Lunacy Audio has launched NOVA, a new instrument platform that gives you a central place to browse virtual instruments, presets, and sounds. The basic NOVA platform is free, and it currently includes five free instruments that you can explore and use in your DAW.
One of the more interesting features is that you can also try the premium instruments directly in your web browser before deciding whether you want to purchase them. That makes NOVA a little different from the usual plugin-shopping experience, because you can actually get an idea of what an instrument sounds like without immediately downloading and installing the full product.
Five Free Instruments in NOVA
The free section currently includes five instruments:
Woodland Piano
Woodland Piano gives you a piano sound that can be used for everything from songwriting and demos to adding a straightforward acoustic-style keyboard part to a production.
Good Vibes
Good Vibes is a vibraphone-based instrument that can provide a different texture from a traditional piano or synthesizer. It can work for melodic parts, chords, atmospheric sections, and other situations where you want something with a more distinctive character.
Chiptuner
Chiptuner takes things in a more electronic direction with retro-inspired sounds. It’s the kind of instrument that can be useful for electronic music, game-inspired sounds, or simply adding something unusual to a modern production.
Silhouettes
Silhouettes is designed for more atmospheric sounds and textures. This makes it useful when you are looking for something beyond a conventional keyboard sound and want to experiment with evolving or ambient-style parts.
Zephyr Strings
Zephyr Strings rounds out the current free collection with string sounds. Having a string instrument alongside the piano, vibraphone, electronic sounds, and atmospheric textures gives NOVA a fairly varied starting collection.
Try Premium Instruments in Your Browser
NOVA also includes premium instruments alongside the free collection. One feature I found particularly useful is the ability to select a premium instrument and use the Try option to open it in your web browser.
This gives you a chance to hear and explore the instrument before purchasing it. Instead of relying entirely on audio demos or videos, you can interact with the instrument and get a better idea of whether it fits what you’re looking for.
NOVA Is Designed to Keep Growing
Another interesting part of the platform is that Lunacy Audio says new releases are planned every month. That means the current collection isn’t necessarily the final collection of instruments available through NOVA.
It will be interesting to see whether additional free instruments are added alongside the premium releases as the platform develops.
For now, the main takeaway is pretty simple: NOVA provides a free platform with five free instruments, while also giving you a way to try premium instruments in your web browser.
If you’re looking for some new sounds for your DAW, NOVA is worth exploring, especially since you can start with the free instruments and hear the premium offerings before deciding whether you want to buy them.
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