Udio Review: This AI Music Generator Is Scary Good

Every musician has faced those frustrating moments of endless hours lost in production and the relentless struggle with creative blocks.

As a creative, I know how frustrating creative blocks can be. But what if a tool could instantly turn your ideas into polished tracks, freeing you from these frustrating creative blocks?

I recently came across Udio, an artificial intelligence-powered app that effortlessly transforms ideas into professional-sounding music tracks. With Udio, you can focus more on your artistic vision and overcome those creative blocks more seamlessly!

In this Udio review, I’ll discuss the pros and cons, what it is, who it’s best for, and its key features. Then, I’ll show you how I used Udio to generate this song using the text prompt: “A song about why the rent is too goddamn high, country, folk.”

Pretty impressive, right? It’s hard to believe Udio generated this entire song with AI! It sounds like an actual song recorded and produced by an actual artist. I’ll also show you how to use AI tools like inpainting to edit your song with Udio.

From there, I’ll finish the article by comparing Udio with my top three alternatives (Hydra II by Rightsify, AIVA, and Soundful). Let’s learn more about Udio and see if it’s right for you!

Verdict

Udio excels at creating original, high-quality music from text prompts with advanced AI editing tools. However, concerns over copyright issues and track length limitations may affect its appeal.

What is Udio AI?

Udio is an innovative AI music generator that allows anyone to create personalized music simply by describing it. Whether it’s a song about an unusual scenario or a specific genre, Udio transforms text prompts into professional-quality tracks!

Udio aims to democratize music creation, making it accessible to seasoned musicians and beginners. Professional musicians use Udio to improve their creative process, while amateurs can turn their ideas into high-quality songs without needing advanced musical skills or technical know-how. Udio provides powerful tools that fit seamlessly into your production workflow, from creating original tracks to remixing and inpainting existing ones.

Founded by former Google DeepMind researchers (David Ding, Andrew Sanchez, Conor Durkan, Yaroslav Ganin, and Charlie Nash), Udio collaborates with some of the most forward-thinking artists in the music industry. The platform is supported by notable musicians and producers like will.i.am, Common, and Tay Keith.

With Udio, a catchy melody, a meaningful lyric, or a quirky idea can become a fully produced track ready to be shared with the world!

Who is Udio Best For?

Udio is an excellent tool for all kinds of people, from students experimenting with new music styles to songwriters facing a creative block:

• Content creators like YouTubers and podcasters can use Udio for background music for their projects rather than spending hours searching for royalty-free music. The ability to quickly generate custom audio saves time and money compared to hiring voice actors or licensing music!
• Students and educators can use Udio to create audio for presentations, projects, or e-learning materials by describing a song that perfectly matches their unique needs. Udio’s flexible tools allow them to specify genres that perfectly align with the tone and style they’re looking for.
• Businesses can use Udio to create background music perfect for their promotional videos and training materials. The variety of voices and languages makes it versatile for different business needs.
• Writers and publishers can use Udio to generate custom audiobook soundtracks, enhancing the listening experience with music tailored to the story’s mood and genre. They can also create background music for promotional content, making book trailers and social media posts more engaging.
• Musicians can use Udio to quickly generate unique instrumental tracks or experiment with different genres for inspiration. They can also upload their music and refine song ideas by extending sections, remixing styles, or inpainting specific parts without changing the composition.
• Music enthusiasts and aspiring musicians can use Udio to experiment with creating music without needing extensive musical knowledge or equipment. It’s great for anyone wanting to explore songwriting or background music!
• Hobbyists and casual users interested in AI technology or looking for a fun, creative outlet can enjoy experimenting with Udio’s music generation capabilities.

