ElevenLabs SFX v3: What's New and How It Sounds

ElevenLabs released SFX v3, its latest text-to-sound-effects model, on October 29, 2026. ElevenLabs says it follows prompts that describe several sounds more reliably, handles music and vocals better, and leaves fewer artifacts on gongs, chimes and whistles. It runs in ElevenCreative and through the API, where access is still limited and sound effects are priced at $0.12 per minute. Outside ElevenLabs' apps, RaoMusic's ElevenLabs sound effects already use SFX v3, at 1 credit per second with a 5-credit minimum.

Last checked: October 31, 2026

What is new in ElevenLabs SFX v3?

The announcement lists four changes compared with SFX v2:

• Several sounds in one prompt. "It handles prompts that describe multiple sounds more reliably." The official example is a crowd cheering, a ball dropping and the same crowd booing seconds later.
• Music and vocals. "SFX v3 also improves generation for prompts that include music and vocals."
• Cleaner audio. ElevenLabs says v3 "produces cleaner, more natural audio than SFX v2 in benchmark testing". That comparison comes from its own testing.
• Fewer ringing artifacts. The model "is less likely to produce those unwanted artifacts on sounds such as gongs, chimes, and whistles".

ElevenLabs' official "Introducing SFX v3" video, embedded from its YouTube channel.

How do you get SFX v3 from ElevenLabs?

In ElevenCreative, ElevenLabs lists SFX v3 in Flows, the Sound Effects tab, Studio and the Music Editor. It is also in the ElevenLabs mobile app. Through the API, you send the same sound effects request as before and set the model ID, the value that picks the model, to eleven_text_to_sound_v3. If you leave the model ID out, you get eleven_text_to_sound_v2, which the docs still list as the default.

Access may not reach everyone yet. The docs say "SFX v3 is in limited access and may not be available in every region", and API requests from accounts without access return an "Unknown model" error.

The same docs page lists the controls for sound effects: 0.1 to 30 seconds per clip, a prompt influence setting (higher follows your words more literally), looping for ambience that repeats, MP3 output, and WAV at 48 kHz only when looping is off.

How much does SFX v3 cost?

ElevenLabs' API pricing page lists sound effects at $0.12 per minute. Its docs put the cost at 40 ElevenLabs credits per second when you specify a duration. Neither page showed a separate SFX v3 price when we checked.

On RaoMusic, ElevenLabs sound effects cost 1 credit per second of Length, with a 5-credit minimum, so a 10-second clip costs 10 credits. They work without a subscription.

Can SFX v3 handle several sounds in one prompt?

This prompt follows the official example, with three events in a fixed order. On RaoMusic, the Description match setting controls how closely the result follows your description.

Prompt: Football stadium: the crowd cheers loudly, then a ball drops and bounces twice on the grass, then the same crowd boos. · Length: 10 s · Description match: 0.3 (default)

Listening note: A stadium cheer, two ball bounces, then boos, in the order asked. Keep this take for a stylized sports edit or a comic on-field blunder.

Same prompt · Description match: 0.7

Listening note: The same three events in the same order. The bounces sound dry and lack the reverb of a big stadium, so add a little reverb to them in your editor if the scene needs to feel real.

Write the events in the order you want them and join them with "then". Start at the default Description match and raise it when an event goes missing.

Does SFX v3 still add artifacts to gongs, chimes and whistles?

Prompt: A single large gong struck once with a soft mallet, long shimmering resonance slowly fading out. · Length: 10 s · Description match: 0.3

Listening note: One soft-mallet strike with a long decay, with a slight warble and subtle hiss in the tail. Fade the tail out early if you need a clean ending; as it is, it suits a transition or a meditation intro.

Prompt: Metal wind chimes ringing gently in a light breeze. · Length: 8 s · Description match: 0.3

Listening note: Metallic chime strikes at a natural pace, but almost no breeze, and the sustained rings carry a faint digital phasing and high-frequency ringing. Lay a separate wind or outdoor ambience under it, which also covers the decay.

Prompt: A referee blows one long steady whistle blast, then silence. · Length: 5 s · Description match: 0.3

Listening note: Two short fluttering chirps instead of one long blast. Use it as a double whistle for a foul; for a single long blast, regenerate with a higher Description match.

Same prompt · Description match: 0.8

Listening note: One whistle blast with a slight trill and some pitch movement, then silence. Use it as a referee cue if a little wobble is fine, and regenerate if you need a perfectly flat tone.

Can SFX v3 make music and vocals?

ElevenLabs says v3 handles prompts with music and vocals better. We asked for a short sung jingle with an instrument.

Prompt: A small children's choir sings a short cheerful 'la la la' melody over a toy piano, like a cartoon intro jingle. · Length: 10 s · Description match: 0.3

Listening note: Children clearly sing "la la la", but there is no toy piano and the echoing delivery sounds solemn rather than cheerful. It fits a creepy hook in a horror or thriller scene better than a cartoon intro.

Same prompt · Description match: 0.8

Listening note: The children sing "la la la" without any instrument, in a minor-leaning, haunting cadence. This take also suits horror better than a cartoon.

Both takes got the singing right and missed the toy piano and the cheerful mood. On RaoMusic, the alternative for a cheerful jingle with a backing track is a music model such as ElevenLabs Music.

How does it compare with the SFX v2 clip from October?

The ElevenLabs vs Suno comparison used this city soundscape prompt with eleven_text_to_sound_v2 on October 14, 2026, at 15 seconds, prompt influence 0.8 and looping off. The SFX v3 clip uses the identical prompt and settings, generated on October 31.

Prompt: A cinematic sunrise city soundscape: distant traffic and soft footsteps on wet pavement, a gentle bicycle bell passing by, birds beginning to sing, and a warm hopeful swell of urban ambience. No speech, no music, clean natural detail, polished film sound effect.

SFX v2 · October 14

Listening note: Footsteps on wet ground, a clear bicycle bell and a distant rumble, but the birdsong is barely audible and the swell sounds slightly synthetic. It lacks the depth for a focal cinematic scene, so keep it as a quiet background bed or transition.

SFX v3 · October 31

Listening note: The bicycle bell sits up front, with wet pavement, distant traffic and clear birdsong, but the warm swell is missing. It works as a realistic morning street bed for a drama or podcast scene; add a music pad underneath if you want the swell.

The v3 take has clearer birdsong but drops the swell that the v2 take had.

How do you use SFX v3 on RaoMusic?

1. Open Create and pick ElevenLabs in the model menu. Either ElevenLabs version works, because sound effects use SFX v3 whichever one you pick.
2. Switch to the Sounds tab.
3. Describe the sound in Sound description. List the events in order if there are several.
4. Set Length (1 to 30 seconds) and, if a detail goes missing, raise Description match.
5. Turn on Seamless loop for ambience you want to repeat.
6. Press Generate.

For game work, the game sound effect generator opens the same ElevenLabs Sounds form.

How did we test?

On October 31, 2026 we generated nine clips on RaoMusic with ElevenLabs selected on the Sounds tab, which runs SFX v3, with Seamless loop off. Each prompt and setting is shown above its clip. We checked every job every 5 seconds, and each clip was ready within 11 seconds of the request. The SFX v2 reference clip comes from our October 14 comparison. The short listening note under a clip describes what that file sounds like; press play to judge for yourself.