Lunacy Audio's Nova Lets Musicians Build and Share Custom AI Music Plugins

Synth maker Lunacy Audio is stepping into uncharted territory with Nova, a marketplace and development environment for building AI-assisted music plugins that creators can then distribute and sell. The company, known for instruments like Cube (a synth controlled by moving a ball through 3D space), is testing a radically different model: treat plugins not as locked-down finished products, but as evolving, remixable tools.

How Nova Works#

Nova functions as three things at once—a development platform, an online storefront, and a DAW plugin that lets musicians browse and load their purchases in real time. The initial library ships with 10 instruments spanning chiptune synths, lo-fi cassette tones, and cinematic ambient drones. None break new sonic ground, but they're solidly designed and ship with simple, colorful interfaces inspired by Native Instruments' Play series.

The key difference is the building process. Rather than writing code, creators assemble plugins by snapping together premade effect blocks and pairing them with AI prompts—a workflow similar to Polyend's Endless pedal for guitar, except here the result runs on any computer.

The Evolution Model#

Lunacy's vision is far more ambitious than a simple store. The company is pitching Nova as a "tinkerers' paradise" where plugins remain in constant flux. Rather than locking down designs, the platform lets users fork and remix existing tools—adding a custom reverb to a step sequencer, then sharing that hybrid with friends, who can iterate further. Cofounder Casey Kolb described the aspiration this way: "The tools are never fixed; they are always evolving."

Winning Over Skeptical Musicians#

The music-making world has greeted AI tooling with caution at best, and open skepticism at worst. Lunacy is aware of the challenge. The company is developing Nova in the open—publishing developer diaries and actively soliciting musician feedback—in an effort to sidestep the backlash that greeted earlier AI instruments like Endless and build trust with a wary creative community.