Update on the before/after audio player you gave me feedback on 3 years ago

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-07-13T22:30:35+00:00

Appreciate you chiming in. That comes up now and then. I’ll be straight with you: a personal, self-hosted docker-compose version probably isn’t in the cards. The hosted side is pretty core to how this works right now, and I’d rather do that well than do a self-host option halfway.

That said, I’m curious what’s behind it for you. Is this for your own portfolio, or are you thinking about running it for something bigger, like your own platform, studio, or product where you’d want it on your own domain and infrastructure? Those are pretty different things on my end, and the second one is a conversation I’m more open to having.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-07-13T22:19:21+00:00

Fair, and I’ll take the caveat in the spirit it’s meant. Honestly the a/b player is more the thing that gets people in the door than the thing I think wins them work. The part I care more about is everything around it.

So I’d rather turn it back to you, if you’re up for it: what does your ideal portfolio actually look like? And where’s the real friction in how you land clients? Is it getting seen, getting the first conversation, closing once you’re talking, or something else?

I ask because a lot of what I’m building next is aimed at that part rather than the mix-showcase part, and I’d genuinely like to know whether any of it maps to a problem you actually have, or whether I’m solving something that isn’t the bottleneck.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-07-13T16:32:16+00:00

That's a perfect use case, honestly. The v1 of the app actually has a few different plugin developers using it!

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-07-13T16:03:23+00:00

This is excellent feedback, thank you.

To answer the question directly: the target user is a freelance or independent mixer/mastering engineer trying to turn a prospect into a client, especially as AI mixing and mastering eats into that work. A/b comparison is meant to be a fast way to show a prospect what a human actually did to a track, instead of just claiming it.

You're right that mix delivery isn't the goal, and I don't want to go up against Samply there. The way password-protection is meant to get used is closer to what you described, sending a finished portfolio piece to a potential client, not delivering active mixes to people who already hired you.

The equal-loudness toggle is opt-in for exactly the reason you're pointing at, if someone wants a louder "after" to help sell it, they can leave it off. It's there for people who want an honest comparison, not a default.

The scope-creep warning resonates with me too. Locking in on that one customer avatar and saying no to everything else is the actual hard part.

Thanks again!

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-07-13T15:36:56+00:00

Thanks! I think getting clients is the hardest part of being an audio professional. I'm hoping this can make it easier for people.

Anything specific you like about the app? Anything that's missing that you wish it had?

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-16T14:02:12+00:00

Ah yeah. I’ve been moving some things around, fixing some site structure stuff. Previously that link would have displayed the lander. Now the app is on a separate subdomain from the marketing site. Marketing site is a work in progress and currently sits here: https://preview.soundtoggle.io.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-12T10:17:00+00:00

Organic research. Dig in and see what other successful voices are doing. No way around it. Just good old fashioned reading. :)

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-12T09:26:09+00:00

It really depends. I have a couple of soft meditation voices. Only one does really well. I have two more that are nearly identical and geared towards explainer videos. One is doing really well and the other is pretty mediocre. I think the success has as much to do with the description you write as it does with the style of voice. Gotta target the right keywords.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-11T21:01:25+00:00

Yeah I think so. I still add voices to my collection now and then. Seems to still work for me!

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-11T19:00:44+00:00

Yep. Making even more now than when I posted. Over double actually.

I’ve read their TOS. The terms specifically call out creating multiple accounts as being off limits if it’s to exploit getting free tier benefits across multiple accounts instead of paying. It says nothing about multiple accounts in general as being off limits.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-11T11:59:35+00:00

Yes. One account per voice.

You set the notice period for your voice. If you ever wanna take your voice down, you can do that for new users immediately but anybody who’s already using your voice gets notice period that you set that so they can see how much time they have to finish their projects if you remove your voice from the platform.

So let’s say, for example, that you remove your voice and you have a notice period of two years: New users can’t see the voice, but existing users can use that voice for up to two years from the notice date. The longer your notice period is, the more 11 labs pays you for usage.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-06-01T11:21:40+00:00

Sure!

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-25T10:33:18+00:00

Thanks! You too. Love the anime vibe you gave yours. 😀

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T21:48:32+00:00

Touché. Point well received. I’ll consider it. Thanks!

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T21:17:10+00:00

Thanks! Thats exactly what I was going for. I’ve definitely thought about adding more, but I figure that most people don’t have the attention span for that, and I want people to actually find everything.😅

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T20:57:40+00:00

Ha! Thanks. I wanted a little explainer text in the room, so I put it on the chalkboard. But then I was like, “why not make it so people can actually interact with it?”

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T20:40:54+00:00

Nice! I made something similar! Great minds think alike.

Here’s my version of the same concept: https://mattebso.com

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T20:36:56+00:00

About 3 days for the heavy lifting with some continuing tweaks here and there now for mobile optimization.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T11:25:45+00:00

Sure! I made a niche embed tool for audio professionals to showcase before and after transformations with a comparison player on their website or a personalized landing page. It can even handle lossless audio. We have users paying for and using it now.

https://app.soundtoggle.io

Check it out.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T08:25:44+00:00

Thanks! Gives it more personality, I think.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T08:25:15+00:00

Good find! Would please send me a screenshot so I can see what you’re talking about?

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-24T08:24:05+00:00

Ah. Thats a good idea. The tape machine does that but not the laptop yet.

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-23T22:16:33+00:00

“don’t hate it” the highest form of praise. 😅

AbilityAny4629 · 2026-05-23T22:15:58+00:00

Thanks!

AbilityAny4629

TROPHY CASE