by Mat Dirjish
California-based music software company Lunacy is reimagining the traditional plugin to help music producers, composers, and pop artists explore new and uncharted soundscapes. The company sees current music-creation technology, e.g., plugins, consisting of copy-and-paste platforms that just transfer the functions of physical consoles and devices into digital environments. Lunacy hopes to reimagine music tech by freeing creativity and playfulness.
Lunacy is rebuilding the paradigm for digital music creation, creating one that replaces virtual knobs and sliders with colorful, visually intriguing forms. As per the company, the ethereal and the cosmic collide with the weird and unconventional in Lunacy’s products.
Lunacy’s founder and CEO Casey Kolb explains, “Our name suggests the vision that inspires us. It reflects both the mystery and the magic of lunar space, something celestial and otherworldly, while also speaking to the wild and the nonconformist. We’re trying to rethink user interface components so it’s easier for people to play with their sound in a fun way. When you open our plugins up, you step into a world.”
Lunacy’s first two plugins, CUBE and BEAM, pair exploratory curiosity with technical sophistication in an environment that’s friendly for beginners and pros. CUBE is a virtual instrument that employs a 3D sample-morphing engine that can draw on producers’ individual sounds or help create new ones.
A companion to CUBE, BEAM is an interactive effects plugin that avoids traditional interface features. It features an animated front end that is allegedly easy on the eyes and allows users to combine any of the Lunacy effects to create their own unique, multichannel signal chain. Every effect is useable standalone or within BEAM, a feature that allows creators to build their own sonic worlds.
Essentially, Lunacy claims its plugins offer a loosely bounded sonic playground where the unexpected can happen and everything can change. For greater gleanings and imaginings, peruse the BEAM and CUBE overviews.
Mat Dirjish Online 