You can now get eight of UA’s best plug-ins free, plus the free LUNA DAW

UAD Explore is a surprise. This is no “intro” or limited pack; eight stand-out Universal Audio plug-ins are available for free. That’s on top of the company’s free Luna DAW — though the plug-ins will also work in your DAW of choice, no special hardware required. For skill sharing or anyone lacking a budget now, that means access to some great tools.

Sonify data in Ableton Live with a free MIDI Tool; weather data walkthrough

Now, raw data can be a musical source in Ableton Live 12 Clips — for free. Manifest Audio’s Datafree shows the potential of Live’s Generators, transforming any pasted numbers into music and sound. There’s a deeper rabbit hole to go down, but here’s a great way to start. Let’s try it with freely accessible climate data and make some weather-based melodies.

Peter Kirn - March 25, 2026

Hands-on sound: IRCAM’s ASAP apps transform audio, free on iPad

Reach out and draw and manipulate sounds, directly from the spectrum. IRCAM Forum’s Pierre Guillot lets us know three ASAP apps are now available on iPad, free of charge. It’s what it feels like the iPad was made to do.

Peter Kirn - March 19, 2026