It is what I have been waiting for years. 😂❤❤❤❤ it’s the best mixing DAW. Studio one is the best for editing 😂❤❤❤❤❤ but you can do it almost all. But I make the musicians get it almost perfect so I don’t have to edit. 😂❤
UA is smart releasing LUNA for free on Windows. For them, it's all about getting as many people as possible into their ecosystem. They've also been very focused on home recording and podcasting by releasing an entire series of affordable mics, the Volt interfaces and affordable plugin bundles. This push into the low end market has been relentless and I think it's going to pay off.
I agree. I don't mind this model either. It is a free DAW, but there is definitely some 'encouragement' to buy their plugins. But if you don't, it's still gonna be a decent DAW. Same with the hardware. It works with any interface, like any other DAW, but it's a slightly enhanced experience with their hardware. Presonus has done this in the past, and I feel it's a smart move.
Don't be fooled. You're a beta tester and I've already heard horror stories about it still being very slow and buggy right now on windows. Hopefully they'll work most of that out eventually. But this is UA we're talking about here lol. They wouldn't be giving this away if not for that reason. At some point this will be a fully paid or subscription software.
@@EricJohnson-fh8zj Much better to stick with a quality free alternative like Tracktion Waveform. More features and runs reliably and then you have options to move up which you don't have here.
Yes, I agree with some comments below... I have spent tons of time learning studio one! I'll stick with that because I am right on the edge of something very cool. I play every instrument, so I need all of it I am pushing Studio one trust me!!! HAHAHA
There are no bad DAWS. This looks like another good choice, but there are MANY. I recommend just picking one. * Good video by Creative Sauce, as usual. Great channel!
Luna has potential. Since I'm not mixing engineer but musician with focus on MIDI, I can't use it right now, but as soon as mentioned Cons are worked on, I'll have a look at it again.
@@2gunzfilms425 MIDI controllers and even external MIDI clock control are not the problem. That works (mostly) fine. But the MIDI editing capabilities in Luna are very basic, to say it carefully. For a comparison, have a look at the functionalities of MIDI editors in Ableton Live, Studio One or FL Studio :)
Exactly, it has basic midi editing. If you want to see, what I mean with "focus on MIDI", watch some videos about MIDI editing in Studio One, FL Studio or Ableton Live.
I've been playing with LUNA on the Mac over the last couple of weeks, and find it quite impressive, free or not. By the way, hitting 'E' to get that piano roll view is E for Edit, I suspect, rather than Expand. I'm a Logic Pro user (since the beginning, back in the days of Creator and Notator on the Atari 1040ST) so I'm very familiar with Logic. But Logic can be quite complex, especially for quick and relatively simple jobs. And this, I think, is where Luna really comes into its own. It really is very simple to use. Your run-through was superb. Thank you for that. It was also pretty much agnostic about Mac vs Windows - both versions work the same. I hope the folks at UAD see this, as you make good points, and they seem very open to listening to user feedback. Thanks for the run-through - I learned lots.
Mike thank you for the excellent product review. I'm still a big cakewalk fan and probably always will be, but went ahead and signed up to get the Beta version of Luna for windows. I'm hoping that the Sonar GUI improves when deployed and that they give options that don't involve a subscription only model. By the way, excellent demo really like the guitar sounds and the strings. Your vocals sounded great. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Right now, Samplitude Pro X is arguably a stronger MIDI Production DAW while still being a universe ahead of Cakewalk in the audio realm. Cakewalk needs more (or better) developers and better product management. Development has been scattershot and F/OSS'ish for well over a decade and it's time for them to be more organized about picking a market segment and developing towards a set overarching goal... the way Studio One did Composition features in 5.x, for example. Cakewalk has too much "unfinished business" stuffed into the DAW. It's a mountain of mediocrity that looks good on a spreadsheet, but is not competitive with contemporaries in the real world (Cubase, Samplitude Pro X, Studio One, Logic Pro, etc.).
GuruMike, your Luna review makes me want to fire my copy up again. I have been focused on MixBus and Logic so much that I haven't lifted the hood on Luna in a while. Thanks as always for the good tips on how to use the DAW!
Mike, I really trust and respect your reviews and observations. Thank you for taking the time to assess this new free DAW. I'm migrating to Reaper from Cakewalk, but I might stop and visit Luna
Thanks Mike!! First video that I trustly watch since I receive UAD's mail with the anouncement (I´m Apollo's usb Win user...). Still very recent... Love the "eye candy" as you said, very API-Neve-Analog... Regards from Argentina!
Thanks for this, this looks amazing for a free daw. Great place for beginners or low-need users. Couple of things where you said other daw's don't (poss) do things - Ableton has a Fold function on the piano roll and it also does true stereo panning.
@@DL-1 It does for MIDI tracks. I think that's what you need? If you look at ua-cam.com/video/U0kDgV-VrAg/v-deo.html, it's got a demo of how to edit tracks. There's a piano roll in that whole process. If you go to 18:41 on this video show the piano roll... Unfortunately, it's not super obvious that you're in a piano roll....
@@DennisFeinsteinCEO watched the vid ? it shows that there's a hotkey that leads to a sad window, where you cannot see well, where you need to press a second key to make appear velocity etc...
El editor midi es muy básico, no permite ruteos entre pistas y no tiene un exolorador de medios , el de cakewalk es mucho mejor , reaper es mucho mejor en cuanto posibilidades
It’s like reason and cubase had a baby, and I love it 😂 seems pretty great how the mixer is like a virtual “500” and they actually make seperate plug ins for the channel strip section, to where you can have different inserts track to track built right into your strip like that, I guess I been sleeping on this cause I’m windows guy, but I definitely need to give it spin for few weeks, do they offer free trials of the “micro” plug ins?
Audio Random Access (commonly abbreviated to ARA) is an extension for audio plug-in interfaces, such as AU, VST and RTAS, allowing them to exchange a greater amount of audio information with digital audio workstation (DAW) software. It was developed in a collaboration between Celemony Software and PreSonus.