Udio Key Features

This AI music generator comes with powerful tools for customizing, editing, extending, and remixing tracks:

• AI Music Creation from Text: Udio transforms simple text prompts into music that sounds professionally produced in a recording studio. Give Udio a song idea and genre, and it will generate two versions of a song based on your description! It’ll generate everything from the song title to the vocals and instruments.
• Extend, Remix, Inpaint Tracks: Easily extend, remix, or inpaint tracks. These tools allow you to add new music sections without changing the composition. You can also create variations of your song by remixing your track. Udio’s AI tools are user-friendly, so anyone can quickly edit and enhance their music!
• Custom Cover Art: Udio’s AI generates custom cover art to match your music, creating a visually appealing and cohesive presentation for your track. Use the integrated AI image generator to create new cover art and let your imagination come to life.
• Export Stems to DAWs: Musicians can export individual stems for use in professional DAWs like Ableton Live or Pro Tools.
• Publish and Share Music: Publish music on Udio or download video files with optional subtitles and matching cover art to easily share on platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube.

How to Use Udio to Generate Music

Here’s how I used Udio to generate two variations of a song idea in seconds and inpainted it:

1. Sign Up for Udio
2. Explore the Dashboard
3. Describe a Song
4. Generate Song
5. Preview Your Songs
6. Select the Song Title
7. Edit the Song Details
8. Access the AI Tools
9. Select Inpaint
10. Choose a Song Segment
11. Highlight the Lyrics
12. Edit the Advanced Features
13. Inpaint the Song

Step 1: Sign Up for Udio

I started by going to the Udio homepage and selecting “Sign Up” on the top right.

Step 2: Explore the Dashboard

After creating my account, Udio took me to my dashboard! At the top, I could instantly make a song by typing in a description of it with a genre, or I could choose one of the prompts from Udio to create a song instantly.

Below this, Udio categorized songs made with Udio for inspiration:

• Staff Picks
• Trending
• Top Categories
• Top Tracks
• More tracks for you

Step 3: Describe a Song & Tweak Settings

Back at the top of my dashboard, I described the type of song I wanted to create with the genre: “A song about why the rent is too goddamn high, country, folk.” I had seen this as a suggested prompt from Udio before and thought it was funny. I’d highly recommend taking advantage of the prompts Udio suggests if you don’t have any song ideas!

Adding my song description revealed more settings:

• Genre suggestions.
• Clip length (2 minutes or 30 seconds).
• Lyrics (Auto-generated or Instrumental).
• Advanced Creation Tools.

I selected “Go to Advanced Creation Tools.”

Step 4: Generate Song

Selecting “Go to Advanced Creation Tools” allowed me to choose between two AI models:

• udio-130 (New!): Generate 2:10 clips, which takes longer (costs four credits).
• udio-32: Generate 32s clips (costs two credits).

I could also choose between three lyric types:

• Custom: Write your lyrics.
• Instrumental.
• Auto-generated.

I kept my song settings on default (udio-32 model and auto-generated lyrics) and hit “Create.”

When I hit “Create,” Udio started generating my song in the right panel under “All Creations.” A few minutes later, I had two 30-second tracks of a country folk song about why the rent is so high! One was called “The Rent Is Too High,” while the other was called “Barely Getting By.”

Step 5: Preview Your Songs

Hovering over the small cover photo it generated, I could play a preview of my song:

I couldn’t believe the quality of the generated track! The song was catchy, and Udio generated every element of the song, from the melody and instruments to the mood and arrangement. It even generated cover art!

If I hadn’t known it was generated using AI, I would have thought a professional had created it.

Step 6: Select the Song Title

Selecting the song title took me opened a new window with some additional options:

• Create (Remix, Extend, Inpaint, Copy Prompt, Copy Seed Number, Copy Track Settings).
• Share.
• Edit.
• Publish on the Udio platform.

I selected “Edit” to edit my song details.

Step 7: Edit the Song Details

A new window opened with my song details.

• Song Name: Change the name of the song.
• Attribution: Add proper credit for the song.
• Description: Provide a brief description of your song’s theme or story.
• Tags: Add relevant genre or style tags to categorize the song.
• Lyrics: Modify the song’s lyrics.
• Edit Cover Art: Use AI to generate new cover art for your song.

