and reduces clutter.

There are different types of duplicate files. Understanding the different types of duplicates is key to choosing the right approach. 

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Guide: IPRO Eclipse Publish Case-troubleshooting

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By Alicia Penn and Alex Roberts

You may notice when in Eclipse Publish some buttons are blank or the text may look very small. Sometimes restarting the program will be enough to make the buttons populate. Another option is checking the compatibility mode for the program. The compatibility mode helps synchronize Eclipse’s display with your computer’s capabilities. Think trying to run a high-resolution game on a low-resolution computer—the quality of the graphics you experience is not as good as when you run a high-resolution game on a high-resolution computer. Fortunately, the steps to address this in Eclipse are straightforward.

First, Find the Eclipse Publish file and display its properties. Right-click on the LaunchViewer.exe file (the spinny football icon that you use to open the database), and select Properties. The Properties window will look like this, and the tab you want is the Compatibility tab. Click on it.

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Rule 16.1: A proactive e-discovery tool

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By Alicia Penn

Recently a defense team asked for help with reviewing their discovery. It was a single PDF made up of over 18,000 documents and contained no bookmarks or index. The discovery letter accompanying the production looked like this:

This letter was completely useless to the defense team trying to review the discovery. It gave no information that could be used in searching or organizing. The only thing it conveyed is that 18,686 individual pages had been produced to defense counsel. Without an index or bookmarks, there was no simple way to quickly and completely identify reports, witness statements, etc.  

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Adobe Acrobat in the Courtroom: Full Screen Mode

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By Tisha Davis and Joe Wanzala

Adobe Acrobat is generally used or thought of only as a document review tool, but it’s “Full Screen” mode means it can double as a presentation tool. This is especially handy because trial exhibits commonly already exist as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. Furthermore, cost considerations, practical expediency, or technical limitations can make it a good choice for certain situations.

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Guide: Using ZoomIt

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By Brian Brunelle

In the world of presentations, effective communication is key. Whether you’re delivering a presentation in court or conducting a meeting on Zoom, the tools you use can make a significant difference in how your message is received. One such tool that can elevate your presentations is ZoomIt by Microsoft.

What is ZoomIt?

ZoomIt is a free, lightweight tool designed by Microsoft to assist presenters in highlighting, zooming, and annotating on-screen content. ZoomIt has become a go-to utility for professionals who need to emphasize specific areas of their screen during a live presentation or a recorded session.

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Legal Bytes: US v. Masood-District of Maryland 2025–Slow Production Leads to Dismissal

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By Alicia Penn

TL:DR [1]: This one is fun, read it

The government charged Masood with a 3-million dollar conspiracy to defraud the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center[2]. He along with 7 other codefendants were indicted in April 2022. Evidence included 30 electronic devices from different homes and Google search warrant returns of defendants’ email accounts.

Although the Government had all of the devices within their control and the search warrant returns early on in the case, they took 2 ½ years to actually produce that discovery to the defense. Along the way they claimed the voluminous nature of the discovery made filter review difficult, the data was too large to download in-house, they were having internal IT difficulties, they were working on negotiating pleas, the original AUSA left.

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Legal Bytes: US v. Brown, D.C. Cir. 2025 — Compelled Unlock of Phone Violates 5th Amendment

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By Alicia Penn

TL:DR[1]: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently[2] considered the issue of whether making someone unlock their cellphone violates the Fifth Amendment. Their answer is yes.

Case Facts and Procedural History:

Peter Schwartz was indicted for assaulting officers at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. When he was arrested, an agent found a cellphone in his bedroom dresser. The agent asked Schwartz for the password, and Schwartz gave him 3 different ones; however, none of them worked. At some point Schwartz unlocked the phone using his thumbprint.

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Guide: VLC Video Clipping and Interactive Zoom

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By Nelson Garcia

You are probably familiar with clicking on this traffic cone icon to play videos in your discovery, but did you know you can use it for more than that? The traffic cone icon is VLC media player[1], a free, open, and cross-source platform media player that clip and zoom in on videos in addition to playing many different types of media files.

This guide will walk you through how to clip videos and how to zoom in on videos step-by-step.

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Guide: IPRO Eclipse Publish Case-Tagging

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By Luzevelia Morales

What is tagging and how can it help me?

