AetherSDR v26.7.4 — Copy Assist, NR2 & Demo Mode

94 commits across 14 contributors since v26.7.3. Full detail in CHANGELOG.md.

Headlines

Copy Assist — on-device speech-to-text, new in this release.

• AetherSDR now transcribes received voice locally via whisper.cpp, docked under the waterfall with confidence colour-coding. CPU or GPU (Vulkan / Metal, auto-detected), download-on-demand models, and an optional remote OpenAI-compatible endpoint if you would rather run it elsewhere. Nothing leaves the machine unless you point it somewhere. (#4338)
• Pick the transcription language rather than relying on auto-detection — a real difference on weak or accented signals. (#4399)
• Copy Assist settings now live under a single configuration key, so they default, migrate, and save as one unit. (#4420)
• The settings window honours frameless mode like the rest of the app. (#4417)

Copy Assist and NR2 now work properly together.

• Copy Assist was fed from a visualization signal that drops any block arriving within 8 ms of the previous one — and it discards the whole block rather than merely skipping a repaint. With NR2 engaged, blocks arrive 5.33 ms apart, so roughly half the speech samples were being thrown away and the remainder spliced together with a discontinuity at every join. The resampler and voice-activity detector assume contiguous audio and had no way to see the gaps. Copy Assist now reads the unconditional presentation tap instead. No audio processing changed — the speaker path was never affected, which is exactly why this read as an NR2 speech-quality problem rather than a dropped-samples one. (#4486, #4488)
• The same fix follows a single receiver: a station running a KiwiSDR alongside a Flex was previously feeding two receivers interleaved into one transcript.
• NR2 itself gets better suppression quality and more reliable settings behaviour. (#4400)

Demo mode — run the full UI with no radio attached.

• A synthetic backend generates its own receive audio and a matching panadapter, so you can explore AetherSDR, learn the interface, or develop against it with no hardware at all. Ten independently-enabled noise and signal channels make it a genuine test bench for the noise-reduction engines. It synthesizes receive audio only and cannot transmit. (#4473, #4490)

The 3D spectrum gets its largest polish pass yet.

• Slice shadows are now surface-mapped onto the 3D FFT, with cached elevation shadows on slice flags. (#4439, #4442)
• History is preserved across smooth-scroll boundaries, the rear edge stays stable when rows arrive late, and the floor resynchronizes after a bandwidth zoom. (#4432, #4476, #4477)
• Waterfall and 3D motion are smoother for both Flex and KiwiSDR sources; the DC-edge comb, the wide right-edge artifact, and flat traces after a dBm scale change are all fixed. (#4425, #4413, #4371, #4279)
• Panadapter Center Lock survives band changes, overlay wheel events stay contained, and the FFT trace line colour is now independent of the fill. (#4327, #4463, #4239)

Time, location, and station awareness.

• AetherClock decodes NIST time signals and shows an alignment display, so you can see your clock's offset against the broadcast standard. (#4336, #4337)
• A new GPS and station-location dashboard brings position and timing together in one place. (#4290)

Automation, TCI, and spotting.

• The automation bridge gains an operator-controlled observe-only mode, phaseful pointer gestures, cross-platform subsystem memory telemetry, and a secured fresh-build MCP auth handoff. (#4188, #4355, #4293, #4356)
• The bridge tune verb takes an optional slice id, so scripts can drive a non-active slice directly. (#4325)
• TCI now broadcasts which slice has GUI focus, plus DSP, squelch, RIT/XIT and TX power on model change. (#4160, #4430)
• Slice Link lets you right-click a panadapter to link two slices so tuning either retunes the other — across panadapters, including Kiwi-sourced slices. (#4326)
• SpotHub gains a column-visibility menu and shrinkable width, and PSK Reporter gains a one-shot WSPR beacon transmitter. (#4157, #4435)

Operating polish and hardware support.

• ACOM S-series amplifier support over serial / ser2net. (#4298)
• Keyboard shortcuts can be exported and imported as backups, and an animated community credits experience joins the About dialog. (#4226, #4250)
• Profile Manager Save now names its target and reports the result, deferred pan writes during profile loads are fixed, and container dock transitions persist immediately. (#4396, #4224, #4427)
• TX power sliders stay stable during a drag, the status-bar TX timer is gated during tune carriers, and stale CW / RTTY panels after pan routing are fixed. (#4351, #4422, #4410)
• macOS gets fixes for native Metal backing-store growth, waveform resize geometry, and clean failure without GUI services. (#4352, #4386, #4238)

Build and packaging.

• CI now verifies that system libraries build, superseded workflow runs auto-cancel, and compiler and linker warnings are cleaned up. (#4256, #4346, #4369)
• Windows local-build prerequisites are documented and fixed, and the RtMidi system dependency propagates correctly. (#4378, #4255)

Contributors

Big thanks to @rfoust (33 commits — the 3D FFT and waterfall pass, macOS fixes, automation gestures and MCP auth, NR2, and a long run of GUI polish), @jensenpat (15 commits — GPS dashboard, WDSP vendoring, WSPR beacon, TCI and controller work), @ten9876 (maintainer, 10 commits — Copy Assist and its audio-tap fix, observe-only bridge mode, CI and documentation), @nigelfenton (7 commits — demo mode, reconnect state, band-name aliases, waterfall split), @Ozy311 (6 commits — AetherClock engine and applet, Profile Manager Save, SWR guide memoization, Windows build prerequisites), @aethersdr-agent (the AetherClaude orchestrator, 6 commits — FFT trace colour, dock persistence, DAX nudge gating, amp-handle guard, spot feedback, redacted issue-report logs), @dawkagaming (3 commits — system-library CI, RtMidi, udev rules), @quelleck (2 commits — Slice Link, bridge tune slice id), @K5PTB (2 commits — Copy Assist language selector, toggle labels), @milenjb (2 commits — TCI broadcasts), @NF0T (1 commit — ACOM S-series amplifiers), @wa2n-code (1 commit — Kiwi diversity volume), @M7HNF-Ian (1 commit — SpotHub columns), and @skerker (1 commit — MIDI VFO self-heal). Dependabot contributed 4 dependency bumps.

73, Jeremy KK7GWY & Claude (AI dev partner)

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Downloads

Linux AppImage (x86_64 / aarch64), macOS DMG (Apple Silicon + Intel, signed + notarized), Windows installer (setup.exe) + portable ZIP, and the Stream Deck plugin are attached below — built and signed by CI workflows on this tag.

Full diff: v26.7.3...v26.7.4

Verifying releases: see docs/VERIFYING-RELEASES.md. Signing key: docs/RELEASE-SIGNING-KEY.pub.asc.