Universal Audio LUNA pre release review 2020
This is a quick LUNA pre release video! I’m very excited about this release, and in this video I’ll share my thoughts on why this might be a big game changer for the whole recording industry.
I’ve been on the Apollo platform since near its original release. I’ve got the original Apollo quad upgraded to thunderbolt, the original twin and an octo satellite. I’m certainly a prime candidate for this new software. I’m sure many of you feel the same.
When I first heard about LUNA I was not so sure what to think, as I was expecting some kind of top secret super hardware as is typical of Universal Audio. As the news set in, I’ve realized how special and powerful this is going to be, especially for those heavily invested in UA as I am, as well as everyone else!
Let’s break down some of the big impact features for all users:
UA instruments:
Think about it. Universal Audio is pretty much at the top of the spectrum in terms of software emulations. Apply that to classic studio instruments and what do you get? From the recently uploaded LUNA instruments demo on March 20th, I think they’ve set a new standard digital instrumentation. I was blown away by everyone of the demos, maybe except for the brass section stuff. The keys in particular sound amazing. If you notice as well, in the subsections of shape, they are listed as LT instruments, implying they will have expanded paid versions as well in the future. What I heard really impressed me, especially from the aspect of plug and play having such desireable tones so easily, and appearantly with zero latency, unlike other daws like Logic Pro X
2nd:
Seamless production from start to finish. Currently, you have a recording phase which is done outside of the daw in the console app. You make your commitment decisions about plugins on the outside and move to the Mixing phase in your current daw. With LUNA it seems more like working with a real fully loaded studio desk. The additions of Tape in the workflow and Neve summing add another enticing element to the entirety of production. I like this vision of production, a reimagination of the analog age, but all digital.
3rd:
A nice design! From the looks of it, things are very straight forward and clean. I really like that. Obviously time will tell just how easy it is to use, but I like what I see. The search function looks great too to help speed everything up.
Concerns:
I am a Logic Pro X user. I have produced albums using Pro Tools, but am most comfortable with Logic. It seems like they have tried to pull their favorite features from the main daws, how they see fit, which is great. But things like the comping area seem a bit confusing to me. I will certainly miss the swipe comping in Logic. Perhaps in the future they could add stuff like that. Other than that I feel like there will certainly be things that pop up that will be hard to adjust to, but that’s normal with moving away from what you learned on. We will see. for now, I am gonna fully commit to it from here on out!
Once it’s released I’ll be doing a bunch of LUNA reviews, please Subscribe and bell to see those. I’ll be trying out every aspect and show you guys things I run into.
Thanks for checking this out, and have fun creating music!
#universalaudio #universalaudioluna #cunninghammanor