🎵 Audio Generation

Ludus generates music and sound effects from a text description, then imports them into the project as Sound Waves, from the Ludus chat in the plugin window inside the Unreal Editor. It also edits existing audio: trim, fade, loop, join, overlay, extend, remix, and normalize. Every edit is non-destructive — it produces a new asset and leaves the clip you pointed at untouched.

Use it for ambient beds and score, impacts and one-shots, loopable effects, and quick placeholder audio you can iterate on without leaving the editor.

How to use

1. Open the Ludus plugin window in the Unreal Editor (Unreal Engine 5.4 to 5.8).
2. Type a description of the sound in the Ludus chat, and say whether you want music or a sound effect.
3. Set a length if it matters. Sound effects run 1 to 30 seconds; music can go longer.
4. Review the clip in the in-chat preview card. Audio cards play back in place and show a waveform.
5. Approve the import. Ludus imports the clip as a Sound Wave into the Content Browser.

Example prompt: "Generate a 20-second looping tavern ambience: low crowd murmur, a crackling fire, occasional mug clinks, no music." Expected result: Ludus generates the ambience, shows it as a playable card in the chat, and stages the import. On approval it lands as a Sound Wave in /Game/Ludus/Audio.

Music

Describe the audible result rather than a story: mood, genre, tempo or energy, instrumentation, how it develops, production character, and what it is for. Ludus does not generate lyrics.

Length picks a generation tier rather than an exact runtime — clips of 30 seconds or less use the short-form tier, and anything longer uses the full-length tier. Treat the result as close to the length you asked for, not exact.

Example prompt: "Write a tense exploration bed for a derelict space station: slow, sparse, low synth pads with metallic creaks, no percussion, builds slightly over two minutes."

Sound effects

Describe the source or action, the material, the intensity, the timing or envelope, the distance and perspective, the environment, and the tail.

Sound effects run from 1 to 30 seconds and default to 5 seconds if you do not ask for a length.

Example prompt: "A heavy iron door slamming shut in a stone corridor — deep impact, metallic ring, two seconds of reverb tail."

Match the style of an existing clip

Point Ludus at audio you already have and it matches its character. Say "like this clip", "match this", or reference the asset directly. You can supply up to 16 reference clips, either from your Ludus asset library or as Sound Waves already committed to /Game.

Ludus listens to the references and writes its own style direction from what it hears, so you do not need to describe them yourself.

Example prompt: "Generate three more impact sounds in the same style as SW_Impact_Metal_01."

Editing existing audio

Every operation below takes audio you already have — a Ludus-generated clip or a Sound Wave in your project — and returns a new asset. The source clip is never modified, so you can chain edits and step back at any point.

Operation	What it does	What you give it
Trim	Cuts to a section	A start and end point; either end can be left open
Fade	Adds a fade in, a fade out, or both	Fade durations in seconds
Gain	Raises or lowers level	A gain in decibels, optionally over just part of the clip
Normalize	Evens out the overall level	Nothing but the clip
Loop	Builds a seamless loop of a target length	A total duration up to 600 seconds, and an optional crossfade
Join	Plays two clips one after the other	Two clips in order, and an optional crossfade
Overlay	Layers one clip on top of another	A base and a layer, where the layer starts, and an optional layer gain
Extend	Generates new audio before or after a clip	A description of the new section, and how long it should be
Remix	Regenerates the whole clip to a new description	A description of the result you want

Crossfades on loop, join and extend can run up to 30 seconds.

Example prompt: "Trim SW_Ambience_Cave to the first 12 seconds, fade it in over 2 seconds, then make it loop cleanly for 90 seconds."

Choosing between an edit and a remix

Trim, gain, fade and normalize are exact operations — they do what you ask and nothing else. Extend and remix generate new audio, so they cost more and the result will differ from the source. Reach for the precise operations when you want a specific cut or level, and keep remix for when you actually want a different take.

Layering

Build each layer as its own clip, overlay them, then normalize if the result is hot. To join more than two clips, chain the joins in order — each result becomes the input to the next.

Import and the Asset Library

Generated audio imports automatically as an Unreal Sound Wave.

• Default destination is /Game/Ludus/Audio. Name a folder in your request and Ludus imports there instead — no need to import and then move it.
• You can also name the Sound Wave asset directly. Names accept letters, numbers and underscores.
• Sound Waves have no editor thumbnail, so Ludus generates a waveform image for them. Audio appears in the Asset Library with a waveform preview you can play in place.
• Filter the Asset Library by the audio type to find every clip you have generated.

If an import fails, the generated clip is still in your library — re-import it from there rather than regenerating.

Options and limits

• Modes: music and sound effects.
• Sound effect length: 1 to 30 seconds; 5 seconds by default.
• Music length: 30 seconds or less uses the short-form tier; longer requests use the full-length tier. Requested length selects the tier rather than guaranteeing an exact runtime.
• Loop length: up to 600 seconds.
• Crossfade: up to 30 seconds.
• Style references: up to 16 clips per request.
• Non-destructive: every edit creates a new asset; the source is never changed.
• Import: automatic, as a Sound Wave, into /Game/Ludus/Audio unless you name a folder.
• Ownership: you have full ownership of generated content.

What Ludus will not do

Do not ask for audio in the style of a named artist, band, franchise or copyrighted track — Ludus will not generate it. Generated audio also carries the provider's inaudible watermark, and Ludus will not remove or disable it.

For prompt guidance, see Effective Prompting and Examples of Usage. For imported assets, see Asset Library & Import. For Sound Wave edits alongside MetaSound and SoundCue graph work, see Audio Editing.

Approvals

Ludus will ask you for approval before making edits. See Approvals & Safety.