Suno adds MIDI, automation, AI chat to Studio 2.0

Suno released Studio 2.0 with a suite of upgrades aimed at transforming the platform from a generative AI music editor into something more akin to a professional digital audio workstation. The centerpiece is MIDI support, which Suno notes was its most requested feature and is effectively a baseline requirement for any modern DAW. Through MIDI, users can input their own musical ideas—chord progressions, melodies, rhythms—which the platform can then build upon, extend, or use as a foundation for AI-generated arrangements. The built-in synth is a basic two-oscillator wavetable instrument with three envelopes and four envelopes, keeping the scope intentionally simple rather than aiming for synthesis complexity. Notably, Suno Studio does not yet support third-party plugins or VSTs, meaning users cannot integrate their preferred external instruments or effects libraries; they are confined to Suno's proprietary tools. A second major addition is automation, allowing users to control pan and volume changes across individual tracks within an arrangement—a staple feature in established DAWs. Suno has also integrated a context-aware chatbot directly into the Studio interface. Unlike a generic AI chat, this bot understands the musical context of the current project and can fulfill requests like "make this vocal track sound better," responding by adding reverb, compression, and EQ to that specific track. The bot can also generate lyrics or new instrument lines. A particularly novel feature is the ability to create custom effects plugins through the chat interface—unique reverbs, compressed effects, or chorus variations, for example, mirroring functionality seen in tools like Polyend's Endless AI guitar pedal. These custom effects are saved to the user's account for future reuse. Studio 2.0 also ships with a built-in suite of standard effects: distortion, delay, reverb, compression, and EQ. In a demo, Suno cofounder Henry Phipps manually cleaned up some flubbed notes and quantized MIDI before noting that he should have asked the chatbot to handle these tasks instead, illustrating a workflow where the AI progressively assumes production responsibilities that have traditionally fallen to the human operator.