Stuck anywhere?

That is how it starts. A window titled licence covers the piano, and the keys light when you play but nothing sounds. Paste the whole licence into the box and press unlock, or drop the .hetki file anywhere on the window. No restart is needed, and with a bought licence the window does not come back.

later puts it away until hetki's window is next opened, and hetki stays silent until a licence is in. buy hetki and try 7 days open this site's front page in your browser.

After the licence, the piano plays once its sound library is on the computer. On a first install that means one more step: the library download.

The line reads that licence doesn't verify. paste it exactly as it was sent. Something in the copy changed or went missing. The surest fix is to drop the .hetki file from your email onto hetki's window instead of pasting.

If you paste, take the whole block, from the line HETKI LICENCE v1 to the last line of letters. These break it:

• a line left out, or anything before the first line
• quote marks like > that a reply adds at the start of each line
• spaces at the start of lines, which some email and note apps add as an indent
• any change to the name, email, order or date lines, even a line broken in two

Spaces at the ends of lines, blank lines around the block, and the last block of letters broken over different lines or turned lowercase do no harm. You can try as often as you like; nothing is saved until a licence verifies.

A trial licence is the full instrument for seven days. The days start when the licence goes into hetki, not when the email arrives, and they run whether you play or not. Put it in within a week of getting it.

Settings shows the days left on its about page, as trial, 3 days left. In the last two days hetki says so each time its window opens; press later and play on. That is the only reminder. No email comes.

One trial per person and per inbox. hetki also keeps one trial record per user account, so a second trial licence on the same account carries on from the first. If a trial ends early, check the computer's date and time: a clock set back by more than a day ends it, and setting it right brings it back.

While a trial has more than two days left, hetki shows no licence window, so there is nowhere to paste yet. Any of these works, and the trial plays in full until then:

• Keep playing. In the last two days the licence window appears each time you open hetki's window. Paste the bought licence there and press unlock.
• Wait for the end. When the week is over, paste it into that window. Nothing is lost in between.
• Put it in now, by hand. Close your music software, or the hetki app. Replace hetki's licence file with your bought .hetki file, named exactly licence.hetki, then open hetki again.

The licence file is here:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Idealism/Hetki/licence.hetki. The Library folder is hidden: in the Finder, open the Go menu, hold Option and choose Library.
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Idealism\Hetki\licence.hetki. Type %APPDATA% into the File Explorer address bar to get there.

Once the bought licence is in, the about page in settings shows licensed to and your name, where the trial showed the first part of your email address.

hetki goes quiet and shows the week is over with buy hetki and unlock. Nothing is deleted: the library stays on disk, your projects still open, and the moments you saved are still there.

Paste a bought licence and press unlock, or drop the file, and the sound is back at once, with nothing to download again. A trial that runs out while your project is open keeps playing until hetki next loads, so it never stops in the middle of a take.

Your licence works on all the computers you use yourself. Nothing counts them, nothing needs activating, and there is nothing to switch off on the old one.

1. Install hetki and paste the same licence, or drop the file.
2. Download the library again from inside hetki, or copy the Hetki Samples folder across and press locate library….
3. To bring the moments you saved, copy their files into the same folder on the new computer: ~/Library/Idealism/Hetki/Presets on macOS, %APPDATA%\Idealism\Hetki\Presets on Windows.

Settings such as mic loading belong to each computer, so set them again. On a computer with several user accounts, put the licence in once in each.

The name and email address are signed into the licence, so they cannot be edited. Change one letter and the licence no longer verifies. The name is the one given at checkout; when a payment gives no name, as some Apple Pay payments do, the first part of the email address stands in.

If yours is wrong, write to contact@idealism.co with the order number.

Your own music and audio, of every kind: releases, streaming, broadcast, film and television, advertising, games, live and client work, with no royalties and no credit needed.

You may not share your licence or the library, pass hetki's sounds on as sounds in their own right (as samples, loops, presets or inside another instrument), load the library's files in another sampler, or use hetki to train AI. The licence agreement has the whole list.

Close your music software before installing, then open it again: most look for new plug-ins when they start. hetki is an instrument, listed as Hetki by idealism, so look among instruments rather than effects, and put it on an instrument or MIDI track.

Then check the format. hetki comes as VST®3 on macOS and Windows, and as an Audio Unit on macOS only. Logic and GarageBand load the Audio Unit; nearly everything else loads the VST3. There is no VST2 version and no AAX. On a Mac, if you unticked a format in the installer, run it again with that format ticked.

Still missing? The steps for common music software are below. hetki has been tried in Ableton Live; the steps for the others follow each program's own help.

Both load the Audio Unit only, so it has to be ticked in the Mac installer. Logic checks a new Audio Unit when it next opens, which can take a moment.

