LUNA is now free for all Mac users

[cdbaksu]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

Exactly this! For me this applies wholeheartedly: I'm a jazz pianist and I play/record/track all the parts directly in the timeline. LUNA has streamlined my workflow by orders of magnitude, even coming from Logic. Which is wild, and I never thought I'd ever say

[Uncle E]

What about if you lasso select something from a clip and use the E keyboard shortcut to expand/shrink the editing, does that help at all?

Thanks. Yes, that's good. Much better than how I've been doing it (Control+Up and Down).

[Trensharo]

LUNA is pretty terrible for MIDI and even the Audio Editing isn't that robust. It is a great workflow for mixing, assuming you [at least] get the LUNA Pro bundle, since the workflow using LUNA Extensions and UA Plug-ins is a huge component of its draw and workflow. However, that costs as much as Logic Pro, which - as a package - delivers exponentially more value to anyone coming into the market... Wholistically, it's a bad value proposition for beginners given the "deferred costs" on top of the fact that GarageBand is likely to be a better workflow for those same people. Every Apple device (Phones, Tablets and PCs) comes with that pre-installed.

LUNA is more relevant for engineers moving away from Pro Tools Studio/Flex, Cubase Pro and other studio DAWs; and [likely] also moving to UA Hardware, which works exceedingly well with LUNA. For those people, features centered around MIDI Composition, Beat Making, etc. are largely irrelevant because they are not operating within those market segments. Those are not key features of a DAW for them, and they may not even use them.

This is why some high-end Recording/Engineering DAWs, like Pyramix, don't do MIDI at all. They don't need to, because the people who use it don't need those features. This scenario is why Pro Tools has generally lagged the industry in the MIDI composition space. Its primary user base didn't need Cubase/SONAR/DP-level functionality there, because they didn't use it in the same way people used Cubase/SONAR/DP. Historically, MIDI Sequencers have closed the gap with Audio far faster than Audio-focused solutions have closed the gap with MIDI (Samplitude probably being a primary exception - largely due to VERY EARLY Pivoting by those developers).

LUNA just not a great DAW for Production/Composition, and that's okay. It was designed for the Engineering/Mixing space, and it functions exceptionally well within that market segment. The big issue it had, was that it was tied to UA hardware... This is a great move from UA.

However, I do find it odd that people are going to such great lengths with the copium, because no one would try to sell Pro Tools as being great for Production/Composition - despite the fact that it is much better at catering to those market segments as LUNA - simply because they can "play the stuff in."

We all know that simply does not happen.

It being Free doesn't make it de facto best for beginners due to the nature of the product as a "package" as well as the fact that anyone with a Mac has a free options designed for beginners pre-installed on their machine; with an upgrade path to a DAW that offers more but cost less than the LUNA Pro Bundle (except when on sale) and already has a feature set that is catered towards the music producers of today... Not an IOW with a request to wait a few years to see what UA decides to do with LUNA.

People do not age in reverse. Most people will get what already delivers what they need, not what has potential to eventually "catch up" with competing solutions - while having deferred costs that run beyond what those other solutions are asking for.

If you aren't going to invest in LUNA's extensions, then I don't even know why you'd bother creating an account and/or downloading and installing it for... at all.

[Trensharo]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

Exactly this! For me this applies wholeheartedly: I'm a jazz pianist and I play/record/track all the parts directly in the timeline. LUNA has streamlined my workflow by orders of magnitude, even coming from Logic. Which is wild, and I never thought I'd ever say

This makes no sense. You can record Audio into Logic without issue.

No one is forcing you to use the features.

It even has a Simplified Mode made for those who don't need the extras.

I can almost accept these issues people are having with not having the attention span or ability to focus and use a feature packed application productively... if they are using something like Cubase Pro or Digital Performer... Samplitude Pro X or FL Studio... Maybe Pro Tools.

But with DAWs like Logic Pro and Studio One, which literally have gone out of their way to deliver the type of experience you're looking for (and do so, quite well)...

I have to call B.S. on that.

No one has to B.S. to say they prefer one thing over another, though, so I'm not sure where these ridiculous explanations for preferring to use LUNA over anything else comes from. It's corny.

