Audio Generation

ShortGenius can turn any piece of text into a narrated audio file using its text-to-speech (TTS) engine. Choose from various voices and locales to match your brand or project needs. This section covers creating speech, listing existing audio, and retrieving detailed audio info.

---

Creating Speech

Endpoint: POST /audio/speech

Use this endpoint to generate a new audio file from text. You can optionally let the request return immediately or wait until the audio is fully generated.

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/audio/speech" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "text": "Hello from ShortGenius!",
    "locale": "en-US",
    "voice_id": "<VOICE-ID>",
    "wait_for_generation": true
  }'

Request Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
text	string	Yes	The text to be converted to speech.
voice_id	string	Yes	ID of the chosen voice. See List Voices to retrieve possible voice_id.
locale	string	No	Defaults to "auto". Use a two-letter language code + region code if you want to specify a locale (e.g., en-US, de-DE).
wait_for_generation	boolean	No	If false, the response immediately returns a pending record. If true, it waits until the audio is ready (default: false).

Sample Response (Synchronous)

If wait_for_generation is true and generation completes quickly, you’ll receive:

{
  "id": "3804fef4-5329-42b8-8a5b-a12eb5c3dc2c",
  "created_at": "2025-05-05T14:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": null,
  "url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/audio/3804fef4.mp3",
  "user_id": "8f157306-139a-4f38-b783-e13e326ecaaa",
  "transcript": {
    "words": [
      {
        "text": "Hello",
        "start": 0.4,
        "end": 0.7,
        "confidence": 0.99
      },
      {
        "text": "from",
        "start": 0.75,
        "end": 1.0,
        "confidence": 0.98
      },
      ...
    ]
  },
  "state": "completed",
  "text": "Hello from ShortGenius!",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "voice": {
    "id": "769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95",
    "name": "Samantha",
    "description": null,
    "avatar_url": null,
    "flag_url": null,
    "tags": null,
    "preview_url": null,
    "locale": "en-US",
    "source": "ElevenLabs"
  },
  "duration": 1.2,
  "lufs": -14.3
}

If wait_for_generation is false, you may see "state": "pending" or "generating", and you need to poll the Get Audio endpoint until it’s "completed".

---

Listing & Retrieving Audio

List Audio

Endpoint: GET /audio

Query Param	Default	Description
page	0	Results page number (zero-based)
limit	50	Items per page, up to 200

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/audio?page=0&limit=10" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Sample Response:

{
  "audio": [
    {
      "id": "3804fef4-5329-42b8-8a5b-a12eb5c3dc2c",
      "created_at": "2025-05-05T14:00:00Z",
      "updated_at": null,
      "url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/audio/3804fef4.mp3",
      "user_id": "8f157306-139a-4f38-b783-e13e326ecaaa",
      "transcript": null,
      "state": "generating",
      "text": "Hello from ShortGenius!",
      "voice": {
        "id": "769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95",
        "name": "Samantha",
        "locale": "en-US",
        "source": "ElevenLabs"
      }
    },
    ...
  ],
  "has_more": true
}

Retrieve a Single Audio

Endpoint: GET /audio/{id}

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/audio/3804fef4-5329-42b8-8a5b-a12eb5c3dc2c" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Sample Response:

{
  "id": "3804fef4-5329-42b8-8a5b-a12eb5c3dc2c",
  "created_at": "2025-05-05T14:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2025-05-05T14:02:00Z",
  "url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/audio/3804fef4.mp3",
  "user_id": "8f157306-139a-4f38-b783-e13e326ecaaa",
  "transcript": {
    "words": [
      { "text": "Hello", "start": 0.4, "end": 0.7, "confidence": 0.99 },
      ...
    ]
  },
  "state": "completed",
  "text": "Hello from ShortGenius!",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "voice": {
    "id": "769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95",
    "name": "Samantha",
    "locale": "en-US",
    "source": "ElevenLabs"
  },
  "duration": 1.2,
  "lufs": -14.3
}

---

Voices

ShortGenius offers a wide selection of voices with distinct accents, languages, and tonalities. You can filter them by locale or retrieve details about a specific voice.

List Voices

Endpoint: GET /audio/voices

Query Param	Default	Description
locale	auto	Language/region code to filter voices (e.g., en-US).
page	0	Page number.
limit	20	Items per page, can go up to 10,000,000.

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/audio/voices?locale=en-US&page=0&limit=5" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Sample Response:

[
  {
    "id": "769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95",
    "name": "Samantha",
    "description": null,
    "avatar_url": null,
    "flag_url": null,
    "tags": {
      "language": "English",
      "accent": "American",
      "gender": "Female",
      "tone": "Conversational"
    },
    "preview_url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/voices/previews/samantha.mp3",
    "locale": "en-US",
    "source": "ElevenLabs"
  },
  {
    "id": "0c5a6a7f-afb3-41b2-b9a6-71f61f094da6",
    "name": "John",
    "description": "Deep, authoritative voice",
    "avatar_url": null,
    "flag_url": null,
    "tags": {
      "language": "English",
      "accent": "American",
      "gender": "Male"
    },
    "preview_url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/voices/previews/john.mp3",
    "locale": "en-US",
    "source": "ElevenLabs"
  },
  ...
]

Retrieve a Single Voice

Endpoint: GET /audio/voices/{id}

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/audio/voices/769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Sample Response:

{
  "id": "769d93d4-3c7f-47c0-9a9c-5db259e67b95",
  "name": "Samantha",
  "description": null,
  "avatar_url": null,
  "flag_url": null,
  "tags": {
    "language": "English",
    "accent": "American",
    "gender": "Female",
    "tone": "Conversational"
  },
  "preview_url": "https://cdn.shortgenius.com/voices/previews/samantha.mp3",
  "locale": "en-US",
  "source": "ElevenLabs"
}

---

Best Practices & Tips

• Preview Voices: Use the preview_url from the voices list to quickly audition how a voice sounds.

• Check Credits: Generating long or high-quality TTS may consume more credits, so keep an eye on credits.
• Combine with Video: Add TTS audio to your video drafts for a more engaging, fully AI-generated experience.

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Next Steps

Now you know how to:

1. Generate audio from text using TTS.

2. Retrieve or list audio files.

3. Explore a variety of voices.

Continue to the Music section to see how you can add music soundtracks, or head to the Connections & Publishing chapter to learn how to publish your creations automatically.