Lovin' X3 But Not UAD

I have some big issues with my UAD 2 plugins also . X2d had no problems , But with X3 , I get the bothersome UAD Latency warnings every time I move or insert a plugin. I found that the UAD 2 plugins will work in the regular fx bins on the channel BUT THE PRO CHANNEL FX CHAