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Customizing Sounds Tutorial

Knowii Voice AI plays a short sound when recording starts and another when your transcription is ready. These audio cues let you keep working without watching the screen - and you can fully personalize them.

In this tutorial, you will:

  • Choose different built-in sounds
  • Adjust the feedback volume
  • Add your own custom sounds

Prerequisites​

  • Knowii Voice AI installed and set up (see the Getting Started Tutorial)
  • For the custom sounds part: one or more .wav or .mp3 files you'd like to use

Step 1: Open the Audio Settings​

  1. Right-click the Knowii Voice AI icon in the system tray and select Settings...
  2. Go to the Audio tab
  3. Scroll down to the Feedback section

Step 2: Make Sure Audio Feedback is Enabled​

The Audio Feedback toggle controls whether any sounds play at all:

  1. Check that Audio Feedback is enabled
  2. If it's disabled, turn it on - the other sound settings become available
note

When Audio Feedback is disabled, Knowii Voice AI operates silently and all the sound settings below are inactive.

Step 3: Try a Different Built-in Sound​

Knowii Voice AI ships with a collection of built-in sounds you can choose from:

  1. Open the Start Recording Sound dropdown
  2. Select any sound from the list
  3. Nudge the Volume slider - it plays a preview so you can hear your selection
  4. Repeat for the End Processing Sound dropdown
tip

Pick two clearly different sounds for start and end - that way you always know whether the app just started recording or finished transcribing, without looking at the screen.

Step 4: Adjust the Volume​

The Volume slider controls how loud the feedback sounds play:

  1. Drag the slider to your preferred level (0% to 100%, in 5% steps)
  2. Each adjustment plays a test sound at the new volume, so you can fine-tune by ear

Suggestions:

  • Quiet office: 30-50%
  • Noisy environment: 80-100%

Step 5: Add Your Own Sounds​

Want to use your own sounds instead of the built-in ones? It only takes a minute:

  1. In the Feedback section, click the Open Folder button next to Custom Sounds. Your custom sounds folder opens in your file manager (it's created automatically if it doesn't exist yet).
  2. Copy your own .wav or .mp3 files into that folder.
  3. Back in Knowii Voice AI, open the Start Recording Sound or End Processing Sound dropdown - your sounds now appear at the top of the list, marked with (Custom).
  4. Select your custom sound, then nudge the Volume slider to preview it.
Name your files nicely

The file name becomes the name shown in the dropdown: underscores turn into spaces and each word is capitalized. For example, gentle_chime.mp3 appears as Gentle Chime (Custom).

Where the folder lives

The Open Folder button always takes you to the right place, but if you're curious, custom sounds are stored in the sounds folder inside the application data directory. See Application Data for the exact location on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Step 6: Test Your New Sounds​

Time to hear your customization in action:

  1. Click in any text field (e.g., a note or an email draft)
  2. Press and hold your recording shortcut (Ctrl+Space by default)
  3. You'll hear your new start sound
  4. Say a few words, then release the shortcut
  5. When the transcription is pasted, you'll hear your new end sound

Going Back to the Defaults​

Changed your mind? Each sound setting has a reset icon next to it:

  • Click the reset icon next to Start Recording Sound to restore the default start sound
  • Click the reset icon next to End Processing Sound to restore the default end sound

Your custom sound files stay in the custom sounds folder, so you can switch back to them anytime. To remove them from the dropdowns entirely, delete the files from the folder.

Tips​

  • Keep custom sounds short (a fraction of a second) so they don't overlap with your recording
  • Use distinct start and end sounds so you can tell them apart by ear
  • Your sounds stay private - custom sounds live on your computer and are never uploaded anywhere

Troubleshooting​

My custom sound doesn't appear in the dropdown​

  1. Check that the file ends in .wav or .mp3 - other formats are not supported
  2. Make sure you copied the file into the folder opened by the Open Folder button (not a subfolder)
  3. Close and reopen the Settings window to refresh the list

No sound plays​

  1. Verify Audio Feedback is enabled
  2. Check the Volume slider is above 0%
  3. Verify the correct Output Device is selected in Settings > Audio > Devices
  4. See the Audio Settings troubleshooting section for more help

Need Help?​

If you have questions about customizing sounds, visit the Support page.