Note that changing the lyrics does not modify the actual song’s lyrics.

Step 8: Access the AI Tools

Back in the “Creations” tab, selecting the down arrow next to “Extend” revealed the AI tools to edit the song I had generated:

• Extend: Generate additional sections to lengthen a track, like adding verses or extending the outro.
• Remix: Create song variations by setting the variance between similar and different while keeping the original elements intact.
• Inpaint: Modify specific track parts, such as the lyrics or instruments, without changing the composition.

Step 9: Select Inpaint

I could also select the heart icon to favorite it or select the three ellipses to reveal more options:

• Publish
• View
• Show History
• Add to Playlist
• Share
• Download
• Delete
• Report Song

I wanted to try one of Udio’s AI tools to edit my song. Of the AI tools available, I was most interested in “Inpaint,” which sounded the most interesting to explore. I wanted to modify specific track parts without altering the overall composition.

Step 10: Choose a Song Segment

Selecting “Inpaint” opened some controls in the center with step-by-step instructions that were easy to follow:

1. Select a 28-second song segment to focus on for edits (my “working area”). I could choose my working area by clicking and dragging the blue outlined box.
2. Choose up to 4 specific areas within the window to regenerate. The rest of the track would remain unchanged. I could click and drag the blue box to the area I wanted to select or click and drag the outside to extend my selection. I could add more regions by selecting “Add Region.”

I selected the first ten seconds of my song.

Step 11: Highlight the Lyrics

Next, I was asked to highlight the corresponding lyrics to help the model know the part of the song I wanted to change.

The first ten seconds of my song were the first two lines of the first verse. I put “***” at the beginning and end of these lyrics.

Step 12: Edit the Advanced Features

The final step was tweaking the advanced features. I didn’t want to get too technical, so I kept everything on default and chose Model v1.5 (the latest and highest-quality music model).

Step 13: Inpaint the Song

Back at the top, I hit “Inpaint.”

Immediately, Udio began generating two songs based on my selections. Here’s what one of the inpainted tracks sounds like:

Udio changed how the singer sang the first two lines without changing the composition. The inpainted version’s beginning sounded more melancholic, but I still liked the original. It would have been nice if I had more control over how the singer sang the song. Regardless, it was fascinating to hear how AI could tweak the mood of my track so seamlessly with a few clicks!

Overall, I was blown away by the quality and speed of Udio’s music generation and editing tools. It made it incredibly easy to generate great music quickly and make targeted edits using its advanced AI features. The ability to inpaint specific track sections without altering the rest was a game-changer!

Top 3 Tips for Maximizing Creativity with Udio

1. Try New Things: Don’t be afraid to try different prompts, styles, and genres. Mix things up and see what new sounds Udio can help you find!
2. Use the AI Editing Tools: Udio has three AI editing tools (Extend, Remix, and Inpaint) to help improve your work. Take advantage of them to get the sound you want.
3. Work Together: Invite your friends, bandmates, or other musicians to work on projects with you. Share ideas, give feedback, and stretch your creativity by combining different perspectives.

Top 3 Udio Alternatives

While Udio generates studio-quality music in seconds, it’s wise to consider alternative platforms to find the best option for your needs.

Here are the best Udio alternatives you might want to try:

Hydra II by Rightsify

The first Udio alternative I’d recommend is Hydra II by Rightsify. What’s great about Hydra II is its focus on providing unique, copyright-cleared instrumental music perfect for commercial applications.

While Udio excels in generating entire songs from text prompts, Hydra II focuses solely on creating high-quality instrumental tracks. However, Udio’s AI tools, such as track extending and remixing, offer more creative flexibility for producing full songs. Meanwhile, Hydra II emphasizes extensive customization for background music, soundtracks, and other commercial uses, with no need for concern about copyright issues.

If you’re looking for a versatile platform to create complete, original songs with vocals, Udio is the best choice. However, if you need reliable, copyright-free instrumental music for commercial projects, Hydra II by Rightsify is for you!

