How do I get VST plugins to work / be recognised

[Damian Sutherland]

Hi all, I'm probably doing a very basic thing incorrectly.

I've tried to add a couple of VST plugins to Cakewalk and it doesn't seem to recognise them. Mainly what I need is a spectrographic analyser, so I installed Voxengo, and made sure that the VST scan path for it is in the preferences (see pic) (It's installed in \cakewalk\vstplugins\voxengo so I am assuming that the scan for \cakewalk\plugins will pick it up.

But it doesn't show up in the AudioFX (or anywhere else I've looked)

Any clues / any help please? Thanks.

[scook]

Instead of VSTi, look in the VST effect categories in the plug-in manager

 

[Damian Sutherland]

Hi Scook, thanks for the reply. There are no failed plugins.

But looking at soomething you said in the thread you linked, I think in the preferences tyhe scan button shouldn't be greyed out?

[scook]

Yes, the Scan and Reset buttons should be enabled.

Usually they are disabled when the scanner cannot be found. Either there is a problem with the scanner or the registry entry.

Holding down the CTRL key while starting Cakewalk may fix the problem.

If not a re-install may be necessary. It may be enough to run the uninstall from BA then download and install again.

 

Normally the "rescan options" should not be checked. Make sure to deselected them.

 

[Damian Sutherland]

I got a database error message from the CTRL key start up. That sounds pretty bad. If I uninstall and reinstall, it won't remove my project folders will it? I have a lot of current work in those that I can't lose.

[Nigel Mackay]

Just as a side note - Cakewalk scans recursively. This means that if you add a folder to the scan list, Cakewalk will drill down into every sub-folder, and every sub-folder of sub-folders.

So you don't need to have C:\aa\bb\cc and C:\aa\bb\dd. You just need C:\aa\bb. It will do the cc and dd folders automatically.

So just have C:\program files (x86) \steam\steamapps\common\cakewalk and it will do all of them.

Never have anything except VST stuff in those folders.

 

[Nigel Mackay]

2 minutes ago, Damian Sutherland said:

I got a database error message from the CTRL key start up. That sounds pretty bad. If I uninstall and reinstall, it won't remove my project folders will it? I have a lot of current work in those that I can't lose.

Make a backup. Always make backups. Even if you are not about to reinstall..

[scook]

This is the message generated when holding the CTRL key

If you received something else, an image may be helpful.

 

[Damian Sutherland]

Oh yeah I got that (and clicked OK but when it when it went into Cakewalk there was a blue message lower right. I'll try and get that again. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Damian Sutherland
typo correction

[Damian Sutherland]

This message pops up lower right when I get to the cakewalk start screen. Clicking the click here goes to a generic knowledge base, but nothing helpful

Edited September 12, 2020 by Damian Sutherland

[scook]

The database in the message is

%appdata%\Cakewalk\Library\Library.db

As part of the personalization process the database is reset to factory defaults.

It will lose any plug-in category assignments and plug-in name changes you have made.

 

I do not recall if the database error is thrown during the personalizatino process but it would not surprise me if it did.

 

If the error happens on subsequent restarts, this may indicate the need for a re-install.

If it continues after that it is an issue for support@cakewalk.com

[Damian Sutherland]

Cheers, I'm bundling everything up as a back up ready for a reinstall - wish me luck

[scook]

21 minutes ago, Damian Sutherland said:

If I uninstall and reinstall, it won't remove my project folders will it? I have a lot of current work in those that I can't lose.

No, a regular uninstall/reinstall does not affect any user files including project data.

[scook]

17 minutes ago, Damian Sutherland said:

Cheers, I'm bundling everything up as a back up ready for a reinstall - wish me luck

I hope you are using the term "bundling" generically.

Do not use Cakewalk bundles as the principle means of archiving or backup up Cakewalk projects.

Either copy the project folders, use "Save As" to a different location or a backup utility.

The bundle feature in Cakewalk is primarily there for backward compatibility and project sharing (where the bundle is not the only copy of the project).

[Damian Sutherland]

Today I'm learning a bunch of things i _was_ using the bundle feature. Now, I'll be saving to another location. Thanks again. 

[scook]

Backups are important but a regular uninstall/renstall does not touch projects, user installed plug-ins or other user create files.

 

[Damian Sutherland]

OK, so It's fixed with help from the support@cakewalk.com folks, a nice guy named Kris.

I did a clean reinstall, which necessitated messing with regedit. The link support sent me to for that was here:

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034066393-Clean-Install-Cakewalk-by-BandLab?source=search&auth_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJhY2NvdW50X2lkIjo3MDk1NzEsInVzZXJfaWQiOjkwMDc5MTYzODM4MywidGlja2V0X2lkIjo0MTQ1NzgsImNoYW5uZWxfaWQiOjYzLCJ0eXBlIjoiU0VBUkNIIiwiZXhwIjoxNjAyNTgyMTg4fQ.ywXRVW5ZIiIcRbrRgrozrEmNCIdyAVNyZoCIbxWOppo

 

That fixed the issue.