Mike. Thank you for the awesome videos, that being said. I needed to clean my computer and needed to get rid of my cakewalk and erase all the plug ins and decided today I will download LUNA. Only using VST3 plug ins didn't work for me. I found it very unintuitive. It didn't recognize 80% of my VSTs. I UNINSTALLED and reinstalled Cakewalk. It's a beautiful layout and the items that come with it free are ok, but not great. I've used Sonar for most of my at home recording life. And loved Cakewalk when it came out. I felt like it was an Android App. On my Android tablet I use Caustic. Very simple and very easy to use.
Oh wow, had no idea it's already on Windows and requires no UA hardware. I'm perfectly content with Studio One (unless they f- it up with the subscription model), but I'm happy to take a look at Luna.
I'm using Studio One and I have an Apollo, so I was interested to see if there were any benefits of switching to this UA DAW now that it's on Windows. The two nails in the coffin for me are that it's not ARA...which isn't the end of the world, but if you can't resize as a plugin..it's useless for me being pretty much blind...lol. The second is no multiple outputs for virtual instruments?! I use SD3, and that's one of the best features, as with many drum programs. Throw in the lack of a piano roll...I think this is a clunker so far. Maybe as they develop, it will turn out to be a decent DAW. Great video btw! Really just got down to details. 🤘🤘 Edit: Also, lack of a video track really affects my ability to switch over.
Any uad plugin you put in the the record fx will print just like unison if you don’t want to print you can put uad plugins in the insert instead no latency in arm mode as well
Loved your song! Well done! I enjoyed your interesting review of the LUNA DAW. I never heard of it before. I've been using Cubase Pro for three years now and find it to be an excellent DAW to work with.
Hi great video ,, i spent an hour downloading this thing went through weird bits iv never seen on other DAW downloads and after about nearly 2 hours, i finaly got ----A load of plug in adds ??? no sign of any multi trac recorder, or anything you have shown,, i never use plug ins i use external equip- i just wanted a multi trak recorder, simples ""?? but this LUNA thing well they can stick it ,, i went for mixpad paid a few quid , and hey presto everything i dreamed of right there paid a few more quid and got wavpad ,, no adds,, no messing right on the screen, and even better no crazy plug ins everyone is so mad about ??? but well done mat great stuff , take care.
Thanks a lot Mike. LUNA looks nice, I like the Spill feature. To get the same behavior with Cakewalk, I use the Screensets, but it's a lot longer work to get it because we need to set each screensset manually. But to go faster when I create new project, I saved many different templates.
LUNA looks incredible. I've been using Pro Tools for years and been crossing over into Reaper... But I just keep looking at LUNA like there's something special there... I'm 💯 getting off Pro Tools because I am sick of Avid. I bought a UA Volt 276. I love the sound and the plugins it came with. Reaper is incredible, cheap & also works on Linux computers. I'm thinking LUNA will become my mastering DAW or it'll just be better to use for certain projects. I love Reaper, but I'm really excited to see what LUNA has to offer. ✨
Makes sense for Universal at the top of the plugin list, it's more accomodating to the existing user base which will probably always be the larger user base...
Thank you Mike for the review. It's good to know there are more DAWs coming to the Windows platform. I probably will stay with Cakewalk for now as I like features and the UI of Cakewalk.
Been using Luna from day one. The DAW has a sound which is awesome when using tape and console inserts. Love tracking using Luna. But it's biggest drawback is the lack of multiple outs for plugins like Superior Drummer 3.
Luna “sounds” amazing. They did so many things right with it. The fact that they isolated every home studio that uses midi drums like ez drummer and superior drummer will probably cost them 30% of the market they could easily have. Someone down there needs to spend a month on fixing this. It’s not usable for a lot of people until they do.
@@adamescape2 yeah anyone that does orchestration is going to be hard-pressed to use it without the good piano roll and the lack of multiple outs. But for just using it as a tracking and mixing daw it looks good.
@southernman2 print a mono track and Pro tools and then print a mono track in Luna Import both into pro tools make sure they are gain matched Flip phase What do you hear?
Gosh gosh I'm tempted to install Luna. I need to choose what kind of interface I need at the moment. I'm looking at mandolin and shortly I'll be looking for a banjo. I do have acoustic electric and bass here. I have dabbled with keyboards in the past bit of a home studio. Okay, thanks very much for the demo of the software and I can't wait to to check you out for other videos too. All the best. Have fun. Enjoy swallows all about Steven near Scarborough
I can't say I'm excited, as Pro Tools works just fine for me and what I do. But if I ever have to switch and need a free DAW to use temporarily, I think LUNA would be a great option. Honestly, the song you played is just amazing.
😳😳 HOLY TOLEDO, MIKE!! I have been WAITING for this for a while! Finally we get LUNA on Windows. And for free?? This is going to be like getting the free version of BLACKMAGIC’s DaVinci Resolve video editor! What a WINNER!! 🤘😎🤘
Been experimenting more with Luna by importing tracks into it from a song and I got to say right off the bat they sounded far superior to my previous DAW even after turning all the UA plug in's off!
I was bummed by the title and intro, thinking it was only the Windows version for free, but then I went to the site. I have been wanting to try it since it came out, but I don't own any UA hardware. I love their hardware, mainly for the mic pre modeling you can track through, but other than that, I have no need/desire to rebuy all my plug-ins as UAD versions to take advantage of the DSP. Hence I never went their route. I think I'll give it a try now!
Hi Mike. Thanks for sharing. After the learning curve of any DAW, (I use Cakewalk) I don't want to change to another free DAW. Very used to Cakewalk since being an original purchaser and subscriber of many years before it became free. I would rather pay for Cakewalk Sonar than have to start getting used to another DAW, free or not. Lunar will be OK for someone new to recording and gives them another choice of what is available for free. Cakewalk will still have the free version which is still a good choice without any further updates being considered. For myself I am happy to pay for the New Sonar and give some support to BandLab who have made Cakewalk free for so many years to so many people.
Hello Mike. I've tried 4 different ways to install this program and get it to work. Finally got it installed and could never get Luna to recognize my interface. Last attempt at completely reinstalling everything the UA Connect wouldn't even open. (and yes, I know about ilok) I'm no dummy when it comes to computers and DAW.s but this one got me. Sticking with Cakewalk for a bit longer. Thanks for all you do, it is appreciated.
