LUNA Free is the free version of our award-winning DAW for macOS and Windows — a full featured DAW, free forever. Make music with premium UAD Plug-ins and cutting-edge Smart Tools, No Credit Card Required.
Make music without the limitations like track counts.
Smart Tools
Create with cutting-edge tools like voice control and tempo detection.
Oxide Tape
Mix with the warmth and saturation of analog tape on every track.
UAD Explore Free
Get eight legendary plug-ins, from iconic compressors to vintage tube preamps.
Piano Roll
Compose MIDI tracks with new tools and scale aware editing.
LUNA Play
Tap into a faster, simpler way to write and record songs.
Free Forever
Full-Featured DAW, Without the Cost
Unlimited Tracks
Arrange Without Limits
VST3 + AU
Use Almost Any Plug-in or Virtual Instrument
No Watermark
Export Full Songs
No Time Limit
Create Endlessly
No UA Hardware Required
Works with Any Audio Interface
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.
Included Plug-Ins and Extensions
UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection
Free
Hear It In Action
UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection
Plug-In:
UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor
Free
Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor
Free
Vibe Analog Machines Essentials
Free
Hear It In Action
Vibe Analog Machines Essentials
Plug-In:
Pure Plate Reverb
Free
Hear It In Action
Pure Plate Reverb
Plug-In:
UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp
Free
Hear It In Action
UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp
Plug-In:
Century Tube Channel Strip
Free
Hear It In Action
Century Tube Channel Strip
Plug-In:
PolyMAX Synth
Free
Hear It In Action
PolyMAX Synth
Plug-In:
Produce with Cutting Edge Tools
Use stem separation to split any song into individual elements, instrument detection to organize your session, and tempo detection to have LUNA follow along with your playing.
4-Track Stem Separation
Split any song into four tracks with LUNA Free to jam along to your favorites or flip samples like never before.
Instrument Detection
LUNA, color-codes and adds icons to your tracks by instrument type. So you can keep your session organized without breaking your creative flow.
Voice Control
No more going back and forth between your drum set or guitar rig and DAW. Start and stop your recording session with your voice, from anywhere in the room.
Tempo Listen
Play freely without a click. LUNA listens to your performance and sets the metronome to match.
Smart Tempo Tools
Easily generate a tempo map from any performance. LUNA reads tempo changes and human variation, giving you a flexible grid that follows the feel of the music.
Produce, Record, Edit, and Mix
Everything you need to make your next record, yours for free. Create with a complete set of professional tools — voice control, advanced warp editing, stem separation, virtual instruments, and much more all included at no cost.
Recording
Track with any audio interface, whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced engineer. Start recording from across the room with voice control, monitor with expertly curated signal chains in LUNA Play, and record directly through any native plug-in using Record FX.
Editing
Tighten drums, shape instruments, and perfect vocals with LUNA’s advanced editing tools. Use custom warp algorithms that preserve your performance, then automatically align drums and percussion with group quantize or easily cut out empty passages with strip silence.
Producing
Access the perfect toolkit for producing songs that sound like records. Split any sample into two or four elements with stem separation, then add your own sounds with your favorite virtual instruments or the included PolyMAX synth and Shape Instrument Toolkit.
Mixing
LUNA Free comes equipped with essential UAD plug-ins like the Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor, UA 610 Tube Preamp & EQ Collection, and Pure Plate Reverb — everything you need to make music that feels at home on a playlist with your favorite songs.
MIDI
Compose with your favorite virtual instruments and sample libraries using LUNA Free’s built-in piano roll MIDI editor. Reach for the smart tool when you need to work quickly, or get granular with new tools like the pencil and paint. Plus, program faster than ever with adaptive grid.
Vocals
LUNA Free helps with the technical side of recording so you can stay focused on creativity. Get recording right away with track presets or mix vocals with preamps, eq’s, and and more trusted on countless records.
Guitar
Play with a DAW tailor-made for guitar. Drop in your favorite songs and jam along, or start playing solo and LUNA matches your tempo. Then explore classic amp tones with Showtime '64 Tube Amp right in your DAW.
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 Free is the free version of Universal Audio's LUNA DAW for macOS and Windows. It is a full digital audio workstation with unlimited tracks, a piano roll, smart tools, LUNA Play, Oxide Tape, and a bundle of eight UAD plug-ins. There is no cost, no watermark, and no time limit.
