Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
A press office briefing is transcribed by sending the recording file or a link to the Potok (potok.now) bot @potok_now_bot: a short recording comes back as text, a long one as a file. Russian speech is recognized, line labels and timecodes are turned on in the settings in advance, and the first 60 minutes of transcription per month are free.
After a briefing a journalist usually has an hour of recording, a close deadline and no time at all to relisten to the tape looking for the right quote.
How to transcribe a press office briefing into text in practice
The file or a voice recorder recording is forwarded to the Potok bot @potok_now_bot in Telegram: a short transcript arrives as text right in the chat, a long one is saved as a file. If several people answered at the briefing, such as a press secretary and invited experts, it is worth turning on line labels and timecodes in the bot settings in advance: then the text shows where the speaker changed, even if under numbers “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2” and not by names. Then ready buttons are available under the transcript text: “Summary” collects the main points for each speaker, and “Ask” lets you put a question to the bot right about the content, for example, what exactly was answered to a particular question from the audience, without rereading the whole transcript. For regular work with such recordings you can also create your own button with a permanent request, say “Quotes”, so that the bot each time pulls direct speech in quotation marks out of the text. The transcript text itself is not shortened or retold: the bot only places punctuation and capital letters and fixes obvious recognition errors.
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
When it is easier to dictate a retelling than to transcribe everything
If two paragraphs out of an hour of recording will go into a note, it is not necessary to transcribe the whole briefing: you can listen to the fragment you need once and dictate a short retelling in your own words. For this you need not a bot that transcribes a ready recording but another tool: for typing your own text by voice there is a separate app, Potok, which inserts dictated text into any text field, whether a draft of a note or a messenger. This is no longer a transcript of the original audio recording but dictation of new text from scratch, and the choice between the two approaches depends on whether you need a word-for-word quote in the end or a short statement of the meaning is enough.
When the bot will not fit for transcribing a briefing
The Potok bot will not transcribe a briefing in a foreign language: it works only with Russian speech, and there is no translation. Transcribing a press conference right during the broadcast will not work either: you need a ready recording, not a connection to the stream. The bot will not accept a link to Instagram or TikTok if the briefing recording is posted there: a file or an address on YouTube, VK Video or RuTube will do. And the bot does not work without the internet: it is cloud-based, and recognition runs on Potok servers in Russia. A more detailed look at tools for transcribing recordings on a computer is collected in the article “a speech recognition program from an audio file to text”, and a broader comparison of transcription services adds web services for uploaded files to the bot.
Frequently asked questions
With the “Ask” button you can put a question to the Potok bot right about the recording, for example, what exactly was said on a particular topic, and get an answer based on the content without reading the whole transcript.
Voice input is real-time dictation into the active text field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (a lecture, a call, a podcast) into text after the fact, often with diarization (splitting by speaker).
With Potok you can dictate the minutes live, speaking them during or right after the meeting. Transcribing an already recorded audio file of a meeting (a finished Zoom or Telemost recording) is a separate transcription task: such a file can be sent to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Yes, several platforms have built-in meeting transcription: Zoom for cloud recordings, Microsoft Teams during the meeting, Google Meet on Google Workspace plans. The alternative is to record the sound and process it with a separate transcription service after the call. The Potok app does not do this kind of transcription, it is for live dictation; a call recording can be sent as a file to Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
Voice input is real-time dictation: you speak and immediately get text in the active field. Transcription turns an already finished audio or video recording (for example, a meeting recording) into text after the fact. The Potok app handles the first task, live dictation; finished recordings in Russian are transcribed by its Telegram bot @potok_now_bot.
There is a free 14-day trial with full access to Pro features, no card required. After the trial, either the free limit of 2500 words per week or a paid Pro subscription at 690 ₽/mo (cheaper when paid yearly, 499 ₽/mo).
Transcribe your own recording
Forward a voice message, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video or RuTube link to Potok's Telegram bot, and the text arrives in the same chat. 60 minutes per month for free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramRelated software: terms compared
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok bot and web version | Telegram (@potok_now_bot, mini app inside the bot) | 60 minutes per month | 7 days: 249 ₽, 30 days: 449 ₽, one year: 2 890 ₽; included in the Potok app subscription | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Otter.ai | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Desktop (Mac/Windows), integrations with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet | Basic: 300 minutes of transcription per month, up to 30 minutes per meeting, 3 imported files over the whole lifetime of the account, free forever | $16.99/mo (Pro, monthly billing, 1200 min/mo); $8.33/mo (Pro, billed yearly (the full year is charged at once)); $30/mo (Business, monthly billing) | not directly: dollar billing through international payment processors declines cards issued in Russia and Belarus (confirmed by independent Russian-language guides on dtf.ru and vc.ru; no official Otter.ai statement about blocking Russia was found, this follows from general payment system restrictions) | cloud, US servers (the company is registered in the USA); the exact data center is not disclosed on the pricing page |
| Transkriptor | Web | 10 minutes on sign-up, limited to 2 min/day (according to the localized Russian site transkriptor.ru); the international site transkriptor.com states a free trial (up to 90 minutes according to secondary sources; the official pricing page could not be opened directly because it timed out) | 490 ₽/one-time (Start, 150 minutes (transkriptor.ru)); 790 ₽/one-time (Pro, 700 minutes (transkriptor.ru)); 1900 ₽/one-time (Premium, 2100 minutes (transkriptor.ru)) | yes, on the localized site transkriptor.ru: Visa/Mastercard/Mir bank cards with no fee, SBP via QR code with no fee, YooMoney with a 3% fee; payments are one-off (no subscription) and processed by the KASSA service. The international site transkriptor.com presumably bills in dollars; this is not confirmed directly (the pricing page timed out) | not disclosed |
| SaluteSpeech Bot (Sber) | Telegram | free; voice messages, audio and video notes | — | not disclosed | SaluteSpeech cloud (Sber) |
| Voicy (@voicybot) | Telegram | free; on the Wit.ai engine, recordings of up to 50 seconds | — | not disclosed | Wit.ai, Yandex SpeechKit or Google Speech; the user chooses the engine |
| Voicee (@Voicee_AI_Bot) | Telegram, Web | 45 minutes to start | 500 ₽/hour of recording (without a package; cheaper with packages) | rubles | not disclosed |
| KolerskyAI Whisper Bot | Telegram | the first 5 minutes | 69 ₽/15 minutes; 149 ₽/50 minutes; 490 ₽/200 minutes | rubles | not disclosed |
| Transkribator (@gotranscribeai_bot) | Telegram, Max | 3 transcriptions per month | — | not disclosed | not disclosed |
Primary sources: otter.ai · help.otter.ai · transkriptor.ru · support.transkriptor.com
Transcribe a recording in Telegram
Voice messages, video notes, audio and video are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message from any chat, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video or RuTube link. A short recording comes back as text in the chat, a long one as a file; timestamps and speaker labels can be turned on. The buttons give a short summary, tasks and deadlines, an answer to a question about the recording and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT. Large files, up to 2 GB, are easier to upload in the bot's mini app, via the Upload button next to the input field. The bot recognizes Russian speech; 60 minutes per month are free.