I still use Cakewalk Sonar 8.53 from around 2008. Has all the essentials and I can download, probably literally, ten thousand or more VST synths, effects, and signal processors for free.
Like the Analogstyle of the very clear Mixingconsole, but you are right when you say only change the DAW after resolve this importend features in the Worklflow with scalable size of some VST's or crashing by loading KONTAKT. Many thanks for your first impression!
Same here. Luna is the best looking DAW so far! I tried it and now I’m back into Cubase. Having used most of the daws out there Reaper and Nuendo were the most capable and brought the most to the table. I’m using these 2 in conjunction depending on what I’m working on for the fastest workflow possible.
Thanks for the demo/review. I will be trying this out. My Reaper did an update and now wants money. Not usually a problem because the cost is reasonable except I'm long term I'll on a very reduced income. My requirements are quite simple. I don't do much midi and mix drums in the plugin. I'm quite excited!
I actually think that the fact there is no dedicated piano roll is clever thinking! (It's just there, no need to open another window) it would help if there was an opacity option for it
I’ve been waiting for my whole life for this. FinaLLy I can make midi edits from inside the main edit window! I have no iDea why other DAWs can’t do this. I’m about workflow and LUNA has a really nice one.
It loaded kontakt 7 for me. I loaded the factory upright piano and threw a bunch of reverbs on it, it wasn't too happy about it but didn't crash. For clarity, I'm on an alienware with a core-i7 and 32gb of memory. [edit] I like the ui, I would use this as a mastering tool as the mixer view is easy to use. I wouldn't pay £200 for the full version though, I can do all of this in reaper and vcv rack for a fraction of the cost.
Hi Mike, thank you for these first impressions... It seems to me that this is more or less a trial version, so I will stick to Cakewalk which definetely offers far more options... From Germany with best regards...
Thanks, Mike. It's good to see a decent replacement for Cakewalk if it all goes t***s up with using the free version. I can see that with just a small learning curve I can get similar results from Luna at least for the level I'm at and what I want to achieve
Many thanks. Have liked and subscribed Cheers. Ps I liked your track too, very nice. I like your voice on the track Best of luck 🍀 with your channel here Kind regards Vinn 😎 🎸 👍
Thank you so much Mike for this awesome informative review and walkthrough! I just bought Bitwig a few weeks ago dang it! I still want to try this. Interface looks really nice and it looks very intuitive. You didn't mention anything about audio warp/stretch. I imagine it has that. What about any built in sequencer drum machine? Your song was really well put together. Performance was nice too.
As an Apollo user with an additional DSP card who mains Reaper for daily work duties and Bitwig for my long time music hobby (own Live, Cubase etc). I could see this being my stem mixing DAW, like I see others use Harrison Mixbus for, but with superior plugins. I’m a bit put off upgrading though as I have most of the UAD plugins included, just missing a few… and the price does not change if you already own all the tape saturation and API, etc. I need to install I guess and see! Thanks for your opinions. Edit, it’s not Harrison mix us 😂
Thank you! It's a great-looking interface (yes, Sonar developers, that does matter!) and being free, I will definitely check it out. The items you list as cons seem like such obvious issues that it makes me doubt how well the entire DAW is thought out - if they can overlook those really common features, what else is missing? Those doubts aside, along with wariness of a lure into another ecosystem when I'm just fine on hardware and plugins, this looks too good to not check out. Cheers!
Ive just got this with a volt interface bundled with all kinds of cool plugins.... for the meantime i see myself producing on cubase the exporting to luna for the magical summing... to see if there's any discernable difference... or if im just a bit cracked.. 😅
Great video as usual Mike. As I'm just scratching the surface of Cakewalk, with your help, I'll not be trying this DAW out. Nice to know there is another free option around, in case Cakewalk ceases to be free.
Thanks for the info, never heard of, looks nice though and the demo project plays fine here. Thats all for now, large software will take some time to evaluate :)
You can just mix using the low and high cut filters. 😂❤. My mix sounded perfect and I just compressed and gated the drums and have not even put any plug in on the vocal. Or eq on any channel and it sounds the way I wanted it to sound decades ago. That is how good the processing is with the build in plug ins. 😂❤
Good timing from UA now that Bandlab discontinues Cakewalk (the new online project is no replacement for a desktop DAW). I hope, the missing features are implemented soon and the MIDI part will be improved (a score view would be nice, I already had that back in the 90's with Notator on my Atari STs).
You're not wrong at all; whatever DAW makes the most sense for you is the right one. While everyone uses Ableton, FL Studio or Logic, I still prefer Reason even after trying the others. Just how my brain works, I guess.
Ableton is like switching from Windows to macOS. Feels weird the first 3 days, then you realize it makes more sense and you can’t go back to anything else.
I agree with you on Ableton. It feels like a toy to me. It doesn't feel suited to people who actually make all of their own sounds and don't just loop everything. That's not to judge anyone else's use or appreciation of it - it's just how it felt to me. It felt like more of an impediment than aid.
I've also installed LUNA for Win10 few days ago, first of all, it is a BETA version, everyone who wants it could test it for free, and you have a separate button near at the right corner to feedback to the team. So I have no serious expectation at this point, rather than courious about its SOUND - which - I think- the main feature of it. With these simulations of classic analog hardwares it can be very useful for catching that 70s, 80s vibe and sound. The main drawback for me it's lack of built in mastering devices (limiter, maximizer etc) whose dont have paid plugins for that. Of course for professionals whose got hundreds, thousands plugins its not a question...
If I were starting over and on a budget (who isn't) I would definitely give LUNA a serious look. Right now I'm using Reaper and have come really gotten used to all the custom features.
Above all, Universal Audio is a stable company. I work with Nuendo (the better Cubase) because we need direct offline processing and the highly specialized additional functions in audio post-processing. But I really like Luna's interface. At first glance this looks better and tidier than Cubase/Nuendo. But I'm currently missing around 20 vital functions from Nuendo.
I agree with you that there are too many cons to use it right now. I do plan on getting an Apollo setup when my Antelope interface inevitably dies as all interfaces tend to do. I will wait until Luna can do everything I can in Reaper before switching.