Yes, LUNA Free is free, and no credit card is required to download it. There is no trial period that expires, no watermark on your exports, and no cap on how many tracks a session can hold. LUNA Studio is the paid version, for people who want the console, tape, partner plug-ins, and additional smart tools built in.
There is no catch with LUNA Free, because the DAW itself is not restricted: unlimited tracks, full exports, no time limit, and no UA hardware required. What LUNA Free does not include is the professional mixing layer, meaning the console and tape Extensions, the deeper UAD plug-in library, partner plug-ins, hardware inserts, and additional smart tools. Those come with LUNA Studio, and you can upgrade whenever those tools start to matter in your workflow.
LUNA Free has no track limit. You can arrange as many audio and MIDI tracks as your computer handles, which is the same behavior as the paid version.
LUNA Free adds no watermark to your exports. Songs bounce out clean and full length, ready to release, share, or send to a mastering engineer. Nothing in the free version marks your audio as having come from a free tool.
LUNA Free includes the UAD Explore Free plug-in bundle, which includes eight UAD plug-ins ranging from iconic compressors to vintage tube preamps. Oxide Tape comes with it as well, so analog tape warmth and saturation are available on every track. You can load your own VST3 and AU plug-ins alongside them.
Oxide Tape is a tape machine emulation included with LUNA Free that brings the warmth and saturation of analog tape to your tracks. You can run it on individual tracks or across the whole mix for the compression and harmonic character tape gives a recording. In LUNA it works from the mixer, so tape is part of the signal path rather than an afterthought.
LUNA Free includes smart tools that cut down on setup while you work. Tempo detection lets LUNA follow along with your playing instead of locking you to a click, and voice control starts and stops recording without you reaching for the keyboard, and instrument detection helps name and color-code your tracks. LUNA Studio adds more advanced ones, including audio-to-MIDI stem separation and lyric transcription.
LUNA Play is the fastest way to get an idea recorded in LUNA, and it comes with LUNA Free. It works like a voice memo app made for music: it detects the instrument you are playing, helps set your levels, and suggests presets built on UAD plug-ins. You can jam along with existing songs or capture your own idea, then expand it into a full LUNA session.
LUNA Free hosts VST3 and AU plug-ins and virtual instruments, so almost anything you already own loads into it. Your plug-ins appear alongside the UAD titles included with LUNA Free. There is no restriction on the use of third-party plug-ins in the free version.
LUNA Free runs on both macOS and Windows. The feature set is the same on either platform, so the choice comes down to the computer you already have.
No, LUNA Free needs no UA hardware. It runs on your computer and works with any audio interface, including whatever you are already recording through. Apollo and Volt interfaces integrate more deeply with LUNA than other interfaces, but they are not required.
LUNA Free includes a piano roll for composing and editing MIDI. Scale-aware editing keeps your notes in key while you write, which speeds up drafting parts you can hear but cannot yet play. MIDI tracks sit alongside audio tracks in the same session.
LUNA Free and LUNA Studio are the same DAW, with LUNA Studio adding the studio around it. LUNA Studio brings LUNA Extensions with API console and Studer and Ampex tape, 30 UAD plug-ins and instruments, partner ARA plug-ins for tuning and mastering, hardware inserts, and advanced smart features. Recording, arranging, and mixing work the same way in both.
You can move from LUNA Free to LUNA Studio at any point, either by buying LUNA Studio or by subscribing to UAD Spark Studio, which includes it. Most people upgrade when they want the console and tape extensions or the deeper plug-in library. Nothing about starting on LUNA Free commits you to staying there.
LUNA Free takes a song from the first take to a finished export, with no track limit and no watermark. The eight UAD plug-ins and Oxide Tape cover a lot of ground for mixing, and you can fill in the rest with plug-ins you already own.
Recording music at home takes four things: a computer, an audio interface, a microphone, and a DAW to record into, and LUNA Free covers the DAW at no cost. Headphones or studio monitors round it out so you can hear what you are working on. Once those are in place, LUNA Play gets your first idea recorded within a few minutes of opening the program.
LUNA Free suits beginners perfectly, because you can start recording before you have learned the whole program. LUNA Play detects your instrument, sets your levels, and picks presets for you, so a first take happens in seconds rather than after an afternoon of setup. As you learn more, the same session opens in the full DAW with nothing to migrate.
