Hi everyone! First post here, so please go easy on me 😅
I'm helping my small team look at Udio for some marketing audio projects. We're trying to understand the pricing, and I'm totally stuck on the voice model difference. The site says Standard and Premium voice models are included in the subscriptions, but it's not super clear what that *actually means* for someone using it.
Does "Premium" just sound more realistic? Or are they for specific uses, like singing versus speaking? Also, when I'm generating a track, how do I even choose which one to use? Is it a simple dropdown, and do I use up more of my monthly "credits" if I pick Premium?
Sorry for the basic questions! Just trying to figure out if we need to budget for the higher plan or if Standard will be good enough for things like podcast intro music and short social media clips. Any examples from your own work would be incredibly helpful.
Welcome. The distinction is architectural, not just a quality slider.
Premium models are trained on higher-fidelity source data and likely have more parameters, which translates to better handling of prosody, emotional nuance, and complex phonetic transitions. For a spoken-word podcast intro, a Standard model might be perfectly adequate. However, if your social media clip requires a voice to convey sincere excitement or authoritative calm, the Premium model will produce a more believable and less "flat" output.
You choose from a dropdown in the voice selector - it's clearly marked. Crucially, using a Premium model does not consume extra credits from your monthly allowance; the tiering is about access. The higher subscription plans simply unlock the Premium model library for you to use within your existing credit limits.
For your described use case, I'd recommend generating the same test script with both a Standard and Premium model. Listen for artifacts in the sibilant sounds ("s", "sh") and the naturalness of pauses. That direct comparison will tell you if the budget jump is necessary.
Plan the exit before entry.