The developers announced on the official website that DAW Universal Audio LUNA has become available free of charge to all macOS users. It is noted that using the workstation does not require Apollo series audio interfaces or other Universal Audio equipment.
The decision to switch to a free distribution model was made in order to increase the user base, noted Universal Audio. According to the company, this solution will expand the number of active LUNA users, and at the same time increase the number of buyers of the extended version of LUNA Pro.
DAW Universal Audio LUNA was introduced by the company in 2020. The idea behind the workstation is to bring “the power of an analog studio console” to music recording software. In particular, LUNA includes emulations of analog equipment, tools and plug-ins identical to the company’s UAD developments.
In addition to traditional processing, the free version of LUNA includes the Oxide Tape Extension plugin, which offers an easy-to-use film emulator with saturation control. In addition, the workstation received the Shape Toolkit Instrument for working with samples, layering sounds and generating new signals based on content from Spitfire Audio, OrangeTree Samples, Soniccouture and other studios.
LUNA works as a standalone application within macOS – the list of supported systems includes all releases from macOS 10.15 onwards (Intel/Apple). The workstation does not require Universal Audio hardware, and the application itself works like any other program within the operating system. It is not specified whether the application will be available on Windows.
Along with the free version, users receive a 30-day trial of LUNA Pro. The program has a wider selection of analog effects: for example, users have access to the Ampex ATR-102 Master Tape Machine & LUNA Extension, API 2500 Bus Compressor & LUNA Extension, API Preamp, API Summing LUNA Extension, API Vision Channel Strip & LUNA Extension kits. The expanded edition also includes all developments from the UAD Native Essential collection. In addition, free users receive a 30-day trial of the Neve Summing plugin, which is a Neve console emulation with 1272 linear amplifiers.
You can download DAW Universal Audio LUNA through the company’s official website .To download, you need to register with the Universal Audio system and install the company’s launcher, through which the software is downloaded, installed and activated.
