LUNA

Turn Your Ideas into Records

Create music with the world's smartest, best-sounding DAW.

What is LUNA? LUNA is our award-winning digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows. Equipped with smart tools and essential UAD plug-ins, it removes barriers from creating music.

Get LUNA

LUNA Play

Tap into a faster, simpler way to write and record songs.

Smart Tools

Create music with cutting-edge tools like chord extraction and lyric transcription, powered by Moises.

UAD Instruments

Produce with expertly-voiced instruments, not stock VIs.

UAD Plug-Ins

Get the same plug-ins used by chart-topping artists for decades.

LUNA Extensions

Mix with built-in tape and console emulations from API, Studer, and Ampex.

Works with Any Audio Interface

Accelerated on Apollo and Volt.

Three Ways to Get LUNA

  • Start here

    LUNA Free

    $0
    • Unlimited tracks
    • Smart features
    • UAD Explore Free plug-ins
    • Oxide Tape
    Download Now

  • Subscribe to LUNA Studio + more

    UAD Spark Studio

    $149 /yr

    $149 billed upfront

    • LUNA Studio included
    • 70 UAD plug-ins
    • New plug-ins added regularly
    Subscribe

  • One time purchase

    LUNA Studio

    $199
    • 30 UAD plug-ins
    • 6 ARA plug-ins
    • Advanced smart features
    • Built-in console and tape extensions
    Buy Now Learn more

LUNA Studio

Make music that sounds like a record, and feels like you

LUNA is built to turn your ideas into release-ready songs. With smart features that keep you in creative control, built-in analog console emulation, and plug-ins trusted by top artists, you'll have all the tools to make a record you’ll love.

LUNA Play

Start creating in seconds

LUNA Play is a fast new way to record. Like a voice memo app designed just for making music, it automatically detects your instrument, sets levels, and suggests great presets with UAD plug-ins. You can isolate tracks and jam along with songs or capture your original ideas. 

Used on Records By

Andreas Kleerup
Ariel Borujow
Billy Bush
Buddy Miller
Butch Walker
Chris Dugan
Darrell Thorpe
David Ryan Harris
Eli Janney
Rab Dupont
Grieves
Ian Boxill
Jacquire King
Marco Polo
Vance Powell

Get finished studio sounds, fast.

No matter where you start your music, LUNA can take it to the finish line. Drop in your song and LUNA's smart features will automatically match your tempo, extract chords, color-code tracks, separate stems, and convert audio to MIDI — allowing you to replace sounds and add new parts. Then add character and presence with LUNA's world-class mixing tools.

Smart Tempo Tools

Extract the tempo from any track so the grid perfectly matches the performance.

Audio-to-MIDI

Convert any audio track to MIDI to replace it entirely or layer with virtual instruments.

Instrument Detection

Automatically color-code your tracks, add icons, and set warp modes.

Chord Extraction

Get chord information from any audio file and let ARA plug-ins like Tonalic follow along.

Stem Separation

Isolate individual elements to add plug-ins or convert to MIDI.

UAD Plug-Ins

Dial in your final mix with the premium UAD plug-ins and extensions trusted by the pros.

Steinberg WaveLab Go

Master your tracks with streamlined editing, loudness normalization, and dedicated analysis tools.

Your complete production toolkit.

LUNA gives you everything you need to produce songs that sound like records. Lay down grooves with a deep collection of premium drums, keys, and synths. Flip samples with stem separation and audio to MIDI. Or bring in session players that follow along with your song using Celemony Tonalic.

Premium Instruments

Stack drums, keys, and synths with Shape, Opal, PolyMAX, and more.

Chord Track

Automatically detect chords from any audio.

Celemony Tonalic Essential

Add real performances by world-class session musicians adapted perfectly to fit your song.

Dreamtonics Synthesizer V Studio 2 Core

Create realistic vocal toplines and harmonies for your beats.

Stem Separation

Split any sample into individual elements to flip, remix, and reimagine.

Audio to MIDI

Convert any instrument or sample into MIDI instantly.

What's Included

Software

  • LUNA DAW

UAD Plug-Ins

  • UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection
  • Century Tube Channel Strip
  • UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor
  • Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor
  • Vibe Analog Machines Essentials
  • Pure Plate Reverb
  • UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp
  • PolyMAX Synth

Smart Features

  • Tempo Listen
  • Tempo Detection
  • Extract Tempo
  • Voice Control
  • Instrument Detection
  • 4-track Stem Separation 

Software

  • LUNA DAW

Preamps, EQs & Channel Strips

  • API Preamp
  • API Vision Channel Strip Collection
  • Century Tube Channel Strip
  • Pultec Passive EQ Collection
  • UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection

Compressors & Limiters

  • API 2500 Bus Compressor
  • Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
  • Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor
  • UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor

