vst scan won't add folders

[Russell Alexander]

I've been using the original Sonar Platinum all this time.  I wanted to try out the BandLab version.  I have a lot of plugins, located at different places on two different hard drives.  The original Sonar has no problem finding them - there's quite a few, over 2000.  No, I don't use most of them.  But some are used regularly.

I added the same paths to Bandlab, or at least tried to.  It ignored most of them, and only found 65 plugins.  Also, it absolutely refuses to add all of the folders, even if I remove one (on the assumption that there's a folder limit).  This is a deal breaker, it cannot find my Waves plugins, Chris Hein Horns, Kontakt 7 player, and others that I use often.  

 

Is there a way to copy the registry info from my working Sonar into the registry info for Bandlab regarding this?  I've also seen mention of resetting the VST Scan option (which I tried) and checking "generate report".  I can't find any such option.  

I'm using what I think is the latest version of Bandlab as of today - 24.04.0 Build 13 (2018.04) -x64.  I just updated it.  I appreciate any suggestions.

[Kurre]

Use the web installer.

"The web installer has now been officially released. The link has been updated to point to the website directly where you can get it. Choose Download and then pick the Cakewalk installer instead of BandLab assistant."

https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk

You should be given the 2022.09 release or Cakewalk 2022.06 Update 1 (build 28.06.0.034).

As you can see when you compare versions. Your version is very old.

[Russell Alexander]

Installing now.  Thank you - I thought it looked suspicious that it said 2018, but the Bandlab Assistant only said it was up to date.  I will update when it's done.  

[scook]

35 minutes ago, Russell Alexander said:

Installing now.  Thank you - I thought it looked suspicious that it said 2018, but the Bandlab Assistant only said it was up to date.  I will update when it's done.  

Forget about BandLab assistant unless you need it to access the web based BandLab DAW, BandLab Loops or remote CbB installation and activation.

For some time now, CbB installed on machines with an internet connection use the DAW itself for updates and activation. Of course, the machine will need to be brought current for this feature and this is where the Cakewalk Installer come into play.

 

Regardless, older versions of CbB had no problem maintaining the scan path.

Scan path maintenance should be performed in Preferences > File > VST Settings and not the Plug-in Manager.

SONAR and CbB on the same machine use the same Plug-in Manager and VST scanner. This is one reason it is critical when both programs are on the same machine that CbB be installed last. This way all the shared components such as the Plug-in Manager and VST scanner are insured to be the most recent versions.

 

[Russell Alexander]

Well, it installed, but I'm having the same issue that started me on this whole thing.  Thanks for the info, btw.  It now scans, but when it gets to C1 Comp Mono (I believe that's from my Waves NPP, which is legit) the scan freezes.  I clicked generate scan log - do you know where I might find that log?  

It's odd that there is no issue with Sonar (which was absolutely installed way before CbB), if they're using the same Plug-in Manager and VST scanner.  I did make changes in the VST Settings, not the Plug In manager, which I've always found to be annoying.  

Thanks again for your help, and if you could tell me where that log is, perhaps I can find out why it's getting stuck.

[scook]

From http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=0x22B07

Quote

Generate Scan Log. Log the VST scanning progress to %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\Logs\VstScan.log. This can be useful to troubleshoot problems when plug-ins fail to scan properly.

Also make sure "Scan in Sandbox" is enabled and scans are run either automatically or from Preferences. 

 

I don't have any Waves plug-ins but it seems Waves support is the best source for fixing scan issues with their products,

[Russell Alexander]

Thank you (again) for that answer.  Unfortunately, although I've done it three times, I cannot find any such file in the my Appdata directory (and Scan in Sandbox was enabled by default).  It's now stuck on a different plugin (z3ta+_fx.dll), but a search with both Explorer and Agent Ransack can find no such file in any user directory.  I also checked other drives, just to be sure.  It doesn't seem to be generating.  

I appreciate your help, and if you have any thoughts on this, I'd very much like to hear them.

[scook]

13 minutes ago, Russell Alexander said:

z3ta+_fx.dll

The default install location for this dll is

C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\z3ta+

but may be located in any part of the VST2 scan path.

 

Since all the plug-ins scanned properly in SONAR and the scan paths are identical in SONAR and CbB, the location information for any plug-in should be in the VST properties for the plug-in in SONAR.

 

Is there a chance the scan path contains paths that do not contain plug-in dlls or duplicate paths? Repeated scans and scanning dlls that are not VST plug-ins can cause problems for the scanner. 

 

 

 

[Russell Alexander]

I've been out all day, but I just got rid of all the possible duplicate paths.  Now it doesn't freeze, but it only recognizes 1/3 of the plugins.  I'll keep working with the paths, I think you might have found the reason for the freezing!

Thank you.

[Russell Alexander]

It's definitely working, although it's not finding all my plugins.  That's fine, I don't use a lot of them anyway.  As long as my main ones are working, this is great.  It will be nice to see what Bandlab has done with Cakewalk, and I still have my legacy versions if needed (I've been using Cakewalk/12 Tones since DOS version 1.2).

Thank you for keeping this program available!

[bitflipper]

My first thought after reading the OP was that one of the plugins is failing to initialize, and thus halting the scan.

Two features exist to aid in troubleshooting scan issues: Scan in Sandbox and Generate Scan Log. The former isolates each plugin in its own process so a crash won't kill the scanner, and allow the scan to continue. The scan log option creates a debug log that contains a blow-by-blow story of the scan process. Sometimes, it can provide a clue as to why a particular plugin failed to scan.

On a new install, it can take a few passes to identify every plugin that's having a problem. Usually, there's a workaround for each of them once you know which ones they are. In the meantime, just disable the failing plugins until the scan completes successfully.

[Russell Alexander]

Hi bitflipper,

For some reason, it doesn't seem to be generating a scan log, even though I have it set for both sandbox and generate log.  I've done a search of not only my appdata directory, but the entire computer using Agent Ransack.  I'll try it some more over the next few days, but for now the important plugins seem to be working.  

I've put off using CbB because the Sonar Platinum worked fine, and since I'm a long time cakewalk (12 tones) customer, having started with Cakewalk for Dos 2.0 and buying pretty much every version since then, I went by the "if it ain't broke" standard.  But then I bought Chris Hein Compact Horns, which uses Kontak 7, and had some issues.  So I figured "let me try this out, maybe there are some compatibility issues".  It really seems to be about the same as the original, with a few new features, so I think I'm going to start using CbB as my main DAW and see how it goes.  

If you have any thoughts on why the log isn't generating, I'd appreciate hearing it.  I can't even find the appdata/roaming/cakewalk/Log directory now.  I'm wondering if the "Scan in Sandbox" puts it into a different location, such as a virtual sandbox?  I also tried it with sandbox unchecked, it still doesn't generate anything.

 

- Russ