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In this manual

Activate your license

Your purchase email carries your license key twice: as text, and as a .nlicense file. Either one activates. The key is checked on your Mac, with no internet connection needed, and one key covers everything you own.

What you need

  • Your license key, or the .nlicense file attached to your purchase email

In Neutral EQ

Neutral EQ keeps its license in its About panel. Open it from the trial notice under the top bar, or from the Settings gear’s About Neutral EQ… item, then paste your key with ⌘V or the Paste button, right-click the panel and choose Paste, drag the key’s text in, or drop the .nlicense file on it. Choose File… opens the file instead. Every door leads to the same check. Once licensed, the panel says so and offers Remove Key, which returns it to the trial screen. One paste licenses Neutral EQ in every DAW on that Mac: the key is stored once, and a newer key never replaces itself with an older one.

Neutral EQ never connects to the internet, so activation is the key alone; there is no machine count. Inside Neutral Tracks, Neutral EQ is unlocked by the app and needs no key.

In Neutral Tracks

The fastest path: double-click the .nlicense attachment from your purchase email. That’s the whole activation. To enter the key by hand instead:

  1. In Neutral Tracks, choose Help → Enter License Key… (or open Preferences → License).
  2. Enter your key. It validates on your Mac immediately; activation never depends on a server being reachable.

Your key proves itself mathematically on your machine, then is stored securely in the Keychain. The app registers the machine in the background when a connection is available; if the server is unreachable, your license keeps working.

One Neutral Tracks license covers up to three of your machines. Moving to a new Mac? Enter the same key there. If you hit the limit, deactivate an old machine or contact support to reset activations.

During the trial

In Neutral EQ the trial is 30 days from the first time it passes audio, full-featured, with the days left in the status line. After it ends the plugin keeps working for evaluation but mutes for one second in every minute, with a soft ramp, until a key is entered. Never a dialog, never a lock.

In Neutral Tracks every feature works for 30 days, including export. After the trial ends, saving is disabled but everything else keeps working. A dialog at launch shows remaining days and a button to enter a key, then stays out of the way.

Troubleshooting

  • Neutral EQ goes silent for a second every minute: its trial has ended; open the About panel from the trial notice and enter your key.
  • The key says it is valid but does not include Neutral EQ: the key covers what the account bought.
  • No internet connection during activation: activation works anyway, because the key validates offline, and Neutral Tracks registers the machine later when a connection is available.
  • You’ve hit the three-machine limit: deactivate an old machine, or contact support to reset activations for machines you no longer use.
  • The trial ended and saving is disabled: enter your key from the launch dialog’s button, or from any entry point above.