Eleven v4 voice clone: 10 seconds or 1-2 minutes? Pages differ

ElevenLabs' launch post says an instant clone needs 10 seconds of audio; its docs page says one to two minutes. What Sume's Voices clone asks for instead.

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How long a sample does an Eleven v4 instant voice clone need? The ElevenLabs launch post says 10 seconds of audio; the Eleven v4 docs page says "generally one to two minutes". Both were read on 2026-10-03. Read the launch post as the minimum that works and the docs page as what to give it for a result you will publish.

Sume's Voices clone asks for a file rather than a duration: wav, mp3, m4a, mp4, webm or ogg, up to 20 MB, plus a name, a gender and a language tag.

Side by side

The launch post also says Professional Voice Clones are supported again in v4 and that instant clones now capture voices with high fidelity from 10 seconds. The product page adds that all clones require verified owner consent. None of the ElevenLabs pages read give a maximum sample length.

Clone inputs as stated by each side, read 2026-10-03
ItemElevenLabs Eleven v4Sume Voices clone
Sample length10 seconds (launch post); one to two minutes (docs page)No minimum length stated in the product code
File typesNot stated on the pages readwav, mp3, m4a, mp4, webm, ogg
Size limitNot stated on the pages read20 MB per source file
Required fieldsVerified owner consentName, gender (male, female, nonbinary), language tag
Where the result is usedEleven v4 and v4 TurboAs voice.id on a TTS request

How to choose a sample

Use one speaker only, no music underneath, and the same room and microphone you will use later. A clean 30 to 60 seconds beats a noisy two minutes. Because Sume accepts mp4 and webm, a recorded screen-share with a clear voice track can work, but strip any background music first; audio detach can return a wav of just the track.

Clone only your own voice or one you have written permission to use. Sume's voice id then goes into the voice.id field of tts_create, described in MCP tools and gates.

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