Tape & Saturation

  • Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
  • Oxide Tape Recorder
  • Studer A800 Tape Recorder
  • Vibe Analog Machines

Reverbs, Delays & Modulation

  • Brigade Chorus
  • Galaxy Tape Echo
  • Pure Plate Reverb
  • Studio D Chorus
  • Waterfall Rotary Speaker

Guitar

  • UAD Ruby '63 Top Boost Amp
  • UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp
  • UAD Woodrow '55 Instrument Amp

Instruments

  • ChordAXE Lite
  • Opal Morphing Synthesizer
  • PolyMAX Synth
  • Ravel Grand Piano
  • Waterfall B3 Organ

LUNA Extensions

  • Hardware Inserts
  • API Summing
  • API Vision Console Channel Strip
  • API 2500 Bus Compressor
  • Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
  • Oxide Tape Recorder
  • Studer A800 Tape Recorder

ARA / Partner Plug-Ins

  • Celemony Melodyne Essential
  • Celemony Tonalic Essential
  • Noiseworks VoiceAssist Basic
  • Steinberg SpectraLayers Go
  • Steinberg WaveLab Go
  • Synthesizer V Studio 2 Core

Smart Features

  • Tempo Listen
  • Tempo Detection
  • Extract Tempo
  • Voice Control
  • Instrument Detection
  • 6-Track Stem Separation
  • Audio-to-MIDI
  • Lyric Transcription
  • Chord Extraction

Software

  • LUNA Studio

Channel Strips & Preamps

  • API Preamp
  • API Vision Channel Strip Collection
  • Avalon VT-737 Tube Channel Strip
  • Century Tube Channel Strip
  • Helios Type 69 Preamp and EQ
  • LA-6176 Signature Channel Strip
  • Manley Tube Preamp
  • Manley VOXBOX Channel Strip
  • Neve 1073 Preamp & EQ Collection
  • SSL 4000 E Channel Strip
  • UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection

Equalization

  • Hitsville EQ Collection
  • Little Labs Voice Of God Bass Resonance
  • Manley Massive Passive EQ
  • Pultec Passive EQ Collection

Compressors & Limiters

  • 1176 Classic Limiter Collection
  • A-Type Multiband Dynamic Enhancer
  • API 2500 Bus Compressor
  • Capitol Mastering Compressor
  • dbx 160 Compressor / Limiter
  • Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
  • Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
  • Manley Variable Mu Limiter Compressor
  • SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor
  • Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection
  • Teletronix LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler
  • UA 175B & 176 Tube Compressor Collection

Tape & Saturation

  • Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
  • Oxide Tape Recorder
  • Studer A800 Tape Recorder
  • Vibe Analog Machines

Reverb & Room

  • Capitol Chambers
  • EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator
  • EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb
  • Hitsville Reverb Chambers
  • Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb
  • Ocean Way Studios Deluxe
  • Pure Plate Reverb
  • UAD Sound City Studios

Delay & Modulation

  • Brigade Chorus
  • Galaxy Tape Echo
  • Studio D Chorus
  • Waterfall Rotary Speaker

Guitars & Bass

  • Paradise Guitar Studio
  • UAD Dream '65 Reverb Amp
  • UAD Enigmatic '82 Overdrive Special Amp
  • UAD Lion '68 Super Lead Amp
  • UAD Ruby '63 Top Boost Amp
  • UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp
  • UAD Woodrow '55 Instrument Amp

Instruments

  • Anthem Analog Synthesizer
  • ChordAXE Lite
  • Electra 88 Vintage Keyboard Studio
  • Moog Minimoog
  • Opal Morphing Synthesizer
  • PolyMAX Synth
  • Ravel Grand Piano
  • Waterfall B3 Organ

Vocal & Pitch Correction

  • Topline Vocal Suite
  • Topline Vocal Tune

LUNA Extensions

  • Hardware Inserts
  • API Summing
  • API Vision Console Channel Strip
  • API 2500 Bus Compressor
  • Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
  • Oxide Tape Recorder
  • Studer A800 Tape Recorder

ARA / Partner Plug-Ins

  • Celemony Melodyne Essential
  • Celemony Tonalic Essential
  • Noiseworks VoiceAssist Basic
  • Steinberg SpectraLayers Go
  • Steinberg WaveLab Go
  • Synthesizer V Studio 2 Core

Smart Features

  • Tempo Listen
  • Tempo Detection
  • Extract Tempo
  • Voice Control
  • Instrument Detection
  • 6-Track Stem Separation
  • Audio-to-MIDI
  • Lyric Transcription
  • Chord Extraction

Get album-ready vocals.

