Below are the minimum and recommended hardware and software specifications for using Opus 1.6.1 on Windows and MacOS systems. Update to the latest version of Opus for compatibility with the latest EastWest product releases.

The chart below outlines the MacOS and Windows 64-bit operating systems and sequencers that are officially supported and fully tested with the latest version of Opus. Please note that while most Sequencers / DAWs are VST 2, VST 3, AU and AAX plug-in format compatible, only those listed in the chart below are officially supported.

• (1) VST3 usage is recommended
• (2) Sibelius / Finale / Dorico notation programs work with Opus, but do not support the full feature set of some Opus/Play Libraries, such as those that use WordBuilder. Please contact support for details.

This depends on the library in question. The newest libraries generally require you to use the most up-to-date software, but if you have a specific library in mind, reach out to our support team and let them know what library you are interested in as well as your current system and they can verify compatibility.

We don’t offer EDU discounts on the full library purchases, but we have discounts on both our monthly and annual ComposerCloud Plus subscription for students or teachers. After purchasing the discounted subscription, send in any up-to-date proof of being a student or teacher (Picture of your school ID, any document with your name/the school or course name on it showing you’re enrolled or teaching) to sales@eastwestsounds.com. You would be able to use the subscription right away, they would just check that and leave the discounted subscription running.

We accept the following payment methods:

• American Express
• Diners Club
• Discover
• JCB
• Master Card
• PayPal
• UnionPay
• VISA
• Affirm (U.S. Only)

Go to our registration page - there you can either create an account or sign into your existing one and register the license code you received with your order confirmation from the retailer. These license codes work one time to add the license to your iLok account, after which licensing is managed via your iLok account (see below for more information).

Note: The License Codes are usually 5x4 digits in length (e.g. ABCD EFGH IJKL MNOP QRST).

Yes - Make sure you check out and subscribe to our YouTube page. We have a large collection of helpful videos from getting started to general tips and tricks that you'll want to watch.

We also have ‘Getting Started’ videos available for:

• ComposerCloud Plus
• EastWest Libraries

There are three things you need to be aware of: the license to use the libraries, the software, and the library installation (covered below).

iLok is a software licensing system that allows you to activate/manage all of the licenses from EastWest. Our iLok based licenses get deposited into the iLok account of your creation (or our system can make one for you after purchase when registering it). If you don’t already have an iLok account you can create one free of charge on the iLok website.

License activation and deactivation can be done in both the EW Installation Center and the iLok License Manager software, but for moving, resetting, or refreshing licenses we recommend using the iLok License Manager. You can install this by running the License Support Installer from iLok:

Mac    Win

The licenses can be activated either directly to your computer as a ‘Machine License’ or to an iLok key (dongle).

The benefit of the iLok key is that it makes moving the license between multiple devices faster (but you can move licenses between devices without one).

If you wish to purchase an iLok key, you can do so directly from iLok.com or from any other music retailer that offers them.

iLok key: If your license is on an iLok key, just plug that into the new computer.

Machine License: If the license is on a computer you have access to still, you can move the license over yourself by first deactivating the license from the current computer via the iLok License Manager:

Mac    Win

1. Open up that application and log in using your iLok account information (your User ID and iLok password on that account).
2. Click your User ID in the upper left-hand side of the application and then locate the license you want to move to the other computer in the list.
3. Once you’ve found it, ‘right-click’ on that license name and in the dropdown menu, scroll down to ‘Deactivate’ to deactivate it off of that older computer.
4. Log into the iLok License Manager on your new computer and follow through the same steps again, but this time in the dropdown menu, scroll down to ‘Activate’.

If you don't already have it, download/install the iLok License Manager:

Mac    Win

Open and log into that application. On the left 'Local' side, you'll see the current computer (and any plugged in iLok key) is in black and the other device(s) are in gray.

1. Right-click the grayed-out computer that your license is on and choose ‘Report as Unusable’.
2. A pop-up window will open where you can enter a reason for the request. Enter ‘crashed computer’, ‘Old Computer’, or something similar. Click the checkbox to confirm and then submit the request.

Our system should auto-reset the licenses for you. If you then click on the ‘All Licenses’ or ‘Available’ tabs along the top you'll be able to activate those licenses.

Note: If you don't see these tabs along the top, click your name again so that it's in blue and make sure the iLok license manager window is expanded enough to see the license categories.

3. Activate the license either by dragging it onto your computer or the iLok key icon in the lower left box, or just right click and choose ‘Activate’. A pop-up window may ask you to confirm the activation/location selected - confirm and then wait for the blue progress bar to finish.

Please first submit an RMA for a lost iLok with iLok Support. This will send you an e-mail with an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number.

Note: Report the iLok as lost/stolen but do not pay any zero-downtime or license recovery fee. We can reset the license for you at no cost.

Once you have that, send an e-mail to licensing@eastwestsounds.com, give them your iLok User ID and that RMA number, and ask them to reset your licenses due to a lost iLok.

