INSTALLATION GUIDE
v1.2 — everything that happens before and after the music: installing, activating or moving your licence, what changed in each version and what to do when something does not add up.
01 · Installation
MONKEY MASTERING is a VST3 plugin on macOS and Windows, AU on macOS, and also a Standalone application. You install it once per computer; your DAW finds it on the next rescan.
macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel)
Download MONKEY MASTERING.pkg from your purchase email and double-click it.
The installer puts each format where it belongs:
Prefer to install it by hand? Copy MONKEY MASTERING.vst3 to
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ and/or
MONKEY MASTERING.component to
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/.
MONKEY MASTERING appears under Mastering / Monkey Mastering.
Load it on your master bus, or open the Standalone application, and paste your licence key — that is section 02. Still no key? The 14-day trial starts on its own, with the complete set of Pro features.
Windows 10/11
Download MONKEY MASTERING Setup.exe from your purchase email and
run it. The VST3 is placed in:
Prefer to install it by hand? Copy MONKEY MASTERING.vst3 to
that same folder.
Same as on macOS: rescan, open the plugin and paste your key.
Open → confirm, or run
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "/ruta/al/bundle". If it refuses to load a
file you copied by hand: System Settings → Privacy and security →
Open anyway. You only need to do this once per machine.Más
información → Run anyway. Once only.auval) and
pluginval by Tracktion at its strictest level (level 10),
in VST3 and AU, with and without GUI.02 · Activating or changing your licence
One purchase = one licence = up to two simultaneous activations (your laptop and your studio machine). Activation needs the internet only for that step and never again: no iLok, no dongle, no subscription, no periodic online reauthorisation and no expiry date.
Activating
In the header, on the right, there is a badge reading TRIAL. The outlined border and the small ▾ show that it is interactive.
The Activate Licensedialog opens, ready for your key.
The badge stops reading TRIAL and turns to STANDARD or PRO, and processing resumes immediately. From that moment on it works offline, forever.
Moving the licence to another computer
Open the licence dialog on the machine you are leaving behind and press DEACTIVATE to free one of your two seats; then activate on the new computer with the same key. Old machine sold, broken or already wiped? Write to support@monkeymastering.com from the address you bought with and we will free the activation for you. You never lose a machine you have paid for.
From STANDARD to PRO
You only pay the difference between the two editions. Write to support@monkeymastering.com from the address you bought with and we will send you the upgrade link. There is nothing to download and nothing to reinstall: it is the same plugin you already have, and the edition is decided by the key, at the moment you activate.
- Click the badge (it now reads STANDARD).
- Paste the new key and press ACTIVATE.
- The badge turns to PRO and every PRO control unlocks in the same session, without closing the plugin. Your projects, sessions, presets and settings are left untouched.
The new key comes with its own two activations, so repeat step 2 on your second computer. On a computer that has never been activated they are two steps in this order: Standard first and then the upgrade key.
If you lose your key
Nothing is lost, and a computer that is already activated keeps working: the plugin never asks for the key again.
- Search your inbox — and your spam and promotions folders too — for “Monkey Mastering” or “Lemon Squeezy” (the sender is our payment provider).
- Nothing after 15 minutes? Write to support@monkeymastering.com from the address you used at checkout, or quote your order number, and we will send it again.
The plugin stores your licence locally, in a protected file, but it never shows you the key again — so the place to look for it is your purchase email, not the plugin.
~/Library/Application Support/MONKEY MASTERING/ (macOS) and
%APPDATA%\MONKEY MASTERING\ (Windows). Deleting the DAW project or
reinstalling the plugin does not affect your licence.03 · What’s new in each version
The short version. The full changelog, entry by entry, is in the user manual.
- IMAGING module (PRO) — per-band stereo image in Master Final: bass to mono below a frequency and width for the mid and high bands. Mono-safe by construction, with the mono difference measured live.
- BASE and EXPERT — one single interface, two ways to open it. BASE opens it with the sections you rarely touch already folded; EXPERT opens everything. Same window, same controls, same order — folding changes nothing about how it sounds.
- Guided first-run tour — it walks you
through your first master the first time you open the plugin, and you can repeat it
whenever you like from the “
...” menu. - Virtual Speaker: four headphone-class profiles — Open-Back, Closed-Back, Earbuds (Unsealed) and Flat Studio Headphones. Generic class curves, never a specific commercial model, and monitoring only.
- Embedded UI fonts — the interface typefaces live inside the plugin binary, so the UI looks identical on any machine.
- PROOF panel — measurement conforming to BS.1770-4 / EBU R128 in Master Final: integrated LUFS, short-term, max true peak, PLR, LRA, stereo correlation and a per-platform verdict. It passes the official EBU Tech 3341 test vectors.
- Loudness engine upgrade — per-platform auto-gain uses real K-weighted measurement (BS.1770), so masters land exactly on the target of the destination you pick. The limiter keeps a 0.3 dB true-peak safety margin under the ceiling.
- REC export — record the result to a file from the plugin itself, and it warns you if a disk write fails mid-take. Pro raw export covers WAV / FLAC / MP3.
