Install Prest

Prest is with a small group of testers before its first public release: ask for access through the feedback form, and you will get the package for your system. PresTools and Prest Server are part of Prest: there is nothing else to install.

macOS

You need macOS 13 or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon or Intel. The same Prest.app runs on both.

1. Unzip the download.
2. Move Prest.app to the Applications folder.
3. Open Prest.

If macOS refuses to open Prest

Current Prest builds are not notarized by Apple, so macOS refuses a copy that a browser downloaded and offers to move it to the Bin. Do not move it. Instead, before the first launch, run this in Terminal:

xattr -c /Applications/Prest.app

Then open Prest again.

Expected result: Prest opens a window that says Open a song or a project to see and hear it here, with an Open… button.

From then on, double-clicking a .prest file in Finder opens it in Prest.

Windows

You need Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Prest uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which Windows 10 and 11 have.

1. Unpack the download anywhere. It holds one folder, Prest.
2. In that folder, run Prest.exe.

Expected result: the same window as on macOS, with Open….

Keep WebView2Loader.dll beside Prest.exe: Prest loads it from there to draw its window.

Linux

1. Install WebKitGTK 4.1, GTK 3, and ALSA if your system does not already have them.
2. Unpack the download anywhere. It holds one folder, Prest.
3. In that folder, run prest (in a terminal: ./prest).

Expected result: the same window as on macOS, with Open….

NVIDIA GPUs on Windows and Linux

PresTools’ models run on an NVIDIA GPU (compute capability 7.5 or later) when its driver is 535 or later and CUDA 12’s cuBLAS and cuRAND libraries are installed. Prest does not include them. Without them, the models run on the CPU, more slowly. Prest starts either way. See Where the tools run.

Add PresTools’ components

A fresh Prest has PresTools’ tools on its toolbar, but each tool’s components and models are installed when you first use it: its window shows an Install button, whose hint says what it installs, its size, and its license. A component under the GPL asks you to accept its license first. You can also install and remove them in Settings → PresTools. They go into PresTools’ shared folder, listed in Where Prest keeps things. See PresTools in Prest.

Install a newer build

Quit Prest, then replace Prest.app, or the unpacked Prest folder, with the new one. On macOS, run the xattr command above again for the new copy. Your settings, recovery copies, and PresTools’ components are in other folders, and are kept.

Remove Prest

Caution

Removing Prest’s own folder deletes its settings, Prest Server’s song and setlist catalog for Prest, and any recovery copies of unsaved projects. Your .prest projects and songs are not in it and are kept.

• macOS: move Prest.app to the Bin, and delete ~/Library/Application Support/Prest (in Finder, Go → Go to Folder…). Also delete ~/Library/Application Support/PresTools, PresTools’ shared folder, unless PresTools for REAPER uses it (its releases after 0.1.0 do).
• Windows: delete the unpacked Prest folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Prest, and %LOCALAPPDATA%\PresTools unless PresTools for REAPER uses it.
• Linux: delete the unpacked Prest folder, ~/.local/share/Prest, and ~/.local/share/PresTools unless PresTools for REAPER uses it.

Next: Your first project.