Sound Effects Generator

Generate production-ready sound effects for mobile and web apps using Stable Audio 2.5 on Replicate.

Setup

Install dependencies (one-time):

pip3 install -r ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/requirements.txt

Set your Replicate API token (one-time — skipped if already configured by another skill):

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/setup_key.py YOUR_REPLICATE_API_TOKEN

Quick Reference

Generate a sound effect

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "button click" \
  --category ui --duration 1 --output click.mp3

Generate with enhanced prompt (default)

The script automatically enhances your description into an optimal prompt for the model. Use --raw-prompt to skip enhancement:

# Enhanced (default): "button click" becomes a detailed audio-engineering prompt
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "button click" -c ui -d 1 -o click.mp3

# Raw: use your prompt verbatim
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "soft digital click, clean, minimal, 44.1kHz" \
  --raw-prompt -d 1 -o click.mp3

Batch generate multiple effects

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "success chime" \
  --category notification --duration 2 --variations 3 --output success.mp3
# Generates: success_1.mp3, success_2.mp3, success_3.mp3

generate_sfx.py Options

Sound Categories

Gen Duration is the minimum passed to the model (-d flag). Actual file duration will be shorter after auto-trim strips silence.

Categories are defined in scripts/categories.json and can be customized or extended.

Common Workflows

Generate a UI sound set for a mobile app

# Button tap (3s gen → auto-trimmed to ~150ms)
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "button tap" \
  -c ui -o sounds/tap.mp3

# Toggle switch
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "toggle switch on" \
  -c ui -o sounds/toggle_on.mp3

# Back swipe
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "swipe back gesture" \
  -c transition -o sounds/swipe_back.mp3

Generate notification sounds

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "new message received" \
  -c notification -d 2 -o sounds/message.mp3

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "task completed successfully" \
  -c success -d 2 -o sounds/complete.mp3

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "error occurred" \
  -c error -d 1 -o sounds/error.mp3

Generate ambient loops

python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "calm office background" \
  -c ambient -d 30 -o sounds/office_ambient.mp3

Reproducible results with seed

# Same seed = same output
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/generate_sfx.py "coin collect" \
  -c game -d 1 --seed 42 -o coin.mp3

Silence Trimming

The model needs at least 3 seconds of generation time to follow prompts well, but many SFX (clicks, taps, pops) are 60-400ms of actual audio followed by silence. By default, --trim is enabled and automatically:

1. Detects where actual audio begins and ends using ffmpeg's silencedetect filter
2. Trims the file to just the active region (with 10ms padding)
3. Applies a subtle 20ms fade-out for clean tails
4. Overwrites the file in-place

This is especially important for UI micro-interactions where sub-200ms precision matters.

Use --no-trim to disable (useful for ambient loops or music that fills the full duration).

Standalone trimming

The trim tool can also be used independently on any audio file:

# Trim a single file
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/trim_silence.py input.mp3 --output trimmed.mp3

# Trim in-place
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/trim_silence.py input.mp3 --in-place

# Tighter threshold for very quiet sounds
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/trim_silence.py input.mp3 --threshold -40 --in-place

# Add a longer fade-out
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/trim_silence.py input.mp3 --fade-out 50 -o smooth.mp3

# Batch process a folder
python3 ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/scripts/trim_silence.py sounds/*.mp3 --in-place

trim_silence.py Options

Model

This skill uses Stable Audio 2.5 (stability-ai/stable-audio-2.5) on Replicate. Key capabilities:

Prompt Enhancement

By default, the script enhances your natural-language description into an audio-engineering prompt optimized for Stable Audio 2.5. The enhancement:

1. Adds technical audio descriptors (clean, high-fidelity, 44.1kHz)
2. Injects category-specific style keywords (e.g., "digital, minimal, crisp" for UI sounds)
3. Adds appropriate mood and texture descriptors
4. Keeps the core intent of your description intact

Use --raw-prompt to bypass this and send your exact text to the model.

Note: Stable Audio 2.5 is a synthesis model — great for clean UI/abstract/designed sounds, but real-world foley and nature ambiences can sound synthetic. For maximum realism, prefer a real-recording source (e.g. the audio-theater skill's ElevenLabs or Freesound backends).

Configuration

Config stored at ~/.cursor/skills/sound-effects/config.json:

{
  "replicate_api_token": "YOUR_TOKEN",
  "default_category": "generic",
  "default_duration": 3,
  "default_steps": 8,
  "default_cfg_scale": 3.5
}

The skill also checks for an existing Replicate token in ~/.cursor/skills/avatar-video-reel/config.json as a fallback, so you may not need to configure it again if you already use that skill.