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Installing and Signing In

Chapter 2 6 min read 1,399 words Updated

Melody Rack installs as an Audio Unit and a VST3 on macOS and as a VST3 on Windows, into the standard plug-in folders, so there is nothing to copy by hand. What takes the most people the longest is not the installer: it is finding the plugin in the right slot (it is a MIDI effect, not an instrument) and giving the DAW microphone access, which macOS grants to the host application rather than to the plugin. This chapter covers both, plus signing in to start the 14-day trial and what the licence adds.

What you'll learn

  • System requirements for macOS and Windows
  • Installing on each platform, and getting your DAW to rescan
  • Where the plugin appears in Logic, Ableton Live and REAPER
  • How to grant your DAW microphone access, and why the plugin cannot ask for you
  • Signing in to start the 14-day trial, and what the trial withholds
  • Buying, and how the licence follows your account rather than your machine

Chapter 1 was what the plugin is. This one gets it onto a track.

2.1 System requirements

PlatformRequirementFormats
macOSmacOS 11 (Big Sur) or later, universal (Apple Silicon and Intel)Audio Unit (AU), VST3
WindowsWindows 10 or later, 64-bitVST3

Two more things are needed on either platform:

  • A free Song Cage account, to start the trial. Signing in happens inside the plugin window and opens your normal browser.
  • Microphone access for your DAW, if you want to sing. You can use the plugin without it (see §2.5), but Sing will be disabled and will say so.

AAX and Pro Tools are not supported.

2.2 Installing on macOS

  1. Download the macOS installer from the Melody Rack page.
  2. Open the .pkg and follow the prompts. It puts the Audio Unit in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components and the VST3 in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3, which are the folders every host already scans.
  3. Relaunch your DAW. Logic Pro and GarageBand validate Audio Units at launch, so the plugin appears once that scan finishes. Most other hosts also only scan at startup.

The macOS build is a universal binary: one download runs natively on Apple Silicon and on Intel, and it is signed and notarized by Apple, so no Gatekeeper override is needed.

2.3 Installing on Windows

  1. Download the Windows installer from the Melody Rack page.
  2. Run it and follow the prompts. The VST3 lands in the system VST3 folder.
  3. Relaunch your DAW, or trigger a plug-in rescan from its preferences.

If Windows shows a "protected your PC" prompt

New installers accumulate SmartScreen reputation over time, so a fresh release can show the blue "Windows protected your PC" screen even though it is signed. Click More info, confirm the publisher, then Run anyway. This gets rarer as a given version is downloaded more.

2.4 Where the plugin appears

Melody Rack registers as a MIDI processor, which is why auval -v aumi MdRk SnGc passes and why Logic offers it in the right place. It never appears in the instrument list.

  • Logic Pro and GarageBand. On an instrument track, open the MIDI FX slot at the top of the channel strip. Melody Rack is under Song Cage. Load your instrument in the Instrument slot below it as usual.
  • Ableton Live. Drop Melody Rack onto a MIDI track ahead of your instrument in the device chain. Live needs both an audio output bus and an event input bus from a MIDI effect, which this plugin declares, so it loads as a normal device.
  • REAPER. Add it to the track's FX chain above the instrument. See Chapter 11 for two REAPER-specific notes: the spacebar belongs to REAPER before the plugin ever sees it, and Anticipative FX can move what the plugin thinks the playhead is.
  • Anything else with MIDI effect support. Same rule: on the track, ahead of the instrument.

If it does not show up at all, quitting and reopening the DAW is almost always the fix.

2.5 Microphone access

This is the step that trips people, and it is worth understanding rather than just doing.

macOS grants microphone permission to the application, not to the plugin. Melody Rack runs inside your DAW's process, so the permission it needs is your DAW's. The plugin cannot raise the prompt on your behalf, and it deliberately does not try: asking for audio before macOS has decided can terminate the host process outright, taking an unsaved project with it. So the plugin checks whether the host actually has the permission, and if the answer is "no" or "not yet", the Sing button stays disabled and a line under the header says why.

To grant it:

  1. Quit your DAW.
  2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
  3. Turn on the switch for your DAW (Logic Pro, Ableton Live, REAPER, whatever you use).
  4. Reopen the DAW and the plugin.

On Windows the permission model is different and the host usually has access already; if not, Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone has the same switch.

You do not need a microphone to use Melody Rack. Press Keys and play the melody in from a controller, press play and let a MIDI clip already on the track go past, or Import a recording. All three land as a take exactly as singing does. See Chapter 4.

2.6 Signing in and the 14-day trial

The first time you open the plugin it shows "Sign in to start your 14-day trial" over the roll, with the header and the rack still visible underneath so you can see what you are about to unlock.

  1. Press Sign in. Your normal browser opens on songcage.com, and the page says it is Melody Rack asking.
  2. Sign in or create a free account. The browser hands the session back to the plugin.
  3. The trial starts, and the window unlocks. The header shows how long is left, for example trial · 9 days left.

The trial is per account and per product, and the start date is recorded by the server rather than on your machine. A Song Cage trial you used months ago does not shorten this one, and reinstalling or deleting a file does not start a new one.

What the trial includes

Everything you can hear. For 14 days the whole rack streams live to the instrument on your track: all thirteen effects, the sung pitch curve, the local play button, Send to Song Cage. Nothing is held back from the sound.

What the trial withholds

One thing: dragging the clip out. The drag handle reads Buy to drag out until the licence lands, and no clip is written to disk before then. The reasoning is that fourteen days of the full instrument is the honest demo, and the moment you want to keep a take is the moment to pay for it.

When the trial ends

The rack stops sending notes to the track and the window says so. Nothing is deleted, your DAW project is untouched, and your own MIDI keyboard still reaches the track, because the lockout is about the plugin's output rather than your controller. Buying from the same window unlocks it again within a few seconds.

2.7 Buying, and where the licence lives

Press the trial pill in the header, or Buy on the lockout. Stripe Checkout opens in your browser; when the payment lands, the plugin polls for its licence and unlocks itself without a restart.

The licence lives on your Song Cage account, not on the machine. A new computer needs a sign-in and nothing else. There is no serial number to keep, and no activation count to run out of.

If you already own the Song Cage Desktop + Plugin bundle, the checkout charges the lower owner price automatically: the plugin reads it from your account, and there is no code to enter. Refunds are honoured for 30 days.

Chapter 3 is a tour of the window itself.