System Requirements & Compatibility
macOS 11 and later as a universal binary, 64-bit Windows, VST3, AU and Standalone, which DAWs are supported, and what needs an internet connection.
DocumentationSystem Requirements
Compatibility
System Requirements
Operating system
| macOS | Windows | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum version | macOS 11 Big Sur or later | 64-bit Windows |
| Processors | Apple Silicon and Intel, as a universal binary | x64 |
| Installer | Requires an administrator password | Requires an administrator password |
| Extra runtimes | None | None. No Visual C++ redistributable is needed |
The macOS build is universal, so the same download runs natively on Apple Silicon and on Intel with no Rosetta step and no separate installer to choose between.
Plugin formats
| Format | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| VST3 | Yes | Yes |
| Audio Unit (AU) | Yes | Not applicable to Windows |
| Standalone app | Yes | Yes |
| AAX | No | No |
Pro Tools is not supported
Pro Tools loads AAX plugins only, and Aether has no AAX build. You can still use the standalone app alongside Pro Tools and drag the exported .mid into your session.Loading it in a DAW
Aether is an instrument plugin. Add it where you would add a synth or a sampler, not in a MIDI effect or MIDI FX slot, where it will not appear at all.
- ●Tested in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase and Nuendo, Reaper, Studio One (now Fender Studio Pro), and Bitwig Studio.
- ●Any host that loads VST3 or AU should work; those are simply the ones we exercise.
- ●Aether exposes no automatable parameters, so it will not appear in your DAW's automation lanes. You drive it from its own interface and take the MIDI out.
Disk and memory
- ●About 95 MB for the bundled instruments: the Headroom Piano plus the three drum kits (Live, Electronic and Hip Hop). These install once to a shared location and every format uses the same copy.
- ●The plugin binaries themselves are small by comparison.
- ●Your MIDI library grows with use. Clips are a few kilobytes each, so this stays modest, but nothing is ever pruned automatically.
Internet
Aether needs a connection in three situations, and only those:
- ●The first activation of a license on a machine. After that the license works offline, with the re-validation schedule described in Activation & Licensing.
- ●Generating with a cloud provider, which reaches that provider directly with your own API key.
- ●An optional once-a-day update check.
Run a model locally in Ollama or LM Studio and generation needs no connection at all. Once activated, Aether is fully usable offline that way.
An API key or a local model
Aether does not include AI credits and does not resell model access. You bring your own key from one of the seven supported cloud providers, or run a model locally for free. See AI Providers for the list and what each one needs.
A local model needs a context window of at least 32,768 tokens. Aether sends a long set of instructions and asks for up to 8,192 tokens back, so a model loaded at a smaller default will truncate its answer or refuse outright. Context is set when you load the model, not by the model file, and both Ollama and LM Studio default to well below what the model supports. See Getting Started for the full local setup.
Questions