Fix it yourself, or let me help.
Download the .dmg file from your purchase email or trial download link.
Double-click the .dmg to mount it. Drag the Smrt Stem icon into your Applications folder.
Open Smrt Stem from Applications. On first launch, macOS may ask you to confirm you want to open it since it was downloaded from the internet. Click Open.
If you purchased a license, enter your key when prompted. If you're trying the trial, just click through and start scanning.
Smrt Stem requires macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later and about 1.5 GB of disk space.
You'll need this when filing a bug report or checking if you're on the latest version.
Open Smrt Stem.
In the menu bar, click Smrt Stem > About Smrt Stem (or use the info icon inside the app).
The version number will be displayed in the window (e.g., v1.0.0).
If Smrt Stem won't open, bounces in the dock and disappears, or crashes immediately, try these in order:
Restart your Mac. Seriously. It fixes more things than it should.
Check your macOS version. Smrt Stem requires macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later. Go to Apple menu > About This Mac to check.
Reinstall. Delete Smrt Stem from Applications, empty Trash, download a fresh copy, and install again.
Still broken? Grab the crash log (see "How to find a crash report" below) and file a bug report. The crash log is the single most useful thing you can send me.
If a scan hangs indefinitely or the progress bar stops moving:
Check the file sizes. Very large stem files (1 GB+ per file) take longer to process. Give it a minute before assuming it's stuck.
Try a smaller batch. If you're scanning a massive folder, try scanning a subfolder to narrow down which file might be causing the hang.
Check the file format. Smrt Stem handles WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and MP3. Unusual or corrupted files can cause issues. Try converting the problem file in your DAW and re-scanning.
Force quit and restart. Press Cmd + Q to quit, or use Cmd + Option + Esc to force quit, then reopen the app.
If you can consistently reproduce the freeze with a specific file, that's gold for debugging. Include the file (or a short clip of it) in your bug report.
If you can see waveforms and controls but nothing comes out of your speakers or headphones:
Check your output device. Go to System Settings > Sound > Output and make sure the right device is selected. If you're using an audio interface, make sure it's powered on and connected.
Check the volume inside Smrt Stem. Make sure stems aren't muted and the volume faders aren't pulled all the way down.
Check system volume. Press the volume keys on your keyboard or check the menu bar volume slider. Also check that your system isn't muted.
Quit and reopen. If your audio interface was disconnected/reconnected while Smrt Stem was open, the app may need a restart to re-detect the output device.
Smrt Stem uses your system's default audio output. It doesn't have its own output device selector. Whatever your Mac is set to play through, that's where Smrt Stem sends audio.
Smrt Stem supports WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and MP3. If you're getting an unsupported format error:
Check the file extension. Some DAWs export files with non-standard extensions (like .wave instead of .wav). Rename the extension to the standard one.
Check for hidden files. macOS sometimes creates invisible ._ files alongside your audio files. Smrt Stem ignores these, but if your folder only contains these, it'll look empty.
AAC, OGG, WMA, and M4A are not supported. Convert to WAV or AIFF in your DAW before scanning.
The click/pop detector is tuned to catch real problems, but certain types of audio can trigger false positives:
Heavily transient material like aggressive percussion, distorted guitars, or sharp synth attacks can occasionally be flagged. This is expected behavior, not a bug.
When you see a click/pop flag, use the playback engine to audition the flagged timestamp. Solo the stem and listen. If it sounds fine, it's a false positive and you can move on. The detection algorithm errs on the side of flagging too much rather than missing real issues.
If you're seeing a huge number of false positives on a specific type of content, let me know via the bug report form and include the audio file if you can. It helps me tune the algorithm.
Crash reports are the most helpful thing you can include in a bug report. They tell me exactly where in the code things went wrong.
Open Finder.
In the menu bar, click Go > Go to Folder... (or press Cmd + Shift + G).
Paste this path and hit Enter: ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports
Look for files that start with Smrt Stem or Smrt_Stem. They'll have .ips or .crash extensions. Sort by date to find the most recent one.
Attach the file to your bug report. You can also open it in TextEdit (Cmd + C to copy the contents) if you'd rather paste the text.
You can also find crash reports through Console.app: open Console (search for it in Spotlight), click Crash Reports in the sidebar, and look for Smrt Stem entries.
Entire screen: Press Cmd + Shift + 3. The screenshot saves to your Desktop.
Selected area: Press Cmd + Shift + 4, then click and drag to select the area you want. Great for highlighting a specific part of the UI.
Single window: Press Cmd + Shift + 4, then hit Space. Your cursor turns into a camera. Click the Smrt Stem window to capture just that window with a nice drop shadow.
Screenshots land on your Desktop by default. You can change this in Screenshot.app (Cmd + Shift + 5, then click Options).
Screen recordings are helpful for bugs that are hard to describe or that involve a specific sequence of actions.
Press Cmd + Shift + 5 to open the Screenshot toolbar at the bottom of your screen.
Click one of the screen recording icons (record entire screen or a selected portion). For bug reports, recording just the Smrt Stem window keeps the file size small.
Click Record. Reproduce the bug. When done, click the Stop button in the menu bar (the square icon).
The recording saves to your Desktop as a .mov file. Attach it to your bug report.
Screen recordings can get large fast. Try to keep them short and focused on the issue. 30 seconds is usually plenty.
Click the Apple menu (top-left corner of your screen) and select About This Mac.
You'll see your macOS name and version number (e.g., "macOS Sonoma 14.5"). That's what goes in the bug report.
In the same window, look for Chip (Apple Silicon Macs will say "Apple M1", "Apple M2", etc.) or Processor (Intel Macs will say "Intel Core i5", "Intel Core i7", etc.).
Your license key was emailed to you when you purchased Smrt Stem. Check the email associated with your purchase. The sender will be Lemonsqueezy (our payment processor).
Check your spam folder. If you still can't find it, email hello@s2pdaudio.com with your order number or the email you used at checkout and I'll get you sorted.
Each license key works on up to 2 machines. Studio desktop and a laptop, for example. If you need more, email hello@s2pdaudio.com and I'll set up an extra license for you.
If you still have both machines active, just install Smrt Stem on your new Mac and enter the same license key. It uses the same 2-machine limit.
If you've already used both activations and need to deactivate the old machine, email hello@s2pdaudio.com and I'll reset the activation for you. Takes about a minute on my end.
The trial is 14 days, fully functional, no restrictions. That should be enough time to know if it's useful. If you had a legitimate reason you couldn't try it during that window (travel, a busy deadline, etc.), email me at hello@s2pdaudio.com and I'll see what I can do.
We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. The 30-day window starts from the first day of your free trial, not your purchase date. So if you use the full 14-day trial before buying, you'll have 16 days after purchase to request a refund. If you skip the trial and buy right away, you get the full 30 days.
To request a refund, email hello@s2pdaudio.com with your order number or the email you used at checkout.
Yes. All updates within the current major version are free (e.g., all 1.x updates). Down the road there will likely be a paid major version upgrade, and existing customers will get a discount on it.
Want to see what changed in each update? Check the release notes.
If none of the above helped, I want to hear about it. The more detail you include, the faster I can fix it.
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