Lunacy Audio’s new Nova platform brings cloud-based instruments to your DAW, with AI-powered tools for creating and remixing plugins planned for the future.

AI is becoming part of more areas of music production, but Lunacy Audio is taking a different route from tools that generate complete songs.

Its new platform, Nova, is a growing library of virtual instruments that can be explored in a browser and used inside a DAW. More importantly, Lunacy plans to let users create, customise, remix and eventually sell their own music plugins through the platform.

What is Lunacy Audio Nova?

Nova launched on September 17 with a collection of 10 instruments, including sounds ranging from lo-fi textures and vintage synths to sampled instruments and atmospheric soundscapes.

The platform is built around a free Nova Host plugin, which lets users browse their Nova library and load instruments directly into their DAW. Instruments can also be tried in a web browser before being used in a music project. Lunacy says new instruments, sounds and presets will be added to the platform over time.

The initial library includes free and paid instruments, with premium collaborations involving names such as Virtual Riot and Rainbow Circuit.

So, for producers, Nova currently works much like a central home for discovering and playing new software instruments rather than requiring every plugin to be installed and managed separately.

The bigger idea is Nova Builder

The more interesting part of Nova is what Lunacy is building towards.

According to The Verge, the planned Nova Builder will allow creators to assemble music plugins using pre-made effects blocks and AI prompts, rather than needing to write traditional plugin code. Users will be able to create their own instruments and effects, or modify existing creations.

Lunacy’s own site currently lists these features as coming soon, including the ability to build, share, remix and sell creations through the Nova marketplace.

That could make plugin development more accessible to producers and sound designers who have an idea for a tool but don’t have the technical knowledge needed to develop a conventional VST from scratch. Essentially, Nova Builder will allow anyone to make a plug-in, exactly as they envision it. 

Lunacy CEO Casey Kolb has even described the concept as an evolving ecosystem where one creator could build a tool, another could add to it, and someone else could continue developing the idea.

What could Nova mean for independent creators?

The appeal here isn’t necessarily AI making music for you. Instead, it’s about making the tools used to make music more customisable.

For independent producers, that could eventually mean creating a specific synth, effect or workflow around the way you make music, then sharing it with collaborators or an audience. Sound designers could also have another route for turning their ideas into products.

There are still unanswered questions around how the creator marketplace will work, including its eventual commercial terms and how widely Nova Builder will be available. For now, the builder remains a future part of the platform rather than a fully open plugin-development system.

That makes Nova one to watch as AI moves further into music production without necessarily replacing the hands-on creative process.

And, as always, once you’ve turned those new sounds into finished music, getting it in front of listeners is the next step. RouteNote helps you distribute your music to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok and many more platforms worldwide.

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