Breaks - KugelAudio

Use <break> tags to insert an explicit silence at a specific point — before a verification code, between list items, or wherever punctuation alone doesn’t give you the pause you want.

Your total is <break time="400ms"/> forty-two euros.

Syntax

Form	Meaning
`<break time="300ms"/>`	Explicit duration in milliseconds
`<break time="1.5s"/>`	Explicit duration in seconds (decimals allowed)
`<break strength="medium"/>`	SSML strength preset (`none`, `x-weak`, `weak`, `medium`, `strong`, `x-strong`)
`<break/>`	Default pause (200 ms)

Both self-closing (<break/>) and explicit-close forms are accepted; attribute values may use single or double quotes.

Durations are snapped

The model is trained on three discrete pause lengths: 200 ms, 400 ms, and 500 ms. Whatever you request is snapped to the nearest trained value (ties resolve to the longer pause), so the effective pauses are:

You write	You get
`time="100ms"` … `time="300ms"`	200 ms (300 ms ties → 400 ms)
`time="350ms"` … `time="450ms"`	400 ms (450 ms ties → 500 ms)
`time="460ms"` and up	500 ms
`strength="x-weak"` / `"weak"` / `"medium"`	200 ms
`strength="strong"` / `"x-strong"`	500 ms
`strength="none"`	no pause inserted (not snapped up)

Need a silence longer than 500 ms? Chain tags: <break time="500ms"/><break time="500ms"/> ≈ 1 s.

Example

Python
JavaScript
cURL

audio = client.tts.generate(
    text='Welcome to KugelAudio. <break time="400ms"/> How can I help you today?',
    model_id="kugel-3",
    voice_id=1071,
    language="en",
)

const audio = await client.tts.generate({
  text: 'Welcome to KugelAudio. <break time="400ms"/> How can I help you today?',
  modelId: 'kugel-3',
  voiceId: 1071,
  language: 'en',
});

curl -X POST https://api.kugelaudio.com/v1/tts/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KUGELAUDIO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "Welcome to KugelAudio. <break time=\"400ms\"/> How can I help you today?",
    "model_id": "kugel-3",
    "voice_id": 1071,
    "language": "en"
  }' \
  --output output.pcm

Break tags work the same in streaming — send them inline with your text; tags split across token boundaries are reassembled by the server’s text buffer.

Notes & limits

Breaks survive normalization. The text around a break is normalized independently and the pause is re-inserted afterwards, so normalize: true and break tags compose.
Model support: kugel-3 supports break tags (see Models). On models without break support the tags are stripped and synthesis continues without the pause.
Punctuation first. For natural rhythm, commas/periods/ellipses are usually better — see Punctuation as pacing. Breaks are for deliberate silences of a specific length.
Inside <spell> blocks, don’t place break tags — use the spell tag’s group attribute for paced codes instead.

​Syntax

​Durations are snapped

​Example

​Notes & limits

Syntax

Durations are snapped

Example

Notes & limits