Start recording with voice control. Let LUNA transcribe your lyrics for navigation with words, not waveforms. Then mix tools trusted on countless records for decades

LUNA Play

Tap into a faster, simpler way to write and record songs

Voice Control

Start and stop recording hands-free from anywhere in the room.

Dreamtonics Synthesizer V Studio 2 Core

Create life-like vocals and harmonies.

Lyric Transcription

Navigate your session with lyrics instead of waveforms.

ARA Tools

Tune and balance vocals with Melodyne and VoiceAssist directly in the timeline.

Topline Vocal Tune

Your vocals, perfectly in tune from the moment you press record.

Play in a DAW built for guitarists.

Whether you’re sharpening your skills or producing an album, LUNA is tailor-made for guitar. Drop in your favorite songs, isolate or mute the guitar with stem splitting, and jam along — or start playing solo, and LUNA matches your tempo. Then explore classic amp tones, or send your direct tracks back through your own pedals, amps, and outboard gear.

Separate stems

Drag in your favorite songs, separate the stems, and mute the guitar to jam along.

UAD Plug-Ins

Get iconic UAD amps, compressors and effect plug-ins.

Chord Extraction

Extract chords from your guitar parts so ARA instruments like Tonalic can follow along.

Tempo Detection

Strum freely and LUNA automatically matches your tempo.

Celemony Tonalic Essential

Jam along with session musicians who adapt to your song.

Hardware Inserts

Re-amp direct guitar through your favorite pedals, amps, and outboard gear.

Steinberg SpectraLayers Go

Clean up unwanted noise and hum directly in the timeline.

Mix with the tools used by top artists and engineers.

Unlike the stock plug-ins included with other DAWs, LUNA gives you the same premium tools trusted by industry pros. With LUNA Studio or a Spark subscription, you'll get everything you need to make music that feels at home on a playlist with your favorite songs.

UAD Plug-Ins

Mix with the compressors, EQs, and effects heard on countless hit records.

API Vision Console

Capture API’s signature weight and punch with a stunning emulation of their flagship analog console.

Tape Extensions

Add warmth and glue with Studer and Ampex tape built into every track and bus.

Summing Extensions

Get the thick harmonics of a Neve or midrange presence of an API console on any bus.

Hardware Inserts

Mix through your favorite outboard gear with automatic delay compensation and preset recall.

Multi-Output Support

Route drums, synth layers, and instrument components to separate tracks for precise mixing.

Track like you're in a world-class studio.

Apollo interfaces and LUNA are the perfect pair. Track through authentic preamp and guitar amp emulations, monitor with UAD plug-ins in realtime, and enjoy seamless routing, just like working in a professional analog studio.

Deep Apollo Integration

Pair LUNA with Apollo for realtime tracking with UAD plug-ins at near-zero latency.

Assistive Auto-Gain

Get perfect recording levels on every input automatically, so you can focus on the performance.

Unison Preamp Technology

Track through authentic mic preamp and guitar amp emulations.

Flexible Plug-Ins

Automatically switch between UAD-2 and UADx depending on your needs.

Accelerated Realtime Monitoring

ARM gives you sub-2ms latency, so every note feels immediate and responsive.

Console Tracking Mode

Use Console for live input monitoring, punch-ins, and recalling plug-in chains.

LUNA is constantly optimizing the DSP for you, so you don’t hear or feel any latency.

Jacquire King

Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones

I grew up using tape and analog consoles, and LUNA Recording System is as close as I can get to the sound, functionality, and workflow of my old Studer/Neve setup.

Butch Walker

Fall Out Boy, Train, Green Day

LUNA’s integration with my Apollos lets me forget that I’m using a computer to make music. The crazy-low latency workflow of LUNA has further blurred the line between production and mixing for me — with LUNA, I can just make records.

