Narration voices

Narration typically covers most of a video's runtime, so the voice matters more than any other single setting.

Voice providers

VidNext offers voices from several providers Show me in the app ↗, each with different strengths:

For non-English videos the provider list narrows to those with strong support for the selected language.

SONA PRO voices

Cartesia's Common Library also includes SONA PRO — a curated collection of premium studio voices, marked with an amber PRO badge and listed first in their language. Use the PRO toggle Show me in the app ↗ next to the Male/Female filter to show only those voices; the count on the toggle tells you how many exist for the selected language. Pressing play on a PRO voice plays its official sample. PRO voices are selected and starred like any other voice and are available wherever the Cartesia picker appears, including the editor's voice modal.

Star any voice to collect it in Favorites Show me in the app ↗ for quick reuse across projects:

You can also clone a voice Show me in the app ↗ from about 10 seconds of clear speech — useful for keeping the same host across every video on a channel:

Previewing voices

Never commit to a voice unheard. Select one in the voice picker Show me in the app ↗ and generate a test clip using one of four preset snippets — Hook, Statistics, Emotional, High energy — or paste your own line. The presets are designed to expose how a voice handles the moments that matter: openings, numbers, emotional beats, and hype.

Voice tests are free or nearly free (Gemini TTS shows a small per-test credit charge after your free tests run out); failed generations are never charged.

Speed and pacing

Narration speed Show me in the app ↗ is adjustable — Slowest, Slow, Normal, Fast, Fastest. VidNext also calibrates timing to the actual voice: scene durations follow the real narration audio, not an assumed reading speed, so pacing stays natural at any setting.

Using your own API key

If you have your own ElevenLabs, Fish Audio, or Cartesia account, connect your API key Show me in the app ↗ in settings:

• 50% off the TTS portion of every generation
• Access to your own cloned voices
• Usage runs against your own provider quota

A "My key · 50% OFF" chip Show me in the app ↗ appears on the voice section when active.

Uploading your own narration

Skip TTS entirely by choosing Upload my narration as the narration source Show me in the app ↗. Bring your own voiceover with Add audio Show me in the app ↗ (up to 30 minutes total, multiple files allowed) and VidNext builds the visuals around it. There's also a Music video mode: upload a song Show me in the app ↗ and the track becomes the full audio, with visuals cut to it — note there is no voiceover in that mode, so text in the prompt only guides the visuals. If your prompt looks like a narration script, VidNext warns you before starting and offers to switch to a narrated video (keeping your track as background music). The reverse is covered too: if the file you upload as narration sounds like a music track, VidNext points it out next to the file and offers to switch to Music video mode with the file kept — you can always keep your choice. And because both upload modes build the video from real footage, a prompt that asks for generated footage (animation, invented characters, camera directions) gets the same Brief check as a text-to-video prompt does in the AI-script mode.