System requirements
For Mac plugins, macOS 11.0 Big Sur or later. Universal 2 installer for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
For Windows plugins, Windows 10 version 1709 or later, or Windows 11. Requires a 64-bit Intel/AMD system, or a supported Windows on ARM system with x64/ARM64EC compatibility.
For Linux plugins, x86_64 Linux with glibc 2.31 or later, using X11 or XWayland. Linux downloads include VST3 and CLAP formats.
To install the plugins...
For Mac plugins, just download the evaluation version from the website. Your downloaded file will be a .pkg installer package. Double-click it and macOS will walk you through the installation process. We use the standard macOS plugin locations.
For Windows plugins, just download the evaluation version from the website. You'll get an installation .exe file that will walk you through the process. Make sure that you choose the correct directory if you already have other plugins installed, especially if you've used a non-standard location. The installer tries to be smart and figure out where you already put the plugins, but it's easy to get that wrong.
For Linux plugins, download and extract the Linux ZIP archive. Copy each directory inside Stillwell Audio/VST3 to ~/.vst3/. Copy the contents of Stillwell Audio/CLAP to ~/.clap/. Keep each <bundle>.resources directory beside its matching <bundle>.clap binary.
For macOS and Windows you may need to authenticate to write to protected directories. On macOS this happens virtually every time. On Windows it depends on your operating system version and whether UAC is enabled.
Regarding licensing...
There is no separate "registered version" of the plugins. The evaluation downloads from our website are the same plugin builds you use after purchase once a valid license file is installed. Stripe Checkout handles payment, and Stillwell Audio sends the license file in a separate email attachment.
Save the attached license file to your hard disk. Newer purchases usually arrive as a .license attachment, while older products may still use .key. Keep the original attachment safe.
For version 4 plugins, drag-and-drop is the recommended default. Open the plugin and drag your .license or legacy .key file onto the plugin UI to authorize instantly.
Please store a copy of the file in a safe place. If you lose your license file, the plugin will fall back to evaluation mode until you restore it. Better to keep a backup of the original attachment after purchase.
If you lose your license file due to a system crash or similar, contact [email protected] or open a ticket at support.stillwellaudio.com. Include the email address used for purchase and your Stripe receipt or order details if you have them.
If you run into problems not addressed here, feel free to head over to the forums or to open a support ticket. Replies for license delivery issues go through [email protected].
Advanced authorization details...
Need compatibility with older workflows? The manual license-file copy method below still works on all supported platforms.
For Windows plugins, you can still copy the license file to the same directory as your plugin .dll or .aaxplugin file, or use the centralized license directory at %APPDATA%\Stillwell Audio\Licenses\ (for example: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Stillwell Audio\Licenses\).
For Mac plugins you can copy the .license or legacy .key file alongside the plugin bundle, or use the centralized license directory at ~/Library/Application Support/Stillwell Audio/Licenses/.
For Linux plugins the centralized license directory is $XDG_DATA_HOME/Stillwell Audio/Licenses/ when XDG_DATA_HOME is set, or otherwise ~/.local/share/Stillwell Audio/Licenses/.
Some email clients and web browsers rename legacy .key files when saved to disk as .key.txt. If this happens, rename them back by removing the trailing .txt. Do not edit or change the file contents or you may break authorization. On some systems the file may show an icon associated with Registry entries or Apple Keynote, but it is just a Stillwell Audio license file.
Lookup order: central directory (modern .license files) {product}.license, then central directory (legacy RSA) {product}.key, then plugin directory (legacy RSA) {product}.key. On Windows VST3/AAX, the plugin-directory lookup path is derived by stripping components from the bundle path.