Fab Dupont

Shakira, Santigold, Jennifer Lopez

Frequently Asked Questions

LUNA is Universal Audio's digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows, built for recording, producing, and mixing music. It comes in a free version and a full version, both with smart tools, UAD plug-ins, and LUNA Play built in. LUNA runs on your computer and works with any audio interface, with no UA hardware required.
LUNA is different because the mixing tools that usually cost extra are part of the DAW itself. Console, tape, and summing emulations live inside LUNA's mixer rather than sitting on top as plug-ins, and UAD plug-ins built over decades of circuit modeling come included. Smart tools handle the mechanical parts of a session, from following your tempo to automatically naming and color coding your tracks, so more of your time goes into the music.
LUNA comes in two versions, and the right one depends on how much of the studio you want built in. LUNA Free is the full DAW at no cost, with unlimited tracks, smart features, Oxide Tape, and the UAD Explore Free plug-in bundle. LUNA Studio adds the console and tape extensions, a deeper set of UAD plug-ins and instruments, ARA tools, hardware inserts, and advanced smart features.
LUNA Free and LUNA Studio are the same DAW, and LUNA Studio adds more smart tools and the professional mixing layer on top. LUNA Free gives you unlimited tracks, no watermark, no time limit, the piano roll, LUNA Play, Oxide Tape, and eight UAD plug-ins, and 4-track stem separation. LUNA Studio adds LUNA Extensions with tape and console emulations from API, Studer, and Ampex, 30 UAD plug-ins and instruments, six ARA plug-ins, hardware inserts, and advanced smart features including Audio to MIDI, 6-Track Stem Separation, Lyric Transcription, and Chord Extraction.
Yes, LUNA Free is a full version of the LUNA DAW at no cost, on macOS and Windows. There is no track limit, no watermark on exports, and no time limit on how long you can use it. LUNA Studio is the paid version, for anyone who wants the console, tape, and ARA tools built in.
LUNA Studio is the new version of LUNA Pro, and it includes everything LUNA Pro did and more. If you already own LUNA Pro, you can visit the product page to see your upgrade price. This is more than a name change, it’s a large update with many new features including Audio-to-MIDI, 6-Track Stem Separation, Lyric Transcription, and Chord Extraction, plus UAD Topline Vocal Tune, and new partner plug-ins, like Celemony Tonalic Essential, and Synthesizer V Studio 2 Core.
There are two ways to get LUNA Studio: buy it on its own, or subscribe to UAD Spark Studio, which includes it. Buying LUNA Studio outright gives you the DAW along with its UAD plug-ins, ARA tools, and extensions to keep. The UAD Spark Studio subscription adds the full UAD native plug-in library and every new native plug-in as they are released.
LUNA runs on both macOS and Windows. Neither version favors one platform over the other, so you can build your setup around the computer you already have.
No, LUNA needs no UA hardware. It runs natively on your Mac or Windows computer and works with any audio interface you already record through. Apollo and Volt interfaces are more deeply integrated with LUNA, but nothing about the DAW requires them.
LUNA works with any audio interface on macOS and Windows, not only UA hardware. You choose your interface as LUNA's input and output the way you would in any DAW.
LUNA's smart tools handle the parts of a session that slow you down. Tempo detection lets LUNA follow along with your playing instead of forcing you onto a click, and voice control starts and stops recordings without you reaching for the keyboard. LUNA Studio adds more, including 6-track stem separation, plus chord extraction and lyric transcription powered by Moises. Smart Tools in LUNA Free Tempo Listen Tempo Detection Extract Tempo Voice Control Instrument Detection 4-Track Stem Separation Smart Tools in LUNA Studio Everything included in LUNA Free 6-Track Stem Separation Audio-to-MIDI Lyric Transcription Chord Extraction
LUNA Play is a faster way to write and record inside LUNA, and it comes with every version. It works like a voice memo app made for music, detecting your instrument, setting levels, and suggesting presets from UAD plug-ins so an idea gets captured in seconds. When the idea is worth building out, you can easily expand it into a full LUNA session.
LUNA Extensions are tape, console, and summing emulations built into LUNA's mixer rather than loaded as plug-ins. They cover API console and summing along with Studer and Ampex tape, so a session runs through modeled analog gear from the input through the mixdown. LUNA Studio includes the full set, and LUNA Free includes Oxide Tape.
LUNA hosts VST3 and AU plug-ins and virtual instruments, so the tools you already own work inside it. That applies to LUNA Free as well as LUNA Studio. The UAD plug-ins that come with LUNA sit in the same list as everything else you have installed.
LUNA works well for beginners, because it doesn’t require learning the whole DAW first. LUNA Play helps you capture an idea in seconds and grows into a full session as you learn more, and smart features handle tempo and takes without setup. LUNA Free costs nothing, so there is no commitment.
LUNA suits guitarists very well, with a workflow built around playing rather than editing. You can drop in a song, isolate or mute the guitar, and play along at your own tempo, then reach for amp emulations from the UAD library when you start recording. LUNA Play detects a guitar as soon as you plug into your interface and sets your levels for you.
You do not need to pay for a DAW to make professional-sounding music, and LUNA Free is a full version with no track limit, watermark, or time limit. What the paid version adds is the studio around the DAW: LUNA Studio brings the console and tape Extensions, a deeper plug-in library, and editing and mastering tools that speed up finishing a record. Plenty of people start on LUNA Free and upgrade to LUNA Studio later on.
LUNA Studio is the DAW, and UAD Spark Studio is the subscription that includes it. Subscribing to UAD Spark Studio gets you LUNA Studio along with the full UAD native plug-in and instrument library. If the DAW is all you want, LUNA Free costs nothing and LUNA Studio can be bought on its own.
Check our Knowledge Base for additional questions

Create music that sounds like records you love.

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