One of the main advantages of reviewing discovery with Eclipse is the ability to tag. This feature is available in an IPRO Publish Case. Tagging allows you to flag a document or a single page. Think of it like putting a flag or sticky note on a paper document or a label on a file folder. This will let you organize your discovery by topic and mark significant documents and pages for future review in the Eclipse Publish Case.[1]

You can create your own tags and make them as specific or general as you want. For example, you can create subject-based tags for witnesses, issues, addresses, dates, or phone numbers. You can also create process-based tags for anticipated exhibits, important documents, or documents you want someone else to review. A word of caution here– plan your tags carefully because once you create a tag it cannot be deleted.

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2024 Update: Encrypted Discovery (originally published in 2020)

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Whether it is on media (CD Rom, USB drive, or hard drive) or through the internet (email or USAfx) it is becoming common practice that discovery files will be encrypted. Encryption adds a layer of protection by scrambling the data, so files cannot be seen unless a digital “key” (password) is provided. The goal of encryption is to protect the data while it is being shipped in case it is lost or stolen, i.e., if a thumb-drive is sent to the wrong address, whoever opens the package can’t just plug the thumb-drive in and read all of the data on it.

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Lab Notes: TrialDirector and VLC as media players in court

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By Nelson Garcia

Trial Director and VLC Media Player are completely different software programs, but both can play multimedia files. Trial Director is a courtroom presentation program. It has a built-in video and audio player and can also present documents. VLC Player is a video player and can only play videos.

If you are deciding between the two for an upcoming court hearing, here are some factors to consider.

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Guide to IPRO Eclipse Publish Case: Customizing Your Workspace

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By Luzevelia Morales

If discovery is produced to you as an IPRO Eclipse SE Publish Case (IPRO Publish Case) and clicking around it feels like this photo below, what can you do?

First, you will know you have an IPRO Publish case because your discovery will look like this:

If Eclipse is new to you or otherwise unfamiliar, trying to use the program can be *extremely* frustrating. If you would like one-on-one training to learn how to work with an IPRO Publish case, contact Kelly_scribner@fd.org to schedule an online video conference. In a one-on-one training session NLST can meet with you virtually, see your screen, and show you how to use the IPRO Publish case viewer to review your discovery production. This blog post is the first of a series meant to help you get started on your IPRO Publish Case. It will introduce IPRO Publish, explain the basic formatting of the program, and how to customize your workspace to make it more user-friendly. Future posts will cover how to search, tag, and export.

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Lab Notes: Audio Transcription Tools

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By Nakiyyah Adams

How do you review hundreds of jail calls? What about 3 months of 24-hour video surveillance on a house? Twenty bodycameras covering  1-2 hours each of a multi-jurisdictional car chase and stop?

Audio transcription tools are one potential answer. These tools can analyze audio and video files and create text searchable transcripts. You can imagine the huge time-saving benefit here—instead of trying to watch or listen to hours and hours of recordings, only some of which might be relevant, a text searchable transcript could be searched using keywords, or even just read quickly in less time than experiencing the recording in real-time.

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Guide: Creating Automatic Batch Video Snapshots

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By Nelson Garcia and Carl Adams

Have you ever had the need to automatically create multiple snapshots\still images of a video to later use in court or perhaps to analyze the image from that video? We know programs such as VLC can take single snapshots of a video while the video is playing but what if I want to take a snapshot every 10 or 30 frames or even every 10 or 30 seconds of a particular video? Here are three programs that you can use to automatically save multiple snapshots from a single video.

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eDiscovery Review platforms (Eclipse, Casepoint, Everlaw): What are they, and why should I consider using one?

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By Alicia Penn, Luzevelia Morales and Tisha Davis

When the government produces discovery to defense teams, it is not always in a user-friendly way. Sometimes the problem is volume—there are so many separate files that it would take decades to lay eyes on all of them. The problem could be organization (or, rather, the apparent lack of it)—the folder structure is cumbersome and/or illogical. Naming convention can be a non-starter—there is an index, but the filenames give you no clue about the file contents.

One answer is to use a review platform. A review platform is software that allows you to view a variety of document types in a single place without having to go through nested folders. Other review platform functions include the ability to tag documents, run text-based searches, create notes, and organize documents. Review platforms are particularly helpful in email-heavy cases because they show the path of an email and any attachments. They also can facilitate collaboration.