• Logic Pro: if hetki is missing or marked as failed, open the Plug-in Manager (Logic Pro menu, Settings, Plug-in Manager), select hetki and press Reset & Rescan Selection. Add it on a Software Instrument track: the instrument slot, then AU Instruments, idealism, Hetki.
• GarageBand: make sure Audio Units are turned on in GarageBand's settings, under Audio/MIDI, then quit and reopen GarageBand. Add hetki on a Software Instrument track the same way: AU Instruments, idealism, Hetki.

hetki is in the browser under Plug-Ins, then VST3 (and Audio Units on a Mac). Drag it onto a MIDI track. If it is not there, open Live's settings, go to Plug-Ins, make sure Use VST3 Plug-in System Folders is on and press Rescan. Holding Option on a Mac, or Alt on Windows, while you press Rescan makes it a full rescan.

FL Studio uses the VST3. Open Options, Manage plugins, and run Find installed plugins with Verify plugins ticked. hetki then appears in the plugin database, where you can mark it as a favourite.

Cubase uses the VST3. Open Studio, VST Plug-in Manager, and rescan. Check that hetki is not on the list of blocked plug-ins there.

Open Options, Preferences, Plug-ins, VST, and press Re-scan. For a full rescan, choose Clear cache/re-scan.

Bitwig uses the VST3. In Settings, Locations, make sure the system VST3 folder is listed, then rescan from there.

Open Options (Preferences on a Mac), Locations, VST Plug-Ins. Turn on scanning at startup, press Reset Blocklist, then restart Studio One.

Pro Tools loads only AAX plug-ins, and hetki has no AAX version, so it cannot run inside Pro Tools. The hetki app plays on its own, outside any music software.

On macOS:

• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Hetki.vst3
• /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Hetki.component, the Audio Unit
• /Applications/Hetki.app, the app

On Windows:

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Hetki.vst3
• C:\Program Files\Idealism\Hetki\Hetki.exe, the app, if you installed it and kept the suggested folder

These are the folders music software looks in by itself. If yours has a list of plug-in folders, the VST3 folder above should be on it.

The download page gives you one zip for your system. Inside is one folder with:

• the installer, about 83 MB on macOS and 29 MB on Windows
• README.txt, what to do first
• hetki - installation guide.pdf and hetki - user manual.pdf
• LICENCE.txt, the licence agreement
• THIRD-PARTY NOTICES.txt, notices for the parts hetki is built with

On a Mac, Safari usually opens the zip into a folder by itself; otherwise double-click it. On Windows, right-click the zip, choose Extract All, then open the folder and run the installer from there.

The sound library is not in the download. It comes from inside hetki once a licence is in.

1. Close your music software, then open the .pkg. It is signed and notarised, so macOS installs it without a warning.
2. Press Continue until the list of three formats appears: VST3 for most music software, Audio Unit for Logic and GarageBand, and Standalone, the hetki app. All three are ticked; untick what you do not need.
3. macOS asks for an administrator's name and password, because the plug-ins go into the system plug-in folders and the app into Applications. On an account without administrator rights, ask someone who has them to type their name and password.

1. Close your music software, then run the .exe and let it make changes when Windows asks. If Windows shows its SmartScreen notice, choose More info, then Run anyway. It can appear for a while on a new file, even though the installer is signed.
2. Choose Full installation (VST3 + Standalone) or Custom. The VST3 plug-in is always installed; only the hetki app can be left out. The first time, the installer asks where the app should go. The VST3 always goes to the shared VST3 folder.
3. If you installed the app, the last page offers Launch Hetki (locate your sample library on first run). Leave it ticked to open the hetki app now. Despite the words, there is nothing to locate on a first install: hetki asks for your licence, then offers to download the library.

No restart of Windows is needed.

Your music software still has hetki loaded. The installer names it on a page that begins The following applications are using files that need to be updated by Setup. Choose Automatically close the applications.

Some music software does not close when asked (Ableton Live 12 does not), and setup then says Setup was unable to automatically close all applications. Save your work, quit the music software yourself, and press Try again.

The same fix applies to DeleteFile failed; code 5. Access is denied. Quit the music software, then press Try again, and the install finishes.

• macOS 10.15 or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel, one installer for both
• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
• about 11 GB free for the sound library, on any drive you like
• memory: hetki is made to fit an 8 GB machine; see memory

It comes as a VST3 plug-in and a standalone app on both systems, and as an Audio Unit on macOS. There is no AAX, no VST2 and no Linux version.

Windows: Start menu, Hetki, Uninstall Hetki, or find Hetki version 1.0.2 under Settings, Apps. It removes what setup installed and leaves your licence, settings, saved moments and the sound library where they are, so a reinstall carries on where you left off.

macOS: there is no uninstaller. Move the three items listed under where the installer puts hetki to the Trash; macOS asks for an administrator's password. Your licence, settings, moments and library are kept elsewhere and stay.