- Workflow polish — loudness-compensated A/B comparison, undo with Cmd/Ctrl+Z, and UI language and scale remembered across sessions.
- Offline licence forever and a 14-day trial with the complete set of Pro features.
- Monkey Engineer — free companion Extension for Ableton Live (Live 12.4.5 or later, with Extensions enabled): guided master-chain setup, set readiness check and per-track headroom check.
04 · When something does not add up
While installing and activating
| What you see | What is happening, and how to fix it |
|---|---|
| The plugin does not appear in the DAW | Rescan VST3/AU. Check that the file is in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ (macOS) or C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ (Windows). Restart the DAW. |
| Gatekeeper rejects it on macOS | That is expected on first launch: the builds carry an ad-hoc signature, they are not notarised. Right-click the bundle → Open → confirm, or System Settings → Privacy and security → Open anyway. Once per machine. |
| The licence is not accepted | Copy and paste it with no trailing spaces, and check your connection. The most common cause is that your two activations are already in use → press DEACTIVATE on a machine you no longer use, or write to support@monkeymastering.com so we can free one for you. |
| The badge went back to TRIAL after a system update or after renaming the computer | Activate again with the same key: click the badge → paste → ACTIVATE. Your licence file has not been lost. If the key is rejected because your two activations are in use, write to support@monkeymastering.com and we will free one. |
| I paid for PRO but the badge reads STANDARD | This is not something you can fix yourself — write to support@monkeymastering.com with your order number. Do not buy again. |
| The trial has expired — the audio comes out unprocessed | That is the correct behaviour, not a fault: after 14 days processing is bypassed until you activate a licence. The plugin stays loaded, but the audio comes out untouched. Click the badge in the header, paste your key and press ACTIVATE. |
| The exported file drops in level every 30 seconds | That is the trial export mark (−12 dB for 300 ms, every 30 s from second 15) and it only exists in the written file. Activate a Standard or Pro licence and export again — licensed exports are never marked. |
| The purchase email has not arrived | Look in spam and promotions and search for “Monkey Mastering” or “Lemon Squeezy”. Nothing after 15 minutes? Write to support@monkeymastering.com with the email you used at checkout. |
While you work
| What you see | What is happening, and how to fix it |
|---|---|
| A section only shows its title | You are in BASE and it is folded, not switched off. Click its header. A folded section still shows its readout and its ON switch still works. |
| A track type or a style is greyed out | It belongs to the PRO catalogue. |
PROOF says NO TARGET | You have not picked a destination yet. Choose one in PLATFORM. |
PROOF says MEASURING and does not change | It needs audio. Play the track. |
PROOF says Δ ±x LU | Your integrated loudness is off target. Adjust LEVEL until it lands within ±1 LU of the target; then RESET and a full playthrough again. |
PROOF says OVER TP | Something after MONKEY MASTERING is raising the peaks — MONKEY MASTERING must be the last device in the chain. Then RESET and a full playthrough again. |
| ANALYZE finished but almost nothing changed | It is probably THE HONEST NO: your track already meets the selected target, so MONKEY MASTERING refused to process it. Press WHY? to read the measured reasons. |
| ANALYZE does nothing at all | Make sure the audio is really playing (no bypass, no silence). Let about 20 s of the loudest section play while ANALYZE works — the chain applies itself when it finishes. |
| The bounce does not sound like my monitoring | That is expected if you have Virtual Speaker or Codec Preview switched on: they are monitoring only and the plugin leaves them out whenever the host renders offline, so an offline bounce and the REC file are always the clean master. The only case where the colouring can reach a file is a real-time capture of the master output: there you are recording what you hear. Set the profile back to --- None --- first, or use REC, which is taken before the simulation and never comes out coloured. |
| Audio crackles or glitches | Raise the audio buffer (256 / 512 samples). Switch off the Stem Separator — it is the one heavy feature here: leave it off on individual tracks and save it for a single instance on the master bus. Watch the CPU meter. |
| Integrated LUFS stays at −∞ | Press RESET and restart playback from the chorus or the densest section, not from silence. |
| The master sounds too quiet on Spotify | Print to −14 LUFS integrated, with true peak ≤ −1 dBTP. Avoid over-limiting. |
| The kick disappears in mono | Width is too high. Narrow the sides and check mono compatibility before exporting. |
| The Stem Separator mixes the kick with the bass | Expected on very tight mixes. Use Stem mode to rebalance at mastering level, not to extract a cappellas. |
| The sidechain knobs do nothing | The trigger comes from the DAW’s external sidechain input. Route the kick to MONKEY MASTERING’s sidechain input in your DAW. |
| REC shows a disk alert | The destination disk filled up or became unavailable mid-take. Free some space or pick another drive, and record the take again. |
| The interface is too small or too big | Preset menu “...” → UI scale → 75% / 100% / 125% / 150%. The window does not resize by dragging. |
Where to go next
| You want to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Master your first track | Quick Start |
| Learn every control, one by one | User manual |
| Buy a licence, or go from Standard to Pro | Buy · Upgrade |
| Download the builds, or write to us | Downloads and support |