AxlBrutality

So, I just bought the JST Toneforge Jason Richardson amp sim. Was super excited about it; started playing around with it and was thrilled. Until I started encountering issues... Tried copying an instance of Toneforge to another track...parameters were obliterated (didn't copy over), and audio sounds really weird...thin and brittle and almost 8-bit-ish....even after fixing the parameters that were suddenly different. Okay, whatever....just insert a whole new instance of Toneforge and tweak to taste. Sucks that I have to do that for every track, but whatever, right? Except I then found that reopening the project does the same thing to all instances of Toneforge and I have to start all over. Every time. So basically I just blew $50 on a plugin I can't really use. Anybody had similar experiences with any plugins? I know that there were some random "plugin state recall" issues like this, particularly with VST3s, that were finally supposedly fixed recently. But here we are. Also, it does this with both the VST2 and VST3 versions of Toneforge. (Additional info: 64-bit W10; and I've confirmed I installed the 64-bit versions of the plugins.) Also important to note that I do have other JST plugins (Gain Reduction deluxe and JST Clip) and have not had the same issues. I also have other, older amp sims (Peavey Revalver) that do not have this issue, and I haven't noticed it with any other plugins of mine at all. (Having said that, I haven't used all of my plugins since the last update, so there's that.) I've sent support tickets to both JST and Cakwalk, but if anyone has any thoughts, they'd be appreciated. TL;DR: Cakewalk doesn't recall Toneforge parameters/state when a) reopening project or b) when copying plugin to another track, and causes odd plugin behavior with regard to the audio (audio sounds really weird...thin and brittle and almost 8-bit-ish) even after settings are readjusted.

Yea, as mentioned in the OP, I had already generated crash reports and filed with support. Seeing as how it happens regardless of which one I run, I'm presuming both? Lol. Unless a fault in one would affect the other as well? Idk. Edit: Cakewalk says they're investigating and will get back to me. Thanks for the input everyone, and for the solution for the LP EQ (which I use quite often)! I'll also update support with what we've learned here in case Noel doesn't catch it.

This solved both the GUI loading issue, and Cakewalk altogether freezing when closing the plugin! I will say the other two offending plugins fully load their GUIs just fine, but they still freeze Cakewalk when closing said GUIs. I would like to try maybe rolling back my video drivers (in an attempt to troubleshoot/fix the other plugins); would the edit made to the LP files affect that fix at all? Will it affect things in the future (when drivers are updated)? In others words, do I need to go back in and re-edit the value to 1 when drivers are either rolled back or updated?

I am on a 64 bit system; I only use two 32-bit plugins. I believe of the offending plugins (Cakewalk's LP EQ) itself is a 32-bit plugin (someone might need to confirm that for me; it's in my 32 bit program folders but I thought it was updated at some point). I use one other plugin which appears to be 32-bit (Youlean Loudness Meter) but a) it functions fine, and b) the issues do persist with or without that plugin in a project, and c) two of the other offending plugins are 64-bit. The Eliosis Deesser and Slate VTM are both the VST2 versions. Idk about LP EQ since the GUI is blank (and there's only one option for it in my FX Bin menu), but I would assume it defaults to VST2.

@Noel Borthwick It does it on any project at any point in their development, including new/blank projects. If you really need me to I can upload one, but it's important to note that it does it before I've even touched settings on the compressor, lol. I usually insert the sidechain and then tweak the comp. Maybe that helps (knowing that the setting are at their default)? I should also note that once the first sidechain is implemented successfully (again, after about a half a dozen tries), there are zero problems thereafter with it or with additional sidechains. It's really bizarre, lol. The only common theme is that both machines it's done it on were MSI gaming machines, but that's where the similarities end. Different processors, SSDs, RAM, everything.

@msmcleod So my integrated Intel graphics was actually already the default. I tried running Cakewalk with my NVIDIA GPU just out of curiosity; same result. Eliosis Deesser and Slate Virtual Tape Machine both freeze Cake when you close them; LP EQ loads a blank GUI and causes the same hang when it's closed. Also, I have still not found any other plugins that cause the issue so far. Update: I also figured out that it's not just the instance of the plugin that was already in the project. Inserting a new LP EQ, VTM, or Deesser does the same thing.

Lol yea; I ninja edited my post but apparently not fast enough. Haha.

Yea, all the usual suspects have been checked. I keep all that stuff disabled when working anyway, as a rule of thumb. In reference to your previous comment, I did just recently update my NVIDIA driver, so I'll investigate that later today.

Let me preface this by saying I've already sent in a support ticket with dump files and all that; was just curious if anyone had come across something like this or had any ideas while they investigate. So I started working on stuff for the first time in a couple of months. Everything seemed fine until I opened up an instance of LP EQ in a project and the GUI was blank...just white. Wouldn't load, no matter how long I waited. So whatever; I closed it. Cakewalk instantly froze and stayed that way (no crash, just a perpetual hang). Killed and reopened the project. Repeated the issues with LP EQ a few times; gave up. Continued opening various other plugins with no issue... Until I opened Slate's Virtual Tape Machines (GUI loaded just fine)....closed it, and Cake froze again. I've since also reproduced both the GUI and freezing issues with the Slate Eliosis Deesser. Haven't gone through every single plugin yet, but there's no pattern. Some Sonar/Cake plugins do it, some don't. Some Slate plugins do it; others don't. The two JST plugs I have seem to be okay. The Blue cat plugs I have are fine. VST instruments don't have the same issue. Sometime the GUI issue occurs, sometimes it doesn't...I believe they may be separate problems. idk. Why is Cakewalk suddenly having a freakout when I close certain random plugins, and not loading the GUI (even though it does launch...it's just blank) in others? i7-8750, 8GB RAM (on the low end yes, but it happens on projects with fairly low utilization as well as projects that are pushing it), NVIDIA GTX 1080i, Windows 10. Everything (Windows, NVIDIA, Gobbler, Slate, Cakewalk, etc.) is fully updated and cleaned. I'm getting massively frustrated, as I've lost hours of work (even with auto save on plus manual saves, any work done in the session is lost for some reason when I have to kill the program) and major projects have now ground to a halt.