AIVA

I recommend AIVA as the next Udio alternative. AIVA is excellent for its customizability and straightforward licensing options.

While Udio and AIVA offer powerful tools for AI music creation, Udio excels in generating high-quality, emotional music from text prompts. It also offers AI tools to edit your tracks, including extension, inpainting, and remixing. Plus, it’s user-friendly and versatile, with a supportive community. However, Udio is facing copyright concerns, and you can only generate music that is up to two minutes long.

AIVA, on the other hand, stands out for its wide range of styles and the ability to upload your own audio or MIDI influences, offering a higher degree of customization. It also allows you to fully own the copyright of your music with its Pro Plan, eliminating licensing headaches.

If you’re looking for a flexible tool to create high-quality tracks quickly and easily, Udio is an excellent choice. For deep customization and clear copyright ownership, AIVA is the better option!

Soundful

The final Udio alternative I’d recommend is Soundful. I love how easy it is to generate royalty-free background music that perfectly fits various projects.

While Soundful and Udio offer AI music generation, they cater to different needs. Soundful excels at creating royalty-free tracks quickly for videos, streams, and podcasts. You can also generate an unlimited number of high-quality tracks. Meanwhile, Udio offers advanced AI features like remixing, inpainting, and extending tracks for more personalized and creative music projects.

If you’re looking for a tool to create royalty-free music for content creation, Soundful is an excellent choice. Udio is better suited for creating full songs with track remixing and other editing features.

Udio Review: The Right Tool For You?

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Udio. The tool was incredibly easy to use, and I was impressed by its ability to generate high-quality, emotional music using simple text prompts! Its AI tools for editing and remixing were also easy and fun to use.

However, my biggest problems with it are the copyright concerns. I also found that it lacked certain editing tools, which would have allowed more control over the output. Regardless, the tracks sounded professional, and I didn’t feel it needed much editing anyway.

If you don’t think Udio is the right AI music generator for you, here are the best alternatives you might want to consider:

• Hydra II by Rightsify is best for those needing unique, copyright-cleared instrumental music for commercial projects.
• AIVA is best for those seeking a high level of customization and clear copyright ownership of their music.
• Soundful is excellent for quickly generating royalty-free background music for videos, streams, and podcasts.

Thanks for reading my Udio review! I hope you found it helpful.

Udio offers a free plan where you will receive ten daily credits and an additional 100 monthly to generate studio-quality music tracks. You can also remix and extend tracks. Why not try it for yourself and see how you like it?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Udio worth it?

Udio is a free AI music generator perfect for exploring AI music creation. However, if you’re concerned about copyright issues, it’s best to wait until legal guidelines are clearer before using the tracks commercially.

What’s better, Suno or Udio?

Early users say Suno tends to produce more coherent and longer compositions. Meanwhile, Udio tends to generate cleaner-sounding audio with more complex sound concepts. However, the preference between the two depends on your specific needs. Both platforms excel at creating full songs with vocals.

Is Udio free to use?

Udio offers a free version with limited daily credits and basic features. However, paid plans like Standard ($10/month) and Pro ($30/month) provide higher limits, extra features, and priority processing.

How does Udio work?

Udio is an AI-powered music generation platform that allows you to create custom music with text prompts. In seconds, it generates original instrumental tracks, melodies, and arrangements based on inputs describing the style, mood, instruments, and genre. I was able to generate a thirty-second song with Udio using the prompt: “A song about why the rent is too goddamn high, country, folk.”

Is Udio being sued?

Major record labels in the music business, including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records, are suing Udio for copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that Udio unlawfully used copyrighted music to train its AI system without permission from the rights holders and seeks damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.

What is the best AI music generator?

Udio is among the best AI music generators available today. It stands out for its ability to generate high-quality music, including vocals, from text prompts. However, Udio is being sued for copyright infringement, so you may want to consider other alternatives like Hydra II by Rightsify, AIVA, and Soundful.