System requirements, explained

Check the product page, then this

Nolvra Hub

• PlatformsmacOS and Windows
• macOS14 or later
• Architecture (macOS)Apple Silicon
• Architecture (Windows)64-bit

Plugins

• FormatsAU/VST3 (macOS) · VST3 (Windows)
• Architecture64-bit
• InstallNolvra Hub (All-Access and free products), or a license key in the plugin (single purchase)

Why the Hub needs macOS 14

This one is macOS-specific. The Hub's macOS interface is built on a system framework that Apple introduced in macOS 14 and did not back-port. On an older system the Hub downloads but will not launch. That is why the requirement is printed next to the download button rather than left to a support page: there is no version of this where an older Mac works.

The Hub also runs on Windows, where it does the same job: your account, your licenses, your downloads and your installs. Neither build manages devices, so moving a license between machines goes through support on both.

Why RAW needs macOS 14, for a reason inside it

RAW's requirement is stricter than most of the range for a specific reason: it carries the runtime that executes its de-reverb model, and that runtime itself requires macOS 14. A plugin's effective baseline is the highest baseline of everything inside it, so RAW's is 14 regardless of what the rest of the bundle would allow.

This is worth being blunt about because it is the kind of thing that only surfaces after purchase: on macOS 12 or 13, RAW installs and then will not load in your DAW.

Why PRISM MINI and RELIC need macOS 14, for a reason outside them

PRISM MINI's own binary is built for macOS 11 and later, and RELIC's is too. On that measurement alone both rows would read 11. They read 14, because the chain a product arrives through counts too. Neither product has a license key or an activation field: PRISM MINI is free with a Nolvra account and RELIC checks for the signed-in Hub session rather than a key, so the Nolvra Hub is the only way to get either of them, and the Hub needs macOS 14.

On macOS 12 or 13 that means there is nothing to install rather than something that installs and fails. The Hub requires macOS 14, it will not launch below that, and there is no second route behind it, so 14 is the version that answers the question a reader is actually asking: whether they can use the plugin at all.

A plugin that takes a license key is not in this position. There the Hub is a convenience rather than the door, so the row states the plugin's own baseline and the Hub's 14 is listed separately, next to the Hub download. PRISM PRO is the range's example of that: it states macOS 11, which is its own binary's floor.

Apple Silicon and Intel Macs

Apple Silicon is the supported architecture across the whole range, and that covers RIDGE, IMAGER, PRISM PRO, PRISM MINI, RAW, RELIC, PLUNGE and SURGE. There is no Intel support and none is planned.

On an Intel Mac none of them is supported, and there is no workaround for it. This is worth checking against your own machine before you buy rather than after, because it is not something a setting or a reinstall can move. The other supported platform is Windows: a 64-bit Windows machine runs the same products as VST3.

Reading the per-product table

On the requirements page, each row repeats what that product's own page lists under macOS, so the two can never disagree. Where a row names an architecture rather than a version, that product does not state a version floor. Six rows do state one. RIDGE, IMAGER and PRISM PRO state macOS 11. PRISM MINI, RAW and RELIC state macOS 14. The sections above give the reason behind each version floor.

DAW compatibility

Nolvra plugins are standard AU on macOS and standard VST3 on both platforms, so any host that loads those formats loads them. We do not publish a certified-host list, because a list that is not tested every release is worse than no list. If a specific host is giving you trouble, the troubleshooting article on plugins not appearing covers the usual causes, and support@nolvra.com covers the rest.