Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to topics that can cause a bit of head-scratching — downloads, licensing, activations, refunds, and the less obvious details around them. Still stuck? Email me at [email protected].
Every Smear Audio product is a digital product — an audio plug-in, installer, license key, presets, and documentation. Nothing is shipped physically, and there are no delivery costs. After your payment is confirmed, your downloads, license keys, and serial numbers become available immediately in your account.
You are buying a personal, non-transferable license to install and use the software, not ownership of the software itself. You may use it to create and release music commercially, but you may not resell, share, or transfer your license or license key.
Most guitar plugins are behavioral models: they sample a real pedal or amp and approximate its sound from the outside — using neural networks, captured "profiles," or lookup tables — without simulating what actually happens inside the box.
I do the opposite. Unless a product page says otherwise, Smear Audio plugins are built from the real circuit. I take the original schematic and solve the pedal's actual node voltages on every single sample, using physically based models of its diodes, transistors, tubes, and op-amps. There are no neural networks, no captured profiles, and no black-box emulation in the signal path.
That circuit-first philosophy is why Smear Audio plugins feel like the hardware: because the circuit is genuinely running, the plugin cleans up when you roll your guitar volume back, reacts to your picking dynamics, and gets its character from the components interacting — instead of replaying a fixed snapshot of one setting.
The other thing that sets Smear Audio apart is price. This is a small operation, not a big company with the overhead to match — and, honestly, I think a lot of guitar plugins are priced well beyond what they are worth. Smear Audio started as a way to build the things I would actually want in a guitar plugin and offer them at a price that will not blow a hole in a musician's wallet. You get genuine circuit-simulated tone without the boutique-software markup.
A couple of honest caveats: some Smear Audio time-based and modulation effects are classic algorithmic emulations rather than circuit simulations — where that is the case, the product page tells you so. And where an amp includes a speaker cabinet or spring reverb, those stages use impulse responses, as is standard across the industry. Everything else — the drive, fuzz, overdrive, boost, amp, and compressor plugins — is the real circuit.
Log in to your account and open your orders. Each product you own lists its installer downloads along with your license key and serial number. Download the installer for your operating system, run it, and enter your serial when the plugin asks you to activate.
Keep your license key, serial number, and account login private — you are responsible for anything done with them, and they must not be shared.
Each license includes a limited number of activations — for example, three. Activating the plugin on a computer uses one of those activations. So a license with three activations lets you install and run the plugin on up to three of your own systems at the same time — say a studio desktop, a laptop, and a backup machine.
Reinstalling after an operating-system reset, or replacing or resetting a computer, can also use up an activation. Once a system is activated it keeps working on that machine, so day-to-day use never spends additional activations.
This usually happens after reinstalling, replacing, or resetting computers you own. Email me at [email protected] and, where reasonable, I can grant you further activation seats so you can keep using the plugins on your systems.
You need an internet connection for activation. Activation happens the first time you enter the serial number from your order into the plugin: the plugin contacts Smear Audio's servers once to validate your license and record the activation. After that, the plugin does not need to reconnect to keep working on that system — you can use it offline in your DAW.
That first activation is also the point of no return for refunds — see "Can I get a refund?" below.
Smear Audio plugins are digital content, so refunds work a little differently from physical goods.
If you are a consumer in the EU, EEA, UK, or a comparable jurisdiction, you have a 14-day right of withdrawal for a full refund — but only for as long as you have not activated the product. Activation is the point of no return: it happens the first time you enter the serial number from your order into the plugin. Downloading the installer or viewing your license key and serial number in your account does not end your refund right — only activation does.
Until you activate, the plugin runs in a limited demo mode — fully playable, but it emits a nagging beep at regular intervals to remind you it isn't activated yet — so you can install it, check that it works in your setup, and decide whether it is right for you first. Activating silences the beeps, unlocks the full version, and is the moment the product becomes fully yours to use — which is why it is also the cut-off for refunds.
To request a refund, email [email protected] within 14 days of purchase and before you activate the plugin. If you notice before activation that the pedal does not work for you, or that it simply is not the product you wanted, that is the time to ask for your money back.
This does not affect your rights for faulty or non-conforming products — those statutory rights apply even after you have activated the plugin (see below).
You can test whether the product works before activating it. Install the plugin, open it in your DAW, and try it in the limited demo mode first. If it does not work for you, or it does not suit what you wanted from the pedal, contact me at [email protected] and request a refund before you activate it.
If the product is genuinely faulty or does not work as described after activation, contact me at [email protected]. Depending on the circumstances I will repair or update it, provide a replacement, reduce the price, or refund your purchase.
Email me at [email protected]. To help me resolve your issue quickly, include your operating system, DAW, plug-in format, the product version, any error messages, and the steps to reproduce the problem.
Windows installers are not code-signed yet, so Windows may warn you that the installer comes from an unknown publisher or has not been verified by Microsoft. Smear Audio is still a small company, and handling these signing processes costs real money. The business is not quite at the level where those overheads make sense yet.
The installers are still safe to install when downloaded from your Smear Audio account. I will get the Windows signing in place as soon as the business is moving well enough to support it. Mac installers are notarized.