Voice + AI

Fret Beam's voice features — Talk, Dictate, Make a chart, and the Type it instead box — use AI to understand what you say. With an active membership, this is included: nothing to set up, no key to paste in. Hold Talk and go.

Recording tabs works with or without any of this — AI is only for voice, typed commands, and chart generation.

Using your own OpenAI key instead

You can still bring your own OpenAI key if you'd rather (for example, if you prefer to keep your voice traffic on your own OpenAI account). It's a one-time five-minute setup, then it costs pennies a month (a spoken command is a fraction of a cent).

Your key is stored on this computer only. Fret Beam never sends it anywhere except to OpenAI itself, and while a key is set it's used instead of the included AI.

The five steps

1. Create a free account at platform.openai.com. This is OpenAI's developer site — a ChatGPT subscription is a different thing and won't work here.

2. Add a little credit. In their site's Settings → Billing, add a card and buy the smallest credit amount (usually $5). That typically lasts months of teaching. Turn auto-recharge off if you'd rather top up by hand.

3. Make your key. Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys, click Create new secret key, and copy it right away — it starts with sk- and is only shown once. Lost it? Just create a new one.

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4. Paste it into Fret Beam. Open Settings, paste it into the OpenAI API Key field, and save. It's stored on this computer only — the app never sends your key anywhere except to OpenAI itself.

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5. Try it. Hold Talk and say "show a G major chord." A chord chart on screen means you're done.

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If voice commands come out wrong

That's almost always the microphone, not AI setup — in Settings, pick the right mic and check the level meter moves when you speak.