Push to talk, Talk Calls and Ambient on desktop
Hold a key anywhere on your computer to talk to Nebula in a Talk Call, and use Ambient to let Nebula watch the screen and inputs you choose and report back.
Hold one key, anywhere on your computer, and talk to Nebula: a press starts a Talk Call, and the Island at the top of your screen follows it. Ambient is separate. It watches and listens through the inputs you choose, then reports to a channel.
Both need desktop app 0.2.62 or later, and both work in every workspace. Don't have the desktop app yet? Get it from nebula.gg/download and sign in.
The Island
The Island is Nebula's small panel at the top of your screen. It's there while push to talk is on, and during an Ambient session or a call. Drag it anywhere and it stays put. Reset position in Settings → Device → Talk puts it back at the top centre.
Summon Nebula (⌥⇧Space, or Alt+Shift+Space on Windows and Linux) opens the Island, and Enter there opens the Nebula window. The first time the Island shows, it names your key, as in Push to talk is on · hold Right Alt to talk to Nebula, with OK and Settings, which opens Settings → Device → Talk.
Push to talk
Push to talk is on by default, and its key is Right Option (⌥) on a Mac and Right Alt on Windows and Linux. Hold the key and speak, even with Nebula hidden. Let go to send what you said, or press Esc to throw it away.
A press starts a Talk Call with Nebula, or rejoins the one you already have there. It goes to the channel open in the Nebula window, or to your Private Channel when the window is on Home. Hold the key again to say more in the same call: another press never starts a second one.
During a Talk Call the Island is the call's panel:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| The top line | What Nebula is doing, or the last thing it heard |
| Hold to talk / Open mic | Hold to talk opens your mic only while you hold the key. Open mic leaves it open |
| The speaker | Answer aloud or Answer in text only |
| Open full Call | Opens the call in its own window |
| Hang up | Ends the Talk Call |
If the call isn't connected yet when you press, Nebula still gets your first words. They're transcribed and sent as a message while the call gets ready for your next press. If a Talk Call can't start, what you said goes as a message the same way.
On any other call, the key holds that call's mic instead: hold it to talk, and let go to mute again. The Global shortcuts section has the details.
Talk settings
Everything about push to talk is in Settings → Device → Talk.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Push to talk | The switch. Its line reads Off, On · no key or On · hold and the key. Turned off, the key does nothing outside a call and the Island goes away. On a call the key still holds your mic |
| Key | Records a new key. Settings → Device → Shortcuts lists the same key as Push to talk |
| Microphone | The mic push to talk records from. Ambient hears through the same one when its microphone input is on, so changing it changes both |
| Talk mode | Hold while you speak, or Toggle: press once to start and again to send |
| Read replies aloud | Speaks the short reply to what you said. The speaker on the Island is the same switch |
| Island | Reset position puts the Island back at the top centre |
On a Mac the key needs Accessibility access. When it's missing, the page says Push to talk needs Accessibility access to see the key everywhere: click Open System Settings, turn Nebula on, then click Re-check.
The tray menu's Talk item does the same from the menu bar or system tray: its first line says how to talk, as in Hold Right Alt to talk, and it offers Turn On Push to Talk or Turn Off Push to Talk, and Talk Settings….
Ambient
Ambient is a session in which Nebula watches and listens through the inputs you pick, keeps notes on what happens and reports to a channel. It doesn't start tasks. The raw audio, screen and camera are never kept or shared: only the digest and the moments you ask for are posted.
Ambient has nothing to do with push to talk. Starting or stopping it never changes your push-to-talk setting.
Start a session
Ambient's row sits near the foot of the sidebar, above your account. Click it, then New, to open New Ambient session:
What it captures. Pick any of Screen or a window, Camera, Microphone and System audio. Choosing the screen asks which display or window to share.
What it should do. Pick any of Meeting notes, Action items, Watch for errors and Log what I worked on, and add your own in Anything else it should watch for.
Where it reports. Choose the Report Channel. It starts on Private, your Private Channel, and lists the channels you can post in.
Click Turn on.
Next time, Start again in the same row starts a session set up the way the last one was. You can also start one in Settings → Device → Ambient by switching an input on: a session started there reports to your Private Channel.
Screen and system audio need your computer's screen-capture permission, and the camera and microphone are separate permissions. When one is missing, Nebula asks for it.
While a session runs, the Island shows what it captures and where it reports, as in Ambient · Screen, Microphone → Private.
Pause and stop
Pause stops capturing and keeps your inputs, and Resume carries on with them. Stop ends the session. Both are on the Island, the sidebar's Ambient row, the tray menu's Ambient item and Settings → Device → Ambient. Switching off the last input stops it too.
A session also pauses when your screen locks, and ends when you start or join a call. A push-to-talk press asks first: the Island says Starting a Talk Call ends your Ambient session, with Keep Ambient and End Ambient and talk.
Your Ambient sessions
Settings → Device → Ambient lists Your Ambient sessions: each one's title, when it started, how long it ran (or In progress), and its topics. Only you see your sessions. While one runs, Session in the sidebar's Ambient row opens it too.
Click a session to open its dashboard:
| Part | What it holds |
|---|---|
| The header | The session's title, Live or Ended, when it ran and which inputs it used |
| So far / Digest | A running summary while it's live, then the full digest once it ends |
| The counts | Topics, Key moments, Mentioned and Open follow-ups |
| How the time went and Timeline | The key moments in order, each with the time and the input it came from |
| Topics, Decisions, Follow-ups and Mentioned | What came up, what was decided, what's still open, and the people and things named |
| Your notes | Your own notes on the session, saved with Save notes. They're private to you, and Nebula reads them when it searches your sessions |
Related
Put Nebula to work
Get Nebula on your computer or phone, then create your first channel and set its goal.
Home, Quick Chat and shortcuts
Keep Nebula a keystroke away on desktop with the Home page, apps in their own window, notifications, Quick Chat, QuickLive calls, the tray menu, and global and in-app keyboard shortcuts.
Browser extensions
Search the Chrome Web Store and install extensions in the cloud browser Nebula uses for tasks. Turn them on or off, manage the defaults or add a ZIP.