Hi Mike. I reckon you're the only person so far to actually get LUNA to work on Windows. I use it on my Mac and I love it but despite following all the UA instructions to the letter and with all the downloads in their correct locations LUNA simply shows a splash screen and the nothing on my Windows 10 PC. Universal Audio have little or no suggestions as to how to overcome this problem. I have tried starting LUNA as administrator both from UA Connect and directly from the .exe file in the Programs folder but to no avail. Kind Regards. Alan. Love your Cakewalk tutorials.
I think a major feature missing is that you can't do slip editing i.e. sliding audio within a clip without moving the edges of the clip. Most DAWs have this. I hope it gets implemented otherwise I won't use this.
I think I like this. Been using Harrison Mixbus but it uses way too much DSP and im looking for something else. How is it on DSP resources? does it gobble it up too quick?
I am a MAC user and I made a complete switch from Pro Tools to LUNA. It was the easiest transition since LUNA is modeled after Pro Tools but in my opinion a lot easier to navigate. Also I love the option to use VST's in which I can not in Pro Tools, without using a VST Wrapper.. This is truly a great DAW. its just missing just a few more features, however once added, This can be the best DAW in the market...
I have been using Cakewalk since the 1999. I have been looking for a replacement DAW and this looks like a very good candidate. I will give it a try. I would like to see a larger window for Melodyne. Like the song!
Just as I am (Cakewalk). I've tried several DAWS for few years, Studio One became for the main, for its stability. Cubase is garbage, using Cakewalk's Sonar for recording, easiest navigation, Luna is not worked very well in navigation... just a thing, using it for 2 days, but still dont know how to place a marker, or moving cursor and several basic feature, shortcuts not programmable etc etc...
I'm surprised UA aren't advertising this more loudly. I had no idea they had ported to Windows until your video popped up in my youtube feed. It doesn't/won't ever replace Cubase for me. But it could be a nice place to mix or master. That said, 2000 plugins is too many. You're going to have a nightmare of a problem when you need to upgrade computers and have to reinstall (or have a hardware failure..).
Hi Mike: Really appreciated your review, nice starting point to try "LUNA". In my opinion,it looks like an optimized version of cakewalk. I'd disagree with you about "piano-roll" view;hope they keep the workflow simple. The major fault for me, was the absence of a "video track";how to score a video in "LUNA" ? Maybe,it can become a subject for your next video on this DAW. Willing to see this feauture, implemented .Thanks to Universal Audio Team.
Thanks for the video Mike!!! I'll try it out just to get familiar with it but no ARA support for Melodyne is a definite no go as far as becoming my main DAW.
What about fonctions as audio to midi, always on midi can we show off musical scores and Tabs? For the rest there's always a way to tweak, pity for the Melodyne size.
It is what I have been waiting for years. 😂❤❤❤❤ it’s the best mixing DAW. Studio one is the best for editing 😂❤❤❤❤❤ but you can do it almost all. But I make the musicians get it almost perfect so I don’t have to edit. 😂❤
the aesthetics on this alone can inspire me to make a hit
I clicked this because I thought you were Rick Beato in the tiny thumbnail. Glad to find this channel!
UA is smart releasing LUNA for free on Windows. For them, it's all about getting as many people as possible into their ecosystem. They've also been very focused on home recording and podcasting by releasing an entire series of affordable mics, the Volt interfaces and affordable plugin bundles. This push into the low end market has been relentless and I think it's going to pay off.
I agree. I don't mind this model either. It is a free DAW, but there is definitely some 'encouragement' to buy their plugins. But if you don't, it's still gonna be a decent DAW.
Same with the hardware. It works with any interface, like any other DAW, but it's a slightly enhanced experience with their hardware. Presonus has done this in the past, and I feel it's a smart move.
Don't be fooled. You're a beta tester and I've already heard horror stories about it still being very slow and buggy right now on windows. Hopefully they'll work most of that out eventually. But this is UA we're talking about here lol. They wouldn't be giving this away if not for that reason. At some point this will be a fully paid or subscription software.
@@EricJohnson-fh8zj Much better to stick with a quality free alternative like Tracktion Waveform. More features and runs reliably and then you have options to move up which you don't have here.
@@EricJohnson-fh8zjThen stop using it.
I tried downloading all day.. downloads then stops..then makes me download all over again..stops at 90 percent.. then cycle repeats
Yes, I agree with some comments below... I have spent tons of time learning studio one! I'll stick with that because I am right on the edge of something very cool. I play every instrument, so I need all of it I am pushing Studio one trust me!!! HAHAHA
There are no bad DAWS. This looks like another good choice, but there are MANY. I recommend just picking one.
* Good video by Creative Sauce, as usual. Great channel!
I starting engineering on cubase before I was on pro tools they super similar to me
I settled on REAPER. Lightweight and really affordable and customizable.
have you tried each an every one of them to a degree enough to make a a proper judgement?
@@porkpie2884 No. Just like I haven't tried every brand of eggs.
Yeah the cons for this one won't work for me, but as he says I'll keep an eye on it, staying with cakewalk for now.
Luna has potential. Since I'm not mixing engineer but musician with focus on MIDI, I can't use it right now, but as soon as mentioned Cons are worked on, I'll have a look at it again.
Does it not do midi on windows? Cuz i use it on Mac with midi controllers and even outputting to my MPC and a couple keyboards
@@2gunzfilms425 MIDI controllers and even external MIDI clock control are not the problem. That works (mostly) fine. But the MIDI editing capabilities in Luna are very basic, to say it carefully. For a comparison, have a look at the functionalities of MIDI editors in Ableton Live, Studio One or FL Studio :)
I've just watched the section on Midi editing. What did I miss?
Exactly, it has basic midi editing. If you want to see, what I mean with "focus on MIDI", watch some videos about MIDI editing in Studio One, FL Studio or Ableton Live.
Agreed, as a tracking and mixing daw looks good, but for virtual composers it's not ready yet
First comment 😎 the DAW looks good btw. You are the first that I am following on UA-cam that made a video about this! thanks!
Thanks for commenting first!!
Was worth waiting until the end to hear your demo.
