AI · AI model
Cartesia Sonic
Ultra-low-latency streaming text-to-speech and instant voice cloning model.
Sonic is an AI text-to-speech model built on State Space Model (SSM) architecture, designed for real-time applications and conversational voice agents. It generates expressive speech with sub-90ms latency across 44 languages and can clone voices from just a few seconds of clean reference audio. It also supports inline transcript controls like custom pronunciations and expressive cues like laughter.
What it's for
- Power interactive phone and voice bots with sub-second response times
- Clone a custom brand voice using a short 10-second reference clip
- Localize audio content and voice tracks across 44 languages while maintaining identity
- Insert realistic non-verbal cues like laughter or breaks directly into synthesized transcripts
Features
- Sub-90ms first-audio model latency for streaming audio playback
- Instant voice cloning from short audio samples (5 to 10 seconds)
- Support for 44 languages and diverse regional accents
- Inline emotion, pacing, and non-verbal expression control (such as laughter markers)
- Custom pronunciation dictionary support for domain terms and acronyms
- Enterprise deployment options including Cloud API, VPC, and on-premises/air-gapped setups
Pricing
Freemium. Free tier with 20K credits; paid self-serve and custom enterprise tiers available.
Details
- Type
- AI model
- Category
- AI
- Topic
- Text to Speech
- Open source
- No
- Platforms
- Web, API, Self-hosted
- For
- Developers and teams building real-time voice agents, customer support bots, and interactive voice apps.
- Alternative to
- ElevenLabs, PlayHT, Deepgram, OpenAI TTS
- Tags
- tts, voice cloning, speech synthesis, voice ai, audio, api
Why it was saved
- @svpino: Free to try; hallucination-free, uncannily similar to the real voice, high speed and very low latency — practical for voice agents and products with voice.
- @LinusEkenstam: SOTA voice cloning from a 9-second clip, sub-second latency, inline audio instructions (<speed ratio>, <break time>), laughter insertion, emotion and speed controls — practical reference for realistic voice AI agents.
Compare
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