The piano lives in a library of about 10 GB that hetki downloads for you once a licence is in. A band appears under the mic faders, lower left, saying the sound library isn't here yet, with download the library (about 9 gb) and locate library….

1. Press download and choose where the library should live. hetki makes a folder called Hetki Samples inside the place you pick. Any drive works, an external one included.
2. Leave it running. Every file is checked as it arrives. On a fast line it takes minutes; a slow one can take hours. In your music software, closing hetki's window does not stop it. Removing hetki from its track, closing the project, quitting the music software or closing the hetki app does, and what has arrived is kept.
3. When it finishes, hetki loads the library by itself and the piano plays. No restart.

The library is 10,071,697,983 bytes: about 10 GB as a Mac counts it. hetki counts a gigabyte as 1,024 × 1,024 × 1,024 bytes, the way Windows does, rather than a thousand million, so its button says download the library (about 9 gb), the progress line ends at 9.4 GB, and Windows shows about 9.4 GB too. It is the same library, measured two ways.

Have about 11 GB free on the drive you choose. hetki checks for the whole library plus a little room before it starts, and needs no more than that, since nothing is unpacked afterwards.

Press download again and choose the same place as before: the folder that contains Hetki Samples, not Hetki Samples itself. The folder picker opens at your home folder each time, so go back to where you chose the first time. hetki then skips every file it already has and fetches the rest.

Choosing Hetki Samples itself starts again from nothing, in a new folder inside it. Locating a half-finished library does not finish it either: to complete a download, always use download and the same place.

In 1.0.2 the longer lines can be cut short with "..." on the band. Here they are in full, so you can match the start.

• the sound library isn't here yet

  No library is loaded on this computer: it has not been downloaded yet, it was moved, or its drive is not connected. hetki is silent until it is.

• contacting the library service…

  The download is starting. An update can stay on this line for a while as hetki checks what it already has.

• downloading the library · 39% · 3.7 of 9.4 GB

  Going well. stop pauses it.

• loading the library… 64%

  hetki is reading the library, as it does each time it loads. The band goes away when it is done.

• paused. press download to resume

  You pressed stop. See carrying on.

• connection lost. press download

  The connection dropped, or the library service could not be reached or was busy. Press download and choose the same place. If it keeps happening, a firewall may be stopping your music software, or the hetki app, from reaching hetki.idealism.co.

• can't write there. free some space or pick another place, then press download

  The drive is too full, or hetki is not allowed to write to that folder. Free some space, or choose a folder in your own home folder or on another drive.

• the download kept arriving damaged. check the connection and try again

  A file failed its check several times in a row. Check the connection, then press download and choose the same place as before. Nothing damaged is kept.

• the download service doesn't recognise this licence

  hetki accepted the licence, but the download service did not. Write to me with your order number.

• downloads for this licence have been withdrawn. hetki.idealism.co

  The order behind this licence was refunded or disputed, so the library can no longer be downloaded with it. If that is a mistake, write to me with the order number.

• the trial download window has closed. a licence reopens it. hetki.idealism.co

  A trial licence can fetch the library only for a limited time after it was issued. A bought licence reopens the download, and a library already on disk stays.

• can't find that folder

  The folder picked for the download cannot be used. Pick another.

• that folder doesn't hold the sound library

  When locating, choose the Hetki Samples folder itself, or the folder that contains it. In settings the same message reads that folder doesn't contain the hetki library.

• the sound library is missing newer content

  A newer hetki needs files your library does not have yet. See missing newer content.

In the Hetki Samples folder, inside the place you chose when you pressed download. Open settings (the word settings at the bottom right of hetki's window), and the general page shows the folder under sample library, or not found if none was ever set.

The library is an ordinary folder. Move it where you like, then tell hetki: press locate library… on the band, or in settings under sample library press locate…. Choose the Hetki Samples folder itself, or the folder that contains it.

On an external drive, connect the drive before you open your music software. hetki looks for the library when it loads, so a drive plugged in later is not noticed until hetki loads again. The band may meanwhile offer a download; there is no need for a second copy.

A computer without internet can have the library too: copy the Hetki Samples folder from a computer that downloaded it, and locate it.

With the licence in, the piano plays once its sound library is on the computer. On a first install the download has to finish: the band under the mic faders shows how far it has got, and sound arrives by itself when it is done.

If the band says the sound library isn't here yet, see what the band's lines mean. The keys on screen light when you play either way.

A window saying the week is over means the trial has ended; nothing is deleted. See when the trial ends, or, if it came sooner than seven days after the licence went into hetki, how the trial works.

hetki is made to fit an 8 GB machine. It plays the piano mostly from disk and keeps only the start of each recording in memory, for each mic that is loaded.