@Noel Borthwick Apologies for the super late response and dragging up an old thread; I didn't have email notifications turned on and haven't worked on music at all in the last two months or so. Sidechaining to the Sonitus compressor (which is the primary culprit) on a track (in my case, a simple audio [kick] track, sidechained to the compressor on a bass track) and hitting play instantly crashes Cakewalk (completely, to desktop....along with no warning, no error message, nothing). Happens probably 6 or 7 times before it will hold, so to speak. It's also occurred on two different computers, an MSI desktop with an i5 and an MSI laptop with an i7. Both running Windows 10, fully updated. Both with only 8GB RAM, but the offending projects were/are nowhere near full utilization. And for some reason no minidump files are being created. And yes, the issue is still occurring. (Among many others as of this week, but I've sent a support ticket in for those and that's a frustrating story for another thread.)

I'm having an increasingly common problem where inserting a send on a track for sidechaining immediately crashes Cakewalk upon subsequent playback...often half a dozen times in a row before it will work. There's often no rhyme or reason, it happens with various sidechainable plugins, and happens even with little to no CPU load in both small and large projects. Further research has discovered that this has been a problem for several people for at least two years; no one has found a sure fire solution and no investigation or fix has ever been mentioned. Tl:dr: Inserting sidechains crashes Cakewalk, and it's been a known issue for some for years. Anyone else have this issue or a solution?

I actually seem to have figured out the problem, after a lot of headaches, trial and error, and a lot of searching. I have stumbled across a weird bug with Slate's Verbsuite Classics, where that plugin will randomly cause massive feedback loops and wreak havoc with everything. I've come across one other instance of this: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Weird-problem-with-Slate-Verb-Suite-Classics-m3586469.aspx In my case, it seems to be the VSC on my snare tracks. There's no issue on my strings or piano tracks, which I also use VSC on. As with the other poster, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the feedback loops. As the other person did, I replaced VSC with another reverb plugin on those tracks, and the problem is no more. Sucks, because I really like the VSC 'verbs. CJ, out of curiosity, I double-checked, and I'm actually at 1024 already because I'm no longer recording, just mixing. I appreciate the response in any case.

Bear with me here; this is an interesting one. So this morning I'm mixing this project that I've been working on for weeks. No issues, made no major changes (just parameters on plugins, volume, etc. No new plugins, no deletion of old plugins, no new recording, no alteration of existing clips). It's playing just fine. I then go to export the project, as I've done a hundred times before. The export is screwed...it's ten seconds of mangled feedback and noise, and then silence for the rest of the project (roughly 15 minutes or so). I try exporting again, same issue. I then try simply playing my project...and suddenly, I have no audio whatsoever. The meters are moving, but there is no sound. I closed and reopen Cakewalk;, no dice. I restart my computer; no dice. I check that my interface is working with other programs; it is. So then I figure it's gotta be a plugin issue. Sure enough, I bypass all FX bins on the tracks themselves, and bypass my master bus chain. Suddenly, I have audio (albeit unprocessed of course). Leaving the FX bins on the tracks bypassed, I enable my master bus FX bin and have zero audio again. Cool; so now we know it's a plugin that's on my master bus (makes it easier to isolate, because I only have a handful of plugins on my master). Find that, and disable it there and anywhere in the tracks I also have it, and we'll go from there, right? So I disable the plugins one-by-one until suddenly, my audio comes back. Seems JST Clip is the culprit. Kind of annoying, but something I can do without if need be. Except that I disable it again to test, and my audio is still playing and now being processed by that plugin, as if nothing's wrong. So I start reenabling plugins in reverse...one, two, three, everything's good until the random 4th one (happens to be LP EQ the first time). But if I start at the beginning of the process, it'll pick a different plugin to have a problem with each time. You can see where this is going. I cannot isolate a specific problem plugin. Frustrated, I uninstalled my entire FX chain and reinstalled. Viola, it works! Go to export....and the entire situation repeats. Also, now every time I reopen the project, there's insane feedback for about 10 seconds, and then it's gone (and then of course I have no audio). Out of curiosity, I've gone through other elimination processes...there's no commonalities. It's not a "Slate" thing, it's not a "JST" thing, it's not a "Voxengo", it's not a "Sonitus" thing, etc... and it doesn't appear to be any of my synths (Addictive Drums 2, TruePianos and SI Strings). Cakewalk is fully updated, as is W10 and my interface drivers. And again, this problem quite suddenly appeared out of the blue today. Anyone have any ideas? I am literally at a standstill right now and quite frustrated. I guess just for additional info, my Master Bus FX Chain is currently: LP EQ>Slate Virtual Mix Rack (FG Bomber and CS Lift)>Slate Virtual Tape Machines>Slate Virtual Buss Compressor FG-Grey [x2]>JST Clip>Boost11>Voxengo Span. But again, none of these appear to consistently be "THE" problem, as it seems to vary. Also, obviously I have other plugins on various tracks...but there's definitely a problem with something on my master chain specifically, so I'm trying to start there. Unless there's a bigger, overall problem with Cakewalk itself.