[cdbaksu]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

Exactly this! For me this applies wholeheartedly: I'm a jazz pianist and I play/record/track all the parts directly in the timeline. LUNA has streamlined my workflow by orders of magnitude, even coming from Logic. Which is wild, and I never thought I'd ever say

This makes no sense. You can record Audio into Logic without issue.

No one is forcing you to use the features.

It even has a Simplified Mode made for those who don't need the extras.

I can almost accept these issues people are having with not having the attention span or ability to focus and use a feature packed application productively... if they are using something like Cubase Pro or Digital Performer... Samplitude Pro X or FL Studio... Maybe Pro Tools.

But with DAWs like Logic Pro and Studio One, which literally have gone out of their way to deliver the type of experience you're looking for (and do so, quite well)...

I have to call B.S. on that.

No one has to B.S. to say they prefer one thing over another, though, so I'm not sure where these ridiculous explanations for preferring to use LUNA over anything else comes from. It's corny.

Well call it whatever you want, but it did make sense for my workflow. Like I mentioned I never thought I'd say this: but after a couple of sequencing sessions in LUNA, going back to Logic feels slow, sluggish, and that snappiness™ seems to have been moved over to the other DAW for me.

I don't really have a horse in any race here, I'm just expressing my thoughts on a piece of software that I happen to enjoy using, and that has made my composing sessions flow that much faster.

[jens]

FL Studio users are blessed to be honest, because their Devs are super active and listen to users.

Isn't FL Studio the DAW that at V20(.something) still hasn't got any kind of audio-take/-comping management?

[pdxindy]

FL Studio users are blessed to be honest, because their Devs are super active and listen to users.

Isn't FL Studio the DAW that at V20(.something) still hasn't got any kind of audio-take/-comping management?

Which goes to show that FL Studio users never record audio

[pdxindy]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

It's not exactly free if the things that make it stand out are paid extensions.

[MetalSir]

after more than 13y I started again recording and mixing and to be honest, I love LUNA.
I was a ProTools operator (I barely remember how PT was back in 2010) and I'm having fun and good times starting again from zero with LUNA.

I wonder if could be interesting to have a thread on LUNA issues/doubts/questions/suggestions..

cheers
m

[jonljacobi]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

It's not exactly free if the things that make it stand out are paid extensions.

I don't quite follow your logic. Luna is perfectly functional as is. Do they want to upsell you? Of course. But you have the option not to buy and it will use your third-party plugins, so...

[MetalSir]

There seems to be a distinct slant here towards people who use the DAW to write. There are a lot of musicians who write, then simply play into the DAW. For them it's more than adequate. If you're dependent upon the DAW for everything, then you might find it inadequate. But pissed at something free?? Give me a break.

It's not exactly free if the things that make it stand out are paid extensions.

I don't quite follow your logic. Luna is perfectly functional as is. Do they want to upsell you? Of course. But you have the option not to buy and it will use your third-party plugins, so...

I agree with you. You can go completely free (like I do) and be super fine. If you want more juice you can buy it.

[koalaboy]

Still zero attention for their Windows users, despite paying the same amount for all of the hardware/software.

[Uncle E]

I don't quite follow your logic. Luna is perfectly functional as is. Do they want to upsell you? Of course. But you have the option not to buy and it will use your third-party plugins, so...

The extensions are what make Luna good. It's nothing special without them, and that's being generous.

[_leras]

The LUNA extensions have to be purchased separately even if you own the UAD plugin of the same. For instance, in my LUNA right now, I have the API Vision Channel Strip and 2500 Compressor extensions available in DEMO mode, even though I own the plugins.

Also, there is an Ampex ATR-102 LUNA extension that is fully working as pure native, but still no native UAD plugin for it.

Perhaps some, but mainly you can use the UAD plug ins, no?

Isn't the Ampex more like a built into LUNA effect?

And I believe the API perhaps had some license issues.

I always think this was more for use as a live mixing tool, for bands to go through this and have UAD instead of a large rack of equipment.

[MetalSir]

Guys as Pro Tools operator I'm really satisfied with LUNA. Dunno what you exactly want but as free software simply kills. I'm using basically all free AU plugins and my fab filter suite and I'm absolutely not missing PT at all. My 2 cents