Troubleshooting

It says "No DAW detected"

The status in the top-right corner turns green only when Pro Tools or Logic Pro is running. Launch the DAW and the indicator should turn green within a moment. No setup is required.

• The S key works only with Pro Tools and Logic Pro. For Reaper, Nuendo, Cubase, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and other apps, use drag & drop.
• If Pro Tools and Logic Pro are both running, the app targets Pro Tools. Quit the one you don't want to receive audio.

I press S and nothing happens

1. You're editing text. The S key spots only in select mode. Press Esc to leave the text, then press S.
2. A selected line has no audio. Every selected line needs a generated take. If one is missing, the "Spot in DAW" button is dimmed. Generate the missing lines (⌘G) first.
3. No DAW is detected. See above.

"Automation permission denied" (Pro Tools / Logic Pro)

Spotting into Pro Tools and Logic Pro uses Apple Events, which requires macOS Automation permission. The first time you spot, macOS asks whether Robot Voice Bridge may control the DAW. If you dismiss or deny that dialog, spotting fails with one of these messages:

• "Automation permission denied. Enable it in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation." Open that pane, find Robot Voice Bridge, and enable Pro Tools and/or Logic Pro.
• "Automation permission required. Please approve the dialog and try again." Approve the macOS consent dialog, then spot again.

If the toggle is already on and spotting still fails, reset the permission so macOS can ask again. Run this in Terminal, then spot again and approve the prompt:

tccutil reset AppleEvents SilverShadowSound.VoiceBridge

Other "Spot Failed" messages

The clip lands in the wrong place

• Pro Tools / Logic Pro: clips land on the selected track at the playhead. Check both before pressing S. A forgotten track selection is the usual cause.
• Several lines: Individual mode places clips end to end from the playhead. Continuous mode creates one stitched clip. The toggle is in the bottom bar. See Continuous vs Individual.

"Generation Failed"

The alert includes the underlying reason. Common causes are:

• A quota message from ElevenLabs: you are out of credits on your ElevenLabs plan. Check your usage and plan at elevenlabs.io.
• A network error: generation requires an internet connection. Check your connection and retry.
• An HTTP error with a code: the problem is on the ElevenLabs side. Wait and retry. If it persists, check ElevenLabs' status page.

If the line uses voice direction, also confirm the direction audio plays back. A broken source file fails the generation.

"ElevenLabs is busy right now"

The full message: "Generation was rate-limited by ElevenLabs. Please wait a moment and try again. If this keeps happening, your account may be hitting concurrency limits. Check your plan at elevenlabs.io."

By the time you see this, the app has already retried several times. Your ElevenLabs plan has reached a rate or concurrency limit, which can happen when generating many lines at once. Wait a moment and generate again. The batch resumes where it stopped. If this happens often, a higher ElevenLabs tier may provide higher limits.

"Invalid API key" or signed out

• "Invalid API key" when you first connect: the pasted key may contain extra characters, be incomplete, or no longer exist in ElevenLabs. Paste it again carefully with no spaces. If that fails, create a new key with the five permissions in the setup table.
• "This API key is missing the … permission": the key is real but restricted. ElevenLabs keys start with every permission off, and the app names the one it needs (for example user_read or voices_read). Open elevenlabs.io/app/developers/api-keys, click the ... menu next to the key, choose Edit, and switch on all five permissions from the setup table. Then click Connect again. Editing permissions keeps the key itself valid. There is nothing new to copy or re-paste.
• Connected fine, but generation fails: a restricted key missing Text to Speech (or Speech to Speech, if you're using voice direction) passes the connect check but fails when you generate, with the same "missing the … permission" message. Same fix: edit the key's permissions on the ElevenLabs site.
• Worked before, failing now? A key stops working if it was deleted, regenerated, or allowed to expire in ElevenLabs. Check that the key still exists, or create a new one with the five required permissions.
• Signed out after an update or reboot? The key is stored in your macOS Keychain and should reload at launch. If this keeps happening, open Keychain Access and confirm your login keychain is available, then relaunch the app.
• "Couldn't save your API key to the keychain. Please try again." The Keychain write failed. Retry. If it persists, unlock your login keychain in Keychain Access first.

I chose WAV but the audio is MP3 quality

WAV output requires an ElevenLabs Pro plan or higher. On lower tiers, ElevenLabs returns MP3. Robot Voice Bridge uses the highest available MP3 quality and packages it with your chosen WAV settings. The resulting file works as WAV, but the source audio was 192 kbps MP3.

If true PCM WAV is required, upgrade your ElevenLabs tier. Otherwise, set Settings → Output Format to MP3. See Output format.

My phoneme pronunciation is ignored

Phoneme (Advanced) pronunciation entries apply only when the line generates with Expressive. Lines on Standard or Draft keep the word's default pronunciation. The pronunciation editor shows the same warning.

• Switch the line to Expressive (sidebar → MODEL), or
• Recreate the entry in Simple mode. Respelling aliases work on every model. See Pronunciation.

Also check the entry's checkbox is ticked in the Pronunciation list. Unticked entries are disabled.

Tags don't do anything, or show as plain text

These are separate issues:

The performance doesn't follow the tag

• Tags only affect Expressive. On Standard and Draft, the app strips them before generation. They are not spoken and do not affect the performance. Switch the line to Expressive.
• On Expressive, tags are suggestions rather than commands. Response depends on the voice and mode. A whispery voice may not [shout], and Robust responds less to tags than Creative. Generate another take, strengthen the surrounding context, or try Natural or Creative mode. See Performance tags.

