Does Cakewalk now reject 32-bit VSTs

[Nigel Mackay]

Suddenly noticed all my 32-bit VSTs are missing. Checked in scan log. Discarded as NOT a VST plug-in. Or is it just me?

Tried a Reset and Scan. Didn't help.

Just realised, they have actually been gone for quite a while now. Maybe since the previous update.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Nigel Mackay

[Nigel Mackay]

I did put them in a special folder now, but that is not the main problem. The problem is that BitBridge is set to run as administrator in Compatibilty. So you mus use Run as administrator to make it scan the VST once identified. That is why the registry is short of entries for them.

Remove the Run as administrator from BitBridge and it all works properly.

Seeing as they used to work, somewhere along the line BitBridge got changed..

@msmcleod Didn't you just have a post saying try setting BitBridge to run as admin that you deleted? Because that is what inspired me to look.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Nigel Mackay

[winkpain]

1 hour ago, Nigel Mackay said:

Suddenly noticed all my 32-bit VSTs are missing. Checked in scan log. Discarded as NOT a VST plug-in. Or is it just me?

Tried a Reset and Scan. Didn't help.

Just realised, they have actually been gone for quite a while now. Maybe since the previous update.

32bit plugins still work, but they must be bridged with BitBridge or JBridge

Read here about BitBridge (about half way down) - https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Dialogs2.064.html

Edited May 3, 2020 by winkpain

[scook]

Any particular 32bit plug-ins being reported as "NOT a VST plug-in"

Where are these plug-ins installed?

What version of C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities\VstScan.exe is installed?

[Nigel Mackay]

@scook  All of them. Not a single one loads. Mostly they are DSK. They are in a custom folder.
Vstscan.exe is the latest one, dated 24/04/2020. V6.0.3.0.

[scook]

42 minutes ago, Nigel Mackay said:

All of them. Not a single one loads. Mostly they are DSK. They are in a custom folder.

It is hard to help without better info.

Is the "custom folder" compressed?

[Nigel Mackay]

Most of my VSTs are in a folder on my E drive. E:\Data\Midi\VstPlugins\.... There I have sub-folders for Audio FX, VSTis, Samplers.  Some VSTs are grouped in sub-folders based on manufacturer.

There is no folder compression or anything like that going on. And no differentiation between 32-bit and 64-bit VST locations. The 64-bit all work, the 32-bit not, even though a folder might contain 32-bit and 64-bit VSTs.

 

 

[scook]

The few 32bit plug-ins I have are all from SONAR Product/Platinum.

They are all installed in the default plug-in path C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins.

They scan OK. Yesterday, I have reason to load Cakewalk Sound Center.

I just installed and tested DSK xXx, a 32bit synth into C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\DSK xXx

Could try installing one of the plug-ins on a different drive.

 

 

[Nigel Mackay]

Reinstalling Cakewalk didn't help.

Running Cakewalk as administrator works, but this is not a good solution, thanks to manufacturers who put presets in appdata. I did try putting them in the Cakewalk folder, but still doesn't work. I have also checked folder privileges - OK.

So it seems to be a Windows thing, not Cakewalk. Will have to experiment. ☹️ Thanks so far.

 

[Matthew Sorrels]

If running admin works but sticking it in a directory with normal user having full write privileges isn't enough the next thing you need to check is permissions on registry keys it tries to write to.  I usually just run Microsoft's Sys Internals ProcMon and let it log all the file and registry access.  Then look and see what the plugin is trying to do and fix the permissions.  You can also find other directories it wants to write to (other than where it is installed) that way too.

[Nigel Mackay]

I'll have a look at that. Windows sometimes quite easily gets confused about privileges and permissions and security.

 

[Nigel Mackay]

@Matthew Sorrels Ran ProcMon normally and as administrator. The only difference is that files classified as VSTs have more registry entries than those that don't.

But no access problems. In fact, if vstscan says a file is not a VST it creates a registry entry to say so.

1) I have experimented with making myself and administrator and running vstscan. It still says that the DSK files are not VSTs.
2) I MUST use run as administrator to have them accepted. And they work just fine in that session.
3) But if I exit and rerun Cakewalk normally, they are still listed but give an error if I try to use them.

4) As a standard user, if I use Run as administrator then the VSTs are accepted and I can use them in that session.
5) If I exit and rerun Cakewalk they are no longer listed. (Entries for admin and standard user are different in the registry.

It all goes down to vstscan. Only accepts 32-bit VSTs if I use Run as administrator.

I am in contact with support.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Nigel Mackay

[Nigel Mackay]

Cakewalk support have the same problem. Seems to be BitBridge, which is out of their hands.

[msmcleod]

The problem with the DSK plugins (and other synthedit based plugiuns) is they try to write to a subdirectory once loaded, however C:\Program Files  and C:\Program Files (x86) are protected from non-admin users.

The answer is to install them in a different directory, e..g "C:\FreeVST\VST32\".

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, Nigel Mackay said:

I did put them in a special folder now, but that is not the main problem. The problem is that BitBridge is set to run as administrator in Compatibilty. So you mus use Run as administrator to make it scan the VST once identified. That is why the registry is short of entries for them.

Remove the Run as administrator from BitBridge and it all works properly.

Seeing as they used to work, somewhere along the line BitBridge got changed..

@msmcleod Didn't you just have a post saying try setting BitBridge to run as admin that you deleted? Because that is what inspired me to look.

Yeah - I thought that would work, but it didn't... so I deleted the post.

AFAIK BitBridge hasn't been touched in years, so something else is stopping it working.  I've no idea whether it's a Windows security thing or a Cakewalk thing.

FWIW I run JBridge as adminstrator which works without issue.

[Nigel Mackay]

But it did work, in reverse.  😀   Was set to run as admin. Cleared it, and now everything works fine without admin.

Cakewalk support are going to query it with the developers.