Docs

Activation Help

Activate, move between machines, recover from a failed activation, and run offline.

What you get with one license

  • One key covers both QREL Nodes (Master) and QREL Nodes (Track).
  • 14-day money-back guarantee after purchase — buy, install, run on a real session; if it doesn't help, email us for a full refund. See the refund policy.
  • Two machine activations per Solo license (five per Studio license).
  • 30-day offline grace after a successful activation refresh — you can take a laptop on the road without losing the plugin.

Activation flow

  1. Install the plugins (see Quick start).
  2. Open QREL Nodes (Master) in your DAW.
  3. Click the licence panel at the top right.
  4. Enter the email you used at checkout and the licence key from your Paddle purchase email.
  5. Click Activate.
  6. The status should read Active within a few seconds. The Track instances unlock automatically — they share the same licence file.
Where the licence is stored. Windows: %APPDATA%\QREL\licenses\qrel_license.qrellic
The file is a small signed JSON certificate. Both plugins read from this single path. (macOS path will be ~/Library/Application Support/QREL/licenses/qrel_license.qrellic when v1.1 ships.)

If a purchase doesn't suit you

QREL Nodes v1 doesn't have a separate trial mode. The 14-day money-back guarantee is the trial: buy, install, run it on a real session, and if it doesn't earn its keep within 14 calendar days, email [email protected] for a full refund — no reason required. Full terms are on the refund policy.

If the refund is processed, the licence is revoked on its next refresh and the plugin returns to its inactive state. Sessions you've already saved keep working — QREL never hard-mutes audio because of licence state.

Moving the license to a different machine

  1. On the old machine, open the licence panel and click Deactivate. The seat frees up immediately on the licence server.
  2. On the new machine, install the plugins and enter the same email + licence key.
  3. Click Activate.

You can repeat this as often as you need to. There is no monthly transfer cap.

If activation fails

  • Copy the key exactly from your Paddle purchase email. A trailing space is enough to fail.
  • Check whether the machine is offline or behind a firewall that blocks outbound HTTPS to the activation host. Activation needs one network round-trip; subsequent use does not.
  • If you've already activated on two machines and lost access to one, contact support — we can free the dead seat from our side.
  • If you're in an offline studio, request an offline licence file from support. It's a single signed JSON we email; drop it into the licence folder and the plugin reads it directly.

Specific error messages

The licence panel shows a status string. If it isn't valid, here's what each value means and how to fix it.

  • file_missing — no licence file on disk yet. Run the activation flow above.
  • invalid_json — the licence file is corrupted (rare; usually means a half-finished write was interrupted). Re-activate to overwrite.
  • missing_fields — the licence is from a much older format. Re-activate.
  • invalid_signature — the cryptographic signature didn't match the public key compiled into this build. Most often means you replaced the licence file by hand from a different build's key. Re-activate online to get a matching cert.
  • machine_mismatch — the licence was issued for a different machine fingerprint. Re-activate — the server detects this and reissues.
  • plugin_mismatch — the licence was issued for a different QREL product. Use the key that came with this product's purchase email.
  • inactive — the licence status came back as something other than active (usually a refund). Contact support if you didn't request a refund.
  • expired — the licence's expires_at timestamp is in the past. Most often: a refund processed, or a time-limited educational/studio licence reached its end. Contact support if you didn't request a refund.
  • payhip_unavailable — Paddle's verification API is briefly down. Wait a minute and try again; the plugin offers a Retry button for exactly this.

Running offline

Once a licence is activated, the cert lives on disk and the plugin doesn't phone home during normal use. You can fly with a laptop, work in an offline studio, or sit on the edge of a network blackout for up to 30 days after the last successful activation refresh.

If you cross the 30-day grace boundary, the next launch will try to refresh once. If the network is still unavailable, the plugin falls back to Analyze-Only mode until you reconnect.

When you contact support

Send these along with your support request — they cut diagnosis time roughly in half:

  • Purchase email address
  • Windows version (e.g. Windows 11 Pro 23H2, Windows 10 22H2)
  • DAW and version
  • The exact status string from the licence panel
  • Whether this is a fresh activation, a machine transfer, or an offline activation

Support address: [email protected]. We respond within one business day.

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