I've been playing with LUNA on the Mac over the last couple of weeks, and find it quite impressive, free or not. By the way, hitting 'E' to get that piano roll view is E for Edit, I suspect, rather than Expand. I'm a Logic Pro user (since the beginning, back in the days of Creator and Notator on the Atari 1040ST) so I'm very familiar with Logic. But Logic can be quite complex, especially for quick and relatively simple jobs. And this, I think, is where Luna really comes into its own. It really is very simple to use. Your run-through was superb. Thank you for that. It was also pretty much agnostic about Mac vs Windows - both versions work the same. I hope the folks at UAD see this, as you make good points, and they seem very open to listening to user feedback. Thanks for the run-through - I learned lots.
Mike thank you for the excellent product review. I'm still a big cakewalk fan and probably always will be, but went ahead and signed up to get the Beta version of Luna for windows. I'm hoping that the Sonar GUI improves when deployed and that they give options that don't involve a subscription only model. By the way, excellent demo really like the guitar sounds and the strings. Your vocals sounded great. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Right now, Samplitude Pro X is arguably a stronger MIDI Production DAW while still being a universe ahead of Cakewalk in the audio realm. Cakewalk needs more (or better) developers and better product management. Development has been scattershot and F/OSS'ish for well over a decade and it's time for them to be more organized about picking a market segment and developing towards a set overarching goal... the way Studio One did Composition features in 5.x, for example. Cakewalk has too much "unfinished business" stuffed into the DAW. It's a mountain of mediocrity that looks good on a spreadsheet, but is not competitive with contemporaries in the real world (Cubase, Samplitude Pro X, Studio One, Logic Pro, etc.).
GuruMike, your Luna review makes me want to fire my copy up again. I have been focused on MixBus and Logic so much that I haven't lifted the hood on Luna in a while. Thanks as always for the good tips on how to use the DAW!
Mike, I really trust and respect your reviews and observations. Thank you for taking the time to assess this new free DAW. I'm migrating to Reaper from Cakewalk, but I might stop and visit Luna
Would love to know why you’re making the switch. Cakewalk is a great product. Of course Reaper is too. But I’m curious as to what’s making you switch.
@@mikestibor1
Cakewalk stole y projects and data robbery
Thanks Mike!! First video that I trustly watch since I receive UAD's mail with the anouncement (I´m Apollo's usb Win user...). Still very recent... Love the "eye candy" as you said, very API-Neve-Analog... Regards from Argentina!
Thanks for this, this looks amazing for a free daw. Great place for beginners or low-need users. Couple of things where you said other daw's don't (poss) do things - Ableton has a Fold function on the piano roll and it also does true stereo panning.
Hi Mike ! I think Cakewalk is still more attractive even if they keep asking you to buy Sonar with a timer at start ...
Cheers and Happy New Year !
The cons are definitely a killer for me - Piano roll, contact, ARA, melodyne. This is all essential.
It doesn't have a piano roll?
@@DL-1 It does for MIDI tracks. I think that's what you need? If you look at ua-cam.com/video/U0kDgV-VrAg/v-deo.html, it's got a demo of how to edit tracks. There's a piano roll in that whole process.
If you go to 18:41 on this video show the piano roll... Unfortunately, it's not super obvious that you're in a piano roll....
Totally agree. But if a decent piano roll is added along with ARA support, this would be an attractive option.
There is a basic piano roll...
@@DennisFeinsteinCEO watched the vid ? it shows that there's a hotkey that leads to a sad window, where you cannot see well, where you need to press a second key to make appear velocity etc...
To me, it looks like a combination of Studio One, Pro Tools, Cubase, Ableton, Logic and Harrison Mixbus all combined into one. :) NICE!
Agreed. I'm a Mixbus guy, but this really got my attention.
No VST2 support at all.
El editor midi es muy básico, no permite ruteos entre pistas y no tiene un exolorador de medios , el de cakewalk es mucho mejor , reaper es mucho mejor en cuanto posibilidades
It’s like reason and cubase had a baby, and I love it 😂 seems pretty great how the mixer is like a virtual “500” and they actually make seperate plug ins for the channel strip section, to where you can have different inserts track to track built right into your strip like that, I guess I been sleeping on this cause I’m windows guy, but I definitely need to give it spin for few weeks, do they offer free trials of the “micro” plug ins?
Bedankt
Thank you!
Audio Random Access (commonly abbreviated to ARA) is an extension for audio plug-in interfaces, such as AU, VST and RTAS, allowing them to exchange a greater amount of audio information with digital audio workstation (DAW) software. It was developed in a collaboration between Celemony Software and PreSonus.
Very nice demo song. Excellent demonstration of this DAW. Could be very powerful in the future with some updates.
Mike. Thank you for the awesome videos, that being said. I needed to clean my computer and needed to get rid of my cakewalk and erase all the plug ins and decided today I will download LUNA. Only using VST3 plug ins didn't work for me. I found it very unintuitive. It didn't recognize 80% of my VSTs. I UNINSTALLED and reinstalled Cakewalk. It's a beautiful layout and the items that come with it free are ok, but not great. I've used Sonar for most of my at home recording life. And loved Cakewalk when it came out. I felt like it was an Android App. On my Android tablet I use Caustic. Very simple and very easy to use.
Oh wow, had no idea it's already on Windows and requires no UA hardware. I'm perfectly content with Studio One (unless they f- it up with the subscription model), but I'm happy to take a look at Luna.
It’s quite surprising that UA didn’t send any email update on this! Thanks for throwing this pleasant surprise, Dear Mike!
Maybe should check your spam list, I got bunch of UA mails daily, and about this release as well.
I'm using Studio One and I have an Apollo, so I was interested to see if there were any benefits of switching to this UA DAW now that it's on Windows. The two nails in the coffin for me are that it's not ARA...which isn't the end of the world, but if you can't resize as a plugin..it's useless for me being pretty much blind...lol. The second is no multiple outputs for virtual instruments?! I use SD3, and that's one of the best features, as with many drum programs. Throw in the lack of a piano roll...I think this is a clunker so far. Maybe as they develop, it will turn out to be a decent DAW. Great video btw! Really just got down to details. 🤘🤘 Edit: Also, lack of a video track really affects my ability to switch over.
Any uad plugin you put in the the record fx will print just like unison if you don’t want to print you can put uad plugins in the insert instead no latency in arm mode as well
Loved your song! Well done!
