Change the whisper model tier for accuracy vs speed

The Copy Assist panel uses a whisper.cpp model to transcribe received audio. Larger models produce more accurate transcriptions but use more VRAM/RAM and process audio more slowly. This page shows you how to switch between model tiers to balance accuracy against speed.

Before you start

• AetherSDR must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio.
• Copy Assist must be visible (open it with View > Copy Assist or press Ctrl+Shift+T).

Steps

1. In the Copy Assist panel, click the Settings button (gear icon). This opens the Copy Assist settings dialog.
2. In the dialog, locate the Model tier combo box.
3. Click the combo box and select one of:
4. tiny — Fastest, lowest accuracy, least memory used.
5. base — Reasonable speed with moderate accuracy.
6. small — Good accuracy, noticeably slower.
7. medium — Highest accuracy, slowest performance, most VRAM/RAM required.
8. Close the settings dialog. The new model tier takes effect immediately after the underlying engine reloads.

What each control does

Control	Default	Valid range	Behavior
Model tier combo box	tiny	tiny / base / small / medium	Selects the whisper model size. Larger models improve accuracy but increase latency and memory usage.

Tips

• If you notice the Backlog indicator climbing (amber→red), switch to a smaller model tier to help the engine catch up.
• The model files are downloaded automatically when you switch to a tier for the first time. Expect a brief delay and internet connection required for the initial download.

Related

• Copy Assist — Speech to Text overview
• Choose GPU or CPU for speech recognition
• Enable speech-to-text transcription on a slice