Tags show as plain [brackets], not colored pills

Colored tag pills require macOS 26 Tahoe with Apple Intelligence enabled and the "Use Apple Intelligence to categorize tags" toggle turned on in Settings → Permissions. On macOS 15 Sequoia, or with the toggle off, tags remain plain bracket text. This affects appearance only. Generation is unchanged.

No sound when I play a line

1. Check Settings → Audio Devices → Output. Is playback routed to a device you're actually monitoring? "System Default" follows the macOS output.
2. If your interface was unplugged, playback falls back to the system default output. Plug it back in and your chosen routing is restored automatically.
3. Look for a "Last playback failed to route" row in Settings → Audio Devices. Its detail names the failing device.
4. A "Playback Failed" alert means the audio engine could not start on the chosen device. Pick another device, or quit other apps using the interface, and retry.

Recording won't start

Direction recording needs the Microphone permission and a working input device. The error shows in red next to the record button:

• "Microphone permission denied…" / "Microphone blocked…": grant access in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone, then try again.
• "Recording is already in progress." Another line is still recording. Stop it first.
• Other recording errors usually mean the input device disappeared during the take. Check Settings → Audio Devices → Input. If a recording stops on its own because the device was unplugged or the disk is full, the partial take remains attached to the line.

While recording, the app temporarily switches the system default input to your chosen device, then restores the previous input when recording stops.

It says the license moved to another Mac, or asks for my key again

There are two common cases.

"This license moved to another Mac." Your key was activated on a different Mac, so this one gave up its seat. A license runs on one Mac at a time (see Trial & license activation). If that was you, click "Use on This Mac" to take the license back here. The other Mac signs out the next time the app opens there. If it wasn't you, someone else has your key: take the seat back the same way, and note that licenses are per person, so a colleague who needs the app needs their own (see the Terms). A "Use a different license key…" link under the button lets you enter a second key instead.

"Couldn't confirm your license." This Mac has not been able to reach the license server for 30 days (offline, asleep, or unused), so the app paused until it can check in. Nothing is wrong with your license. Connect to the internet and click "Try Again". The app confirms the license on its own, with no key to re-enter.

• Your key never changes. It's in your original email from [email protected]. Keep that email, or store the key in your password manager. Lost it? Have it re-sent from the license key recovery page.
• "Your subscription has ended" is different: it means the subscription actually lapsed. Renew via "Manage subscription", then activate.

If the app repeatedly asks for your key while you are online and no other Mac is involved, email support with your app version and roughly when the problem started.

My license key won't activate

If activating shows "Move your license to this Mac?" instead of an error, the key is currently active on another Mac. Clicking "Use on This Mac" moves the license here and signs that Mac out. See Moving between Macs.

Never received a key at all? It's sent once, from [email protected], when your subscription starts. Check spam, then have it re-sent from the license key recovery page. Still nothing? Email support from your purchase email address.

Trial questions

• "Your trial has ended" already? The 14 days start at the app's first launch on that Mac, not the first day you really used it.
• Reinstalling didn't reset the trial. Correct: the trial record survives reinstalls by design.
• Can I keep my trial projects after subscribing? Yes. Projects are ordinary folders on disk and are never locked. Activate and keep working.

"Check for Updates" fails

• "An error occurred while parsing the update feed." The update server hiccuped. Try again later. Your installed app keeps working.
• An "improperly signed" / "update is improperly signed" error: the downloaded update failed its signature check. Don't force it: try again later, and if it recurs, download the current version fresh from robotvoicebridge.com and replace the app in Applications (your projects, license, and settings are untouched).
• No update offered, but you know one exists: make sure the app is running from /Applications, then check again.

A project won't open

The app crashed. Did I lose work?

Probably not. The app snapshots unsaved changes a few seconds after every edit. If it did not quit cleanly, reopening the project shows "Recover Unsaved Changes?" Choose "Recover" to restore the latest snapshot. Choosing "Discard" abandons everything after your last save.

Generated takes are written to Audio Files/Generated as soon as they are created, so finished audio survives a crash.

Crashes are reported automatically (see Contacting support for what's in a report), but a quick email describing what you were doing when it crashed helps us fix it faster.

Clean reinstall / reset everything

For a basic reinstall, quit the app, delete it from Applications, then reinstall it from robotvoicebridge.com. This does not affect your projects, ElevenLabs sign-in, license, or trial clock.

To reset more than that, quit the app and open Terminal (in Applications → Utilities). Paste a command below, then press Return.

To reset the microphone and Automation permissions:

tccutil reset All SilverShadowSound.VoiceBridge

To reset the app's settings to their defaults:

defaults delete SilverShadowSound.VoiceBridge

To sign out of ElevenLabs, click Sign out in the app's sidebar.

Your projects are never touched by any of this. They are ordinary folders wherever you saved them.

Contacting support

Email [email protected]. Include:

• App version (Robot Voice Bridge → About Robot Voice Bridge) and macOS version
• Your DAW and its version, if the problem involves spotting
• The exact text of any alert, and what you did just before it

For permission or audio-routing problems, this Terminal command captures the app's recent permission/audio activity. Paste its output into your email:

log show --predicate 'subsystem == "SilverShadowSound.VoiceBridge" AND category == "TCCTrace"' --last 5m

If the app crashes, a report is sent automatically. It contains technical details such as the function that failed and your macOS version. It does not include your scripts, API key, or personal data.