Accounts & Premium

Aura Mixer comes in two flavours: a Free version that works fully on its own, and Premium, which lifts the limits and unlocks the creator/pro features. This page explains the difference, how to unlock Premium, and how accounts work.

ℹ️ No account required

You don't need an account to use Aura Mixer. The Free version runs without signing in — and you can unlock Premium with just a license key, no account required. An account is optional: it manages your license across computers and is what cloud sync (coming soon) will ride on.

🧪 Premium is free during the beta

While Aura Mixer is in beta, every Premium feature is unlocked at no cost — grab a free beta key from aura-mixer.com. When the app reaches a stable release, Premium becomes a paid license.

Free vs Premium — at a glance

Free — a complete mixer for everyday and gaming use:

Up to 4 input channels and 2 output buses (the counter in the Channel Manager shows your exact ceiling).
The full core processing chain on every channel: input gain, noise gate, parametric EQ, compressor, fader.
Stereo spatial tools and the Generic HRTF model for 3D-on-headphones.
Output EQ, limiter and delay on your buses.
Everything else that makes the app tick: routing, monitoring, scenes, presets, themes, tray and auto-start.

Premium — adds the things power users reach for:

No channel limits — inputs, output buses and VCA groups all open up.
The FX insert rack — reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, de-esser, noise suppressor, pitch shifter, loudness EQ and more.
Advanced spatial — the Enhanced and Immersive (measured) HRTF models, Custom HRIR import (.wav / .sofa), surround (5.1/7.1) folding and point-source positioning.
Loudness metering & normalization (LUFS) — hold an output bus to a target loudness for streaming or broadcast.
Cloud sync for your scenes and presets — your saved setups follow you to every PC you sign in on, automatically backed up to your account. It's included with Premium (not a subscription) and entirely optional — the app works fully offline without it. (Coming soon.)

Wherever a Premium-only control appears in the app, it's marked so you know what an upgrade would unlock — and locked channels carry a ⭐ Premium badge (what that means).

In Simple mode, the same gating shows up as a 🔒 Premium badge on locked tiles and controls — a 5th sound, the Effects rack, advanced spatial models, an output's auto-level. Click the badge to upgrade.

The account button

The account control sits at the far right of the menu bar:

Free, signed out — it reads Sign in.
Premium active — it shows your name (or the license owner) with a PRO badge — whether or not you've signed in.

Click it to open the account window.

Unlocking Premium

The account window has two tabs — two ways to go Premium:

License key — no account needed

The simplest path. After buying — or signing up for the free beta — you get a key like AURA-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Open the License key tab, paste it in, and click Activate license — Premium lights up immediately, no sign-in, no reinstall. The key binds to this computer and re-checks online every couple of weeks; in between it works fully offline. Moving to a new machine? Open the same tab and Remove license from this computer first.

Sign in — optional

The Sign in tab takes an email and password, or Continue with Discord / Continue with Google. You don't need it for Premium itself — it's there to manage your license across several computers and to carry your cloud-synced scenes and presets once that ships. Prefer to stay anonymous? Skip — use the Free version closes the window and changes nothing; the Free mixer keeps working.

The account window (signed in)

Your tier — a ⭐ Premium or Free badge next to your email.
Your licenses — each Premium license on your account: a lifetime (perpetual) license and how many device seats it uses (1 of 1, or 1 of 2 with the dual-PC option).
Activate on this computer / Activated devices — claim a seat for this machine and see every computer using the license, each with a ⛓ Deactivate button to free a seat for another PC. You can do the same from your account on the website — handy when the other PC is dead or sold.
Manage account on aura-mixer.com opens the website for anything not handled in-app.

Premium unlocks per computer — by license key, or by activating here. Signing in is about managing those activations, not a requirement for Premium to run.

Buying & upgrading

The Buy Premium link in the account window — and the ⭐ Premium = unlimited prompts you'll meet at a limit — open aura-mixer.com to complete the purchase. Premium is a one-time, lifetime purchase — no subscription, with an optional dual-PC variant for running it on two of your own machines.

After buying, unlock Premium with your license key on the License key tab (or sign in and Activate on this computer) — the features light up immediately, no reinstall.

stuck? ask on Discord