Stable Audio DAW plugin: BPM sync and takes vs Sume Music

Stability AI's new Stable Audio plugin is a macOS AU and VST3 plugin that works inside Logic Pro and Ableton Live, with BPM sync, lengths up to six minutes and a playlist of takes. Sume has no plugin and no tempo field: its Music Router is an HTTP API that returns an audio file, and tempo is a number you write into the prompt. Choose by where the music is made, inside a DAW session or inside a pipeline.

The Stability facts come from its post Sharing a new way to work with Stable Audio and its Stable Audio page, both read on 2026-10-02. Sume's come from the Music Router docs.

What does the Stable Audio plugin do?

Per Stability's post, the plugin is a native macOS AU and VST3 for Apple Silicon and Intel, tested with Logic Pro and Ableton Live. It syncs generation to the session BPM, generates up to six minutes of audio, and keeps a playlist of takes so you can compare them and drag the best into the arrangement. The post says both the plugin and a companion web app are in beta at StableAudio.com, and that outputs are owned and freely distributable.

The post gives no pricing and no Windows build, so neither is claimed here.

How does Sume Music Router differ?

POST /v1/music-router/generate takes a prompt (1 to 5,000 characters), an optional public HTTPS image_url and an optional model; leaving model out means sume/music-auto, which is Lyria 3.5 today. Tempo, key and section markers belong in the prompt. duration, duration_seconds and a non-empty negative_prompt are rejected with HTTP 400.

The result is a job. You poll GET /v1/jobs/{id} or pass a webhook_url, and the completed job carries an audio artifact, typically audio/mpeg, hosted on media.sume.com. Nothing syncs to a host session clock, so if you need a beat grid you must measure the file yourself.

How do the two workflows compare?

What does the plugin's six-minute length mean for Sume users?

Stability's overview page lists Stable Audio 3.0 in Large, Medium and Small tiers with songs up to six minutes, an enterprise licence and an API, with open weights for Small and Medium. That is a hosted-or-local model family you can also reach outside the plugin. Sume's Music Router routes lyria-3.5 and lyria-3-pro and does not list a Stable Audio row, so this is a different engine family, not an alias.

If your concern is song length, the Music docs only let you ask for it in the prompt, and nothing in the docs promises a six-minute result. Test the length you need before you build a flow around it.

When should you pick which?

Pick the plugin if a producer is arranging by hand and wants takes dropped on a timeline in a DAW. Pick the API if a script, an agent or a web product has to make music without a person at a keyboard, or if the audio feeds a video job next. Sume does not offer in-DAW generation, a take playlist or an audio-to-audio mode on Music. If you need a bed under a video, generate here and place it with the timeline soundtrack bed.

• No DAW plugin and no session BPM sync on Sume.
• No seed: the same prompt can return different music.
• Each retry is a fresh generation at the fixed Music price.