I enjoyed your interesting review of the LUNA DAW. I never heard of it before. I've been using Cubase Pro for three years now and find it to be an excellent DAW to work with.
Hi great video ,, i spent an hour downloading this thing went through weird bits iv never seen on other DAW downloads and after about nearly 2 hours, i finaly got ----A load of plug in adds ??? no sign of any multi trac recorder, or anything you have shown,, i never use plug ins i use external equip- i just wanted a multi trak recorder, simples ""?? but this LUNA thing well they can stick it ,, i went for mixpad paid a few quid , and hey presto everything i dreamed of right there paid a few more quid and got wavpad ,, no adds,, no messing right on the screen, and even better no crazy plug ins everyone is so mad about ??? but well done mat great stuff , take care.
Mixpad is a bit basic. Mixcraft is also intuitive but offers a good deal more.
I've spent a few years getting to grips with Cakewalk so don't see the need to change!
Thanks a lot Mike. LUNA looks nice, I like the Spill feature. To get the same behavior with Cakewalk, I use the Screensets, but it's a lot longer work to get it because we need to set each screensset manually. But to go faster when I create new project, I saved many different templates.
LUNA looks incredible. I've been using Pro Tools for years and been crossing over into Reaper... But I just keep looking at LUNA like there's something special there... I'm 💯 getting off Pro Tools because I am sick of Avid. I bought a UA Volt 276. I love the sound and the plugins it came with. Reaper is incredible, cheap & also works on Linux computers. I'm thinking LUNA will become my mastering DAW or it'll just be better to use for certain projects. I love Reaper, but I'm really excited to see what LUNA has to offer. ✨
Makes sense for Universal at the top of the plugin list, it's more accomodating to the existing user base which will probably always be the larger user base...
Thank you Mike for the review. It's good to know there are more DAWs coming to the Windows platform. I probably will stay with Cakewalk for now as I like features and the UI of Cakewalk.
Didn't you heard they are going with subscription service? I'll probably go for reaper or luna.
Cakewalk block y projects and data robbery
Been using Luna from day one. The DAW has a sound which is awesome when using tape and console inserts. Love tracking using Luna. But it's biggest drawback is the lack of multiple outs for plugins like Superior Drummer 3.
Luna “sounds” amazing. They did so many things right with it. The fact that they isolated every home studio that uses midi drums like ez drummer and superior drummer will probably cost them 30% of the market they could easily have. Someone down there needs to spend a month on fixing this. It’s not usable for a lot of people until they do.
@adamescape2 sounds like psychological bias
I used Pro Tools for 10 years and there is a difference.
@@adamescape2 yeah anyone that does orchestration is going to be hard-pressed to use it without the good piano roll and the lack of multiple outs. But for just using it as a tracking and mixing daw it looks good.
@southernman2 print a mono track and Pro tools and then print a mono track in Luna
Import both into pro tools make sure they are gain matched
Flip phase
What do you hear?
Gosh gosh I'm tempted to install Luna. I need to choose what kind of interface I need at the moment. I'm looking at mandolin and shortly I'll be looking for a banjo. I do have acoustic electric and bass here. I have dabbled with keyboards in the past bit of a home studio. Okay, thanks very much for the demo of the software and I can't wait to to check you out for other videos too. All the best. Have fun. Enjoy swallows all about Steven near Scarborough
I can't say I'm excited, as Pro Tools works just fine for me and what I do. But if I ever have to switch and need a free DAW to use temporarily, I think LUNA would be a great option. Honestly, the song you played is just amazing.
😳😳 HOLY TOLEDO, MIKE!!
I have been WAITING for this for a while!
Finally we get LUNA on Windows.
And for free?? This is going to be like getting the free version of BLACKMAGIC’s DaVinci Resolve video editor!
What a WINNER!!
🤘😎🤘
It seems free just for first glance... if you wanna using it as needed, have to pay several things.
the song you made at the end , very nice , thank U for showing the software 🙂
Been experimenting more with Luna by importing tracks into it from a song and I got to say right off the bat they sounded far superior to my previous DAW even after turning all the UA plug in's off!
I was bummed by the title and intro, thinking it was only the Windows version for free, but then I went to the site. I have been wanting to try it since it came out, but I don't own any UA hardware. I love their hardware, mainly for the mic pre modeling you can track through, but other than that, I have no need/desire to rebuy all my plug-ins as UAD versions to take advantage of the DSP. Hence I never went their route. I think I'll give it a try now!
Hi Mike. Thanks for sharing.
After the learning curve of any DAW, (I use Cakewalk) I don't want to change to another free DAW. Very used to Cakewalk since being an original purchaser and subscriber of many years before it became free. I would rather pay for Cakewalk Sonar than have to start getting used to another DAW, free or not. Lunar will be OK for someone new to recording and gives them another choice of what is available for free. Cakewalk will still have the free version which is still a good choice without any further updates being considered. For myself I am happy to pay for the New Sonar and give some support to BandLab who have made Cakewalk free for so many years to so many people.
If you not update Cakewalk block y projects and data robbery
Hello Mike. I've tried 4 different ways to install this program and get it to work. Finally got it installed and could never get Luna to recognize my interface. Last attempt at completely reinstalling everything the UA Connect wouldn't even open. (and yes, I know about ilok) I'm no dummy when it comes to computers and DAW.s but this one got me. Sticking with Cakewalk for a bit longer. Thanks for all you do, it is appreciated.
Nice tune ! Very informative video. Thank you !
I love this and I've been praying for it mehn I saw my big bro using it on his mac and I was so much charmed by it
Likely gonna switch from the free version of Studio One for this. Thanks!
I still use Cakewalk Sonar 8.53 from around 2008. Has all the essentials and I can download, probably literally, ten thousand or more VST synths, effects, and signal processors for free.
Mike uses Cakewalk and Sudio One, and I do to.
Like the Analogstyle of the very clear Mixingconsole, but you are right when you say only change the DAW after resolve this importend features in the Worklflow with scalable size of some VST's or crashing by loading KONTAKT. Many thanks for your first impression!
People are reporting KONTAKT crashes in multiple DAWs. Read the NI official forums 😛
Cubase pro user for 15+ years. This one I was pretty excited about! Gonna give it a try.