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Reduce Background Noise in Audio Files with Audacity

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By Nelson Garcia

Audacity is a free software program that can record and edit audio files. It supports all major audio formats. With it, you can convert files from format to format, such as from WAV to MP3. You can also use it to reduce background noise in audio files.

To reduce background noise in Audacity, first open your audio file in the program. As with all discovery, please make sure to always work with a copy of the discovery file and never the original.

Select a section of the audio containing only the noise that you want to reduce or remove. Try the beginning or the end of your recording or look for a good pause somewhere in your audio file.  The key is to select an area with minimal activity. On the file this looks like a flat line.  Select enough of the audio to get a good analysis of the noise. Figure 1 below shows what this minimal activity looks like:

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Batch Imaging with Trial Director

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By Claudia Kokot and Joe Wanzala

Published: September 9, 2024

With the newest release of Trial Director version 2023.8.12, you can proactively minimize delays[1] that can happen when large JPG or PDF files are opened in Trial Director’s  presentation mode. You can do this through a new, optional, process called batch imaging.  

In a recent case, a paralegal used batch imaging to eliminate lag time when she opened a file in presentation mode. She was preparing for trial and one of the exhibits was a 13-page, 10,559 KB, PDF file. The file was made up of high-resolution photographs in the JPG 2000 format. (These kinds of photos are usually seen in radiological, MRI or CAT imaging). She noticed that when she opened the file in presentation mode, it would take several seconds to launch at all and even longer for a new page to appear when navigating from one page to another. Once she batch imaged the file using the newest version of Trial Director, the file launched instantaneously when it was opened in presentation mode and there was no lag time when moving from page to page.

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Social Media Subpoenas

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By Alicia Penn

If you subpoena a company like Meta or Snap, Inc. for records, what will you get? The answer depends on what you ask for, where you ask for it, and what you argue.

The current landscape of social media subpoenas looks like this: if you ask for records of messages sent to your client, you should get them. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(1)(2018); see also Facebook, Inc. v. Pepe, 241 A. 3d 248 (D.C. 2020). If you ask for subscriber information (i.e. things that are not considered contents of communications), you should get it. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(1)(2018).

But what if you need a message that was not addressed to your client? Or photographs that were posted on someone else’s page? Here we run into the Stored Communications Act (“SCA”), enacted by Congress in 1986. 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712(2018). Some courts have construed the SCA to allow major technology companies to refuse to comply with criminal defense subpoenas.[1]

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Exhibit Presenter: a user-friendly and budget alternative to Trial Director

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By Nelson Garcia

Exhibit Presenter is a PDF exhibit court presentation program like Trial Director but at a fraction of the cost. The Exhibit Presenter website[1] states “it was created for attorneys and paralegals to show PDF exbibits in court in an easy and powerful way”.  This is a very user-friendly program with a minimal learning curve. NOTE: You should have all the PDF exhibits prepared in one central location on the laptop to be used in court or on an external drive.

Once you open the  program, open the PDF exhibit you want to present. Then, select any of the presentation tools such as callout, highlight, circle, or underline, and click and drag accordingly with your mouse.

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Can I use Microsoft Windows on my Mac so that I can review discovery?

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By Brian Brunelle

You will have to pry my Mac out of my cold, dead, hands.

TLDR[1]: Buy a PC[2]

There comes a time when a Mac user will need to run software that will only run on Microsoft Windows. Specifically, when you are a criminal defense lawyer or on a legal team that just received discovery containing programs that only run using Microsoft Windows. There is no substitute for running the program natively (on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows) both from performance and ease of use.

Modern Apple computers can run Microsoft Windows in one of two ways. Natively or virtually. Intel-based Macs contain the same Intel processors found in computers running Microsoft Windows. These Macs can natively run Microsoft Windows using a feature called Bootcamp or through virtualization. Newer Macs using processors made by Apple can only use virtualization.[3]

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Hardware Recommendation Update 2024

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By Alicia Penn and Carl Adams

As discovery productions get larger and larger, it helps to have equipment with sufficient processing power to handle them. In some cases, offices found once they had upgraded their hardware, problems with processing times and capabilities were resolved. If you would like to purchase a new machine but are stuck on what to buy, this post is for you.

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