Opus is the software engine that all of our current libraries load up inside. Opus replaced the older Play engine, being completely built from the ground up. Opus is faster, more powerful, more flexible, and better looking than Play, coming with some incredible new features such as individual instrument downloads, customized key-switches, new effects for the mixer page, scalable retina GUI upgrades for legacy products, and many more features that allow you to completely customize the sound of each instrument.

The Opus engine requires either a ComposerCloud subscription or the purchase of any product library since Opus's release.

Once you have a license for Opus, you will be able to use all libraries you own in the newer Opus software with a few exceptions: The original Hollywood Orchestra (Gold/Diamond) and any of the ‘Silver’ libraries only load up in Play. Reach out to our support team for an offer on upgrading to an Opus compatible version.

While we highly recommend getting a license for Opus, if you don’t want to have it installed please proceed as follows:

On Windows, you can just uninstall it from the Control Panel’s Programs > Programs and Features.

Note: On Windows if you run the uninstaller you may need to reinstall Play for it to work, as Opus and Play share some important files.

On Mac, first go to Applications > East West and delete the Opus application.
Then to remove the plugins, go to /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ and remove the Opus.component, Opus.vst, and Opus.vst3 from their respective folders. Then go to /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/ and delete the Opus.aaxplugin file.
Finally go to /Library/Application Support/East West/ and delete the Opus folder there.

All of our software (Opus, Play, EW Installation Center, Spaces Reverbs) installs to your system drive. On Mac, the plugin files write to the system plugin locations. On Windows, both the VST3 and AAX plugin files write to the system folders, and you are asked where you want the VST2 (by default, this is set to C:\Program Files\Vstplugins\ ).

Libraries can still be downloaded to one or multiple separate drives (covered below).

This depends on the DAW you are using. While it will show up in some, many DAWs no longer load up plugins that are not running Silicon natively. In order to get Play to show up in those DAWs (Protools, Cubase, Ableton, etc.) you would have to load up the DAW in Rosetta.

To do so, from your Applications folder, right-click the DAW and choose ‘Get Info’. Then click the checkbox to ‘Open using Rosetta’.

We highly recommend having the libraries on an SSD that is natively formatted for your computer for optimal performance.

Mac: Either APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) but not case sensitive
Windows: NTFS

New drives often come ‘exFAT’ formatted so they will show up when connected to either Mac or Windows devices. Due to the default allocation unit size, an ExFAT formatted drive both wastes storage space and doesn’t perform as well when sample streaming.

Note: Reformatting will erase all contents on a drive, so make sure to back up any important files before formatting the drive.

This drive can be an internal or external drive, but we do have some recommendations:

Mac - Avoid putting the libraries in your User Downloads or Desktop folders as those are by default iCloud Storage on newer Mac OS

Windows - We recommend putting the main library folder close up in your file hierarchy so as not to reach a character limit - Examples:

C:\EastWest
F:\EastWest

First, create a folder on your computer (via the Finder/File Explorer ) called ‘EastWest’, ‘EastWest Libraries’, or something similar, where you want to download the libraries to.

Note: On Windows, we recommend putting that close up in your file hierarchy so as not to reach a character limit - Examples:

C:\EastWest
F:\EastWest

Next, in the EW Installation Center, click the main menu (three horizontal grey lines) in the upper right corner and choose ‘Library Directories…'

Click the ‘Add’ button and add in the location of that folder you created - then click the ‘Default’ checkbox at the bottom so that location says < - Default next to it.

Return to the main EW Installation Center window and you should then be able to click the download arrow next to any library and have it install directly to that folder.

Yes, you can set up multiple library download/search paths to different drives or locations. What location is set as the ‘Default’ is where new libraries will download to in the EW Installation Center.

First, you would move the library files manually. Create a folder on your computer (via the Finder/File Explorer ) called ‘EastWest’, ‘EastWest Libraries’, or something similar, where you want the libraries to be.

Copy the files over to the location you want them. Once you’ve copied the files over, you can delete them from the old location.

After you’ve deleted them from the old location, or the old location is no longer available, you can tell either Opus or the EW Installation Center to scan for the libraries as a batch in the new location:

EW Installation Center:

1. Click the Main Menu > Library Directories…
2. Add in the new location you set up
3. Make the new location ‘default’ if you want new downloads to write there as well
4. Return to the main EW Installation Center window, click the main menu again and choose ‘Reconnect Libraries’

Opus

1. Click the Settings (gear icon) > Preferences
2. Go to the ‘Locations’ tab
3. In the Library Directories window, you can add the new/remove the old locations(from the +/- buttons)
4. Click ‘Reconnect Libraries’

To set up a download path in Opus, go to the Settings (Gear Icon) > Preferences > Locations tab. In the ‘On Demand Download Directory’ you can add in the main folder you created to download the libraries to.

Then from Opus' Browse > Search section a single click will play the ‘Preview’ sound for that instrument. You can either click the download cloud icon or double click on an instrument and choose download to then download just that individual instrument/articulation and you should then be able to load it and use it in seconds.

If you want to download multiple instruments at once you can shift+select a group of instruments and while holding down shift, click the cloud icon next to one of the instruments selected.