Same here. Luna is the best looking DAW so far! I tried it and now I’m back into Cubase.
Having used most of the daws out there Reaper and Nuendo were the most capable and brought the most to the table. I’m using these 2 in conjunction depending on what I’m working on for the fastest workflow possible.
Thanks for the demo/review. I will be trying this out. My Reaper did an update and now wants money. Not usually a problem because the cost is reasonable except I'm long term I'll on a very reduced income. My requirements are quite simple. I don't do much midi and mix drums in the plugin. I'm quite excited!
I actually think that the fact there is no dedicated piano roll is clever thinking! (It's just there, no need to open another window) it would help if there was an opacity option for it
I’ve been waiting for my whole life for this. FinaLLy I can make midi edits from inside the main edit window! I have no iDea why other DAWs can’t do this.
I’m about workflow and LUNA has a really nice one.
It loaded kontakt 7 for me. I loaded the factory upright piano and threw a bunch of reverbs on it, it wasn't too happy about it but didn't crash. For clarity, I'm on an alienware with a core-i7 and 32gb of memory.
[edit] I like the ui, I would use this as a mastering tool as the mixer view is easy to use. I wouldn't pay £200 for the full version though, I can do all of this in reaper and vcv rack for a fraction of the cost.
Hi Mike, thank you for these first impressions... It seems to me that this is more or less a trial version, so I will stick to Cakewalk which definetely offers far more options...
From Germany with best regards...
Cakewalk block y projects and data robbery
Thanks, Mike. It's good to see a decent replacement for Cakewalk if it all goes t***s up with using the free version. I can see that with just a small learning curve I can get similar results from Luna at least for the level I'm at and what I want to achieve
Love the song and the clarity, very nice.
Many thanks.
Have liked and subscribed Cheers.
Ps
I liked your track too, very nice.
I like your voice on the track
Best of luck 🍀 with your channel here
Kind regards Vinn 😎 🎸 👍
Good video and song Mike!
m loving luna, i hope it should not crash with third party plugins...
Thank you so much Mike for this awesome informative review and walkthrough! I just bought Bitwig a few weeks ago dang it! I still want to try this. Interface looks really nice and it looks very intuitive. You didn't mention anything about audio warp/stretch. I imagine it has that. What about any built in sequencer drum machine? Your song was really well put together. Performance was nice too.
Audio stretch is there and very straightforward to use.
LUNA IS HERE FOR WINDOWS?!?!?!?! Been waiting for this day.
why?
@@hbrookes Because when I used it on mac, I really enjoyed it.
I had the same reaction when I found out just now
I might be switching... Again.
Just saw the Melodyne bit. Nevermind
As an Apollo user with an additional DSP card who mains Reaper for daily work duties and Bitwig for my long time music hobby (own Live, Cubase etc). I could see this being my stem mixing DAW, like I see others use Harrison Mixbus for, but with superior plugins. I’m a bit put off upgrading though as I have most of the UAD plugins included, just missing a few… and the price does not change if you already own all the tape saturation and API, etc. I need to install I guess and see! Thanks for your opinions. Edit, it’s not Harrison mix us 😂
Can you do a video on how to setup ( Ripchord vst ) please. I cant seem to get it routed to other plugins to play the midi chords THANKS!!
Cheapo hobbyist here using Ableton Live Lite. Thanks for this vid, I might never have noticed.
Very interesting video .. as a heavy Kontakt user with the Komplete 88 it's a no go area .. might download it as an experiment though .. thanks Mike 🤛
Thank you! It's a great-looking interface (yes, Sonar developers, that does matter!) and being free, I will definitely check it out. The items you list as cons seem like such obvious issues that it makes me doubt how well the entire DAW is thought out - if they can overlook those really common features, what else is missing? Those doubts aside, along with wariness of a lure into another ecosystem when I'm just fine on hardware and plugins, this looks too good to not check out. Cheers!
People should be aware this is the very first Windows release 😉
If they watched the first minute of the video, they would be
@@Kyrelel Sure, but apparently not anyone did...😉
The daw is a 12 years old. Its Just been ported to windows.
Ive just got this with a volt interface bundled with all kinds of cool plugins.... for the meantime i see myself producing on cubase the exporting to luna for the magical summing... to see if there's any discernable difference... or if im just a bit cracked.. 😅
Very Nice. Now has Multi out for instruments
Great video as usual Mike. As I'm just scratching the surface of Cakewalk, with your help, I'll not be trying this DAW out. Nice to know there is another free option around, in case Cakewalk ceases to be free.
Absolutely Dave!
I haven't heard of the name cakewalk for ages
@@neurotransmi77Er yeah it’s still around n I’m loving using it 😉
you sure about your decision? Cuz seeing how fast Luna is being updated I'm sure it will smoke cakewalk in 1-2 years. I take Luna has a long game
Thanks for the info, never heard of, looks nice though and the demo project plays fine here. Thats all for now, large software will take some time to evaluate :)
You can just mix using the low and high cut filters. 😂❤. My mix sounded perfect and I just compressed and gated the drums and have not even put any plug in on the vocal. Or eq on any channel and it sounds the way I wanted it to sound decades ago. That is how good the processing is with the build in plug ins. 😂❤
Good timing from UA now that Bandlab discontinues Cakewalk (the new online project is no replacement for a desktop DAW). I hope, the missing features are implemented soon and the MIDI part will be improved (a score view would be nice, I already had that back in the 90's with Notator on my Atari STs).
I still feel like cakewalk is the daw for me. Am i wrong for feeling that way?
I do not understand Ableton or any of the modern daws. Maybe its my age
You're not wrong at all; whatever DAW makes the most sense for you is the right one.
While everyone uses Ableton, FL Studio or Logic, I still prefer Reason even after trying the others. Just how my brain works, I guess.
Ableton is like switching from Windows to macOS. Feels weird the first 3 days, then you realize it makes more sense and you can’t go back to anything else.
I agree with you on Ableton. It feels like a toy to me. It doesn't feel suited to people who actually make all of their own sounds and don't just loop everything. That's not to judge anyone else's use or appreciation of it - it's just how it felt to me. It felt like more of an impediment than aid.
I am a longtime cakewalker and being familiar with it has a lot to do with how we see other daws.
