Lunacy’s Nova Platform Debuts With Five Free Instruments and a Prompt-Based Builder in Development

LA-based Lunacy has launched Nova, a cloud-based virtual instrument platform that runs in the browser and inside a DAW through a free host plugin. The plugin supports AU, VST3, and AAX formats on macOS and Windows, and the initial library includes ten instruments, five of them free.

The free set covers a range of sound sources: Woodland Piano is a sampled upright with a granular delay; Chiptuner is a single-oscillator chip synth; Good Vibes is a four-velocity-layer vibraphone; Zephyr Strings draws on recordings of the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra; and Silhouettes is an ambient instrument built around five presets and an XY pad.

Paid titles sit alongside them in Nova’s marketplace, including Gleam, a modal resonator synth from Rainbow Circuit; Drift Cassette, a dual-deck tape-emulating multisampler; and Growl, a monophonic FM bass synth. They can be bought individually for $19–$35 or as a $99 bundle, and each can be tested in the browser before purchase.

The more significant shift is what Lunacy says comes next. The company is developing a builder for prompt-based plugin creation and customization, with changes synchronized between the browser and DAW. The aim is to let users design, edit, share, and sell virtual instruments and effects without programming experience. Lunacy CEO Casey Kolb framed it as a step toward building “any musical instrument you can imagine,” with a fuller launch planned later this year. For now, the builder remains in early access with a small group of developers.