To use less, open settings, general, and under performance set mic loading to close or close + room. Then close and reopen your project, or quit and reopen the hetki app: the smaller set loads when hetki opens fresh. auto loads all three mics. A mic that is not loaded stays silent, whatever its fader says.

Each hetki in a project keeps its own copy in memory, so two of them need about twice as much as one.

If the sound breaks up under load, raise your music software's audio buffer to 128 samples. At 64, with the sustain pedal held and harmonics turned high, a slower computer can drop out; 128 cleared it every time it was measured.

Then try cpu eco, in settings, general, performance: lighter dsp for older machines (32 voices, reduced resonance detail). It takes effect at once. The row above hetki's keyboard shows the load as a percentage.

A soft, even crackle may be part of the sound. The noise knob's vinyl floor, and the moment unohdus, play the surface of a record. Turn the noise knob down, or switch its floor.

The moments are not matched in level, and each one carries its own master level. kajo plays about 10 dB louder than most, so turn down before you switch to it.

pedal sounds only when a sustain pedal goes down or comes up. pianist swells in while you play and fades in the pauses, so it is quiet when you stop. A mic fader that shows a dash is locked, because that moment does not use the mic.

A moment sets every control it holds, and mpe mode is one of them; the moments that come with hetki have it off. If your controller does not announce itself as MPE, turn mpe mode on again in settings, general, midi, or save a moment of your own with it on.

In the app, press Options at the top left and choose Audio/MIDI Settings.... Pick your audio output there, and tick your keyboard under Active MIDI inputs.

On Windows the app offers Windows Audio and DirectSound, not ASIO. With an ASIO interface, play hetki as a VST3 in your music software.

The licence is on the page you land on after paying, before any email goes out, and that page shows it again if you kept its address. The email comes from contact@idealism.co with the subject Your hetki licence · HTK-, followed by your order number. Look in spam and in any other tabs your inbox has.

Still nothing? Send my licence again, at the top of this page.

Some payment methods take longer to confirm. The licence is issued when the payment lands, and the page keeps checking by itself. If the page said "Writing your licence needs a hand here", send the order number it showed to contact@idealism.co.

One is the receipt and the invoice, as PDFs, from Onelink at notifications@onelink.com. The other is from contact@idealism.co and holds your licence, as text and as an attached .hetki file. The receipt does not hold the licence.

To find the receipt, search your inbox for Onelink. Its subject names the company behind hetki rather than hetki.

It reads ONELINK* HETKI, as the receipt from Onelink tells you. Your bank may set it out a little differently.

hetki is €24.99 including VAT. Checkout shows the price in your own currency, converted at a rate that includes a conversion fee of 2 to 4%, and you can choose to pay in euros instead, where your bank's own rate and fees apply. The tax for your country is worked out at checkout and shown on the receipt.

Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay are offered wherever checkout is, and so is a Onelink account. Some countries add local methods, which Onelink chooses. PayPal is not offered.

The invoice comes with the receipt, as a PDF in the email from notifications@onelink.com. If it went missing, search your inbox for Onelink, spam folder included, or sign in to a Onelink account with the same address you paid with to see the order.

Buying for a business: what a business and its VAT look like on the invoice is set by Onelink's checkout, so I cannot promise a VAT number or a reverse charge on it. If you need either, ask their support before you buy.

Write to me at contact@idealism.co with your order number, which starts HTK-.

Onelink's terms give consumers in the EU and the UK 14 days to cancel, counted from when you get access. Their support takes refund requests too, at support.onelink.com. Signed in, choose Contact support, then Help with a Purchase, and pick the order. Without an account, choose Contact support, then "I have a charge from Onelink.com". Within those 14 days, give "cooling off period" as the reason.

A refund goes back to the card or account you paid with, in the currency you paid in, and usually takes 3 to 7 working days to arrive. A full refund ends the licence, as the licence agreement says, and its library downloads and update emails stop.

If hetki does not work as it should, write to me: as a consumer you also keep the legal guarantee of conformity, which the licence agreement explains.

By email. hetki does not check for updates itself; when there is a new version, one email goes to every address that holds a licence, bought or trial. The download page always carries the latest one. To stop those emails, reply to one and say so.

Updates to hetki 1 are free for everyone with a licence.

Close your music software and run the new installer over the version you have. Your licence, your library and the moments you saved stay where they are, nothing has to be entered again, and your projects open with the new version in place.

Open settings and its about page. The version line reads like 1.0.2 · vst3 · au · standalone on a Mac, with the formats this copy of hetki includes.

A newer hetki needs files your library does not have yet. Press download the update. It goes into the library you already have, with no folder to choose, and fetches only what is missing.