@@kevgamble Yeah right? Its all shortcuts and loops. Made no sense to me. That is how i feel about Ableton and Logic
i'll give it a go, thank you so much i need a stable free daw for editing and creation of samples from scratch
Hey is that your voice on the DEMO?? I never knew Mike had an amazing voice, love it!!!
Wow, I have been waiting for LUNA on Windows. Exciting.
Oh yeah, that´s the video I´ve been waiting for......etc, etc...
Why would you wait for that? If it's that important should've got a mac
@@hadror13 I wanted to test it to see what it can do. Buying a Mac is a bit overkill for just testing a DAW.
Very well exclaimed and hope your well
Huge instalation, pace, ilok, that huge procedure made me back out. I'll keep my reaper. Reaper rules.
I use reaper also glad I saw your comment
same here. free to UA means being tied down to ILOK and all their crapware. no thanks I just downloaded Cakewalk and use Reaper also.
Probably the most important comment here. iLok and Pace, ugh! Thanks, good looking out, especially about the bloat.
@@mrsockmonkey1969 which version of Cakewalk?
@@rossfromsa
Cakewalk stole y work
I've also installed LUNA for Win10 few days ago, first of all, it is a BETA version, everyone who wants it could test it for free, and you have a separate button near at the right corner to feedback to the team. So I have no serious expectation at this point, rather than courious about its SOUND - which - I think- the main feature of it. With these simulations of classic analog hardwares it can be very useful for catching that 70s, 80s vibe and sound.
The main drawback for me it's lack of built in mastering devices (limiter, maximizer etc) whose dont have paid plugins for that. Of course for professionals whose got hundreds, thousands plugins its not a question...
This looks like the kind of daw I;ve been waiting for. Simple, intuitive, resourceful!
If I were starting over and on a budget (who isn't) I would definitely give LUNA a serious look. Right now I'm using Reaper and have come really gotten used to all the custom features.
Cheapo hobbyist here using Ableton Live Lite. Thanks for this vid, I might never have noticed. Is there a track limit?
to be honest i must say liked your song a lot stop apologizing to many do . appecate your work ..warmly Johannes
Above all, Universal Audio is a stable company. I work with Nuendo (the better Cubase) because we need direct offline processing and the highly specialized additional functions in audio post-processing. But I really like Luna's interface. At first glance this looks better and tidier than Cubase/Nuendo. But I'm currently missing around 20 vital functions from Nuendo.
As always, interesting and clear explanations, thanks Mike.
Loved the song!!!
I agree with you that there are too many cons to use it right now. I do plan on getting an Apollo setup when my Antelope interface inevitably dies as all interfaces tend to do. I will wait until Luna can do everything I can in Reaper before switching.
Hi Mike. I reckon you're the only person so far to actually get LUNA to work on Windows. I use it on my Mac and I love it but despite following all the UA instructions to the letter and with all the downloads in their correct locations LUNA simply shows a splash screen and the nothing on my Windows 10 PC. Universal Audio have little or no suggestions as to how to overcome this problem. I have tried starting LUNA as administrator both from UA Connect and directly from the .exe file in the Programs folder but to no avail. Kind Regards. Alan. Love your Cakewalk tutorials.
I think a major feature missing is that you can't do slip editing i.e. sliding audio within a clip without moving the edges of the clip. Most DAWs have this. I hope it gets implemented otherwise I won't use this.
I think I like this. Been using Harrison Mixbus but it uses way too much DSP and im looking for something else. How is it on DSP resources? does it gobble it up too quick?
I am a MAC user and I made a complete switch from Pro Tools to LUNA. It was the easiest transition since LUNA is modeled after Pro Tools but in my opinion a lot easier to navigate. Also I love the option to use VST's in which I can not in Pro Tools, without using a VST Wrapper.. This is truly a great DAW. its just missing just a few more features, however once added, This can be the best DAW in the market...
I agree
I have been using Cakewalk since the 1999. I have been looking for a replacement DAW and this looks like a very good candidate. I will give it a try. I would like to see a larger window for Melodyne. Like the song!
Just as I am (Cakewalk). I've tried several DAWS for few years, Studio One became for the main, for its stability. Cubase is garbage, using Cakewalk's Sonar for recording, easiest navigation, Luna is not worked very well in navigation... just a thing, using it for 2 days, but still dont know how to place a marker, or moving cursor and several basic feature, shortcuts not programmable etc etc...
@@szunabass Yes, it seems as though I am wasting time trying this one and that one. I should be working on my music during that time.
I'm surprised UA aren't advertising this more loudly. I had no idea they had ported to Windows until your video popped up in my youtube feed. It doesn't/won't ever replace Cubase for me. But it could be a nice place to mix or master.
That said, 2000 plugins is too many. You're going to have a nightmare of a problem when you need to upgrade computers and have to reinstall (or have a hardware failure..).
Been waiting damn here we gooooo!!!!!
Hi Mike: Really appreciated your review, nice starting point to try "LUNA".
In my opinion,it looks like an optimized version of cakewalk.
I'd disagree with you about "piano-roll" view;hope they keep the workflow simple.
The major fault for me, was the absence of a "video track";how to score a video in "LUNA" ?
Maybe,it can become a subject for your next video on this DAW. Willing to see this feauture,
implemented .Thanks to Universal Audio Team.
If the product is free, YOU are the product.
I doubt AU is collecting and selling your personal data. This is a freemium model. A lot of software companies use market their products.
Indeed!
@LilOlFunnyBoy no they just force you to purchase the hardware...then you test beta unreliable software for free
it's a loss leader so you'll buy their pricey stuff. It's good stuff though.
@@hadror13 unlikely. Buggy software isn't going to convert any customers. But whatever.
Thanks for this review. Straight forward, and would be nice if UA takes considers some of your cons. The Guitar in your demo sounds amazing. Nice job.
Thanks for the video Mike!!! I'll try it out just to get familiar with it but no ARA support for Melodyne is a definite no go as far as becoming my main DAW.
Looks good, definitely will try it, but for now I will stick with Mixbus :)
What about fonctions as audio to midi, always on midi can we show off musical scores and Tabs? For the rest there's always a way to tweak, pity for the Melodyne size.