Activation & Licensing
Activate Aether with your license key, manage up to three machines per license, and understand offline behavior and re-validation.
DocumentationActivation & Licensing
License
Activation & Licensing
First Launch & Activation
Aether is gated until you activate it. On first launch you'll see an activation modal. Until you enter a valid license key, the UI is disabled, audio output is muted, and MIDI output is dropped at the host.
Enter your license key and click Activate. Aether contacts the license server, registers your machine, and unlocks the plugin. Activation requires an internet connection the first time; after that, the license works offline.
Three Machines Per License
A standard Aether license activates on three machines. The allowance is set on the license itself, so support can adjust it without you reinstalling anything. A machine is identified by a hardware fingerprint: no personal data, just a stable identifier derived from the device.
All three plugin formats on one machine (VST3, AU, and the standalone app) share a single slot, so installing everything does not use up your allowance.
If you sell, reformat, or retire a machine, free its slot with Deactivate This Machine in Settings → License, or from your account page. Any slot can be reclaimed at any time.
Offline Behavior
Once activated, Aether caches your license locally, so you can work without an internet connection. AI generation still needs network access to reach a cloud provider, but the license check itself does not. With a local model in Ollama or LM Studio you can work entirely offline.
Aether re-validates in the background about once a day when the network is available. Once your purchase is 16 days old and Aether has checked in once since, your license is settled: from then on Aether never asks you to reconnect and never gates for being offline, however long you work without internet. It still checks in quietly whenever it can.
Before your license is settled, what matters is how long it has been since the last successful check:
| Time since last check | What happens |
|---|---|
| Under 7 days | Everything works normally. You will not see anything. |
| 7 to 30 days | A grace period. Aether keeps working and Settings → License shows a live countdown of the time remaining. |
| Over 30 days | Aether returns to the gated state until it can reach the license server again. It checks when you open it and keeps checking, so it unlocks on its own shortly after you reconnect, without asking for your key. |
A license that has been revoked (for example after a refund) is different: Aether keeps working for a further 48 hours after it learns about it, then gates. That window exists so a mistake or a billing hiccup never interrupts a session in progress. An Aether that was already gated stays gated, and a revoked license can no longer download Aether or its updates.
Two other answers from the license server come with the same 48 hours' notice and a clear message in Settings → License:
- ●This computer was deactivated from your account. After 48 hours Aether shows an Activate button; one click activates it again if you have a free slot.
- ●A payment dispute is open (a chargeback). After 48 hours Aether pauses with a message pointing to support@umbralaudio.com, and unlocks on its own if the dispute is withdrawn or the payment is upheld. If the payment is reversed, the license is revoked as after a refund. A question from your bank that is not a chargeback does not pause anything.
What Gated Means
Before activation, and if a license lapses under the rules above, Aether stays loaded but produces nothing: the interface is disabled, audio output is muted, and MIDI output is dropped.
This applies to offline bounces and track freezes
The gate sits in Aether's audio path, so an unlicensed instance renders silence during an offline bounce or a track freeze in exactly the way it does live, and your DAW will not warn you. If a mixdown comes back with an Aether track missing, check its activation state first.If Activation Does Not Reach Your Other Formats
VST3, AU, and the standalone app share one activation file, reconciled every few seconds, so activating in one normally licenses the rest without a restart.
Some hosts sandbox their plugins tightly enough that Aether cannot write that shared file. Logic, GarageBand, and MainStage are the usual ones. When that happens Aether activates for that host only and tells you so, in a dialog titled "License saved to this host only". The fix is to activate once in the Aether Standalone app, which writes the shared file and syncs every format, or to launch the Aether Helper before re-activating.
Settings Tab
Your current activation status and license key (masked) are visible in Settings → License. Open Settings with Cmd + ,(macOS) or the Settings button at the top right of the window.
The same panel has a Deactivate This Machine button, which frees this machine's slot without going to your account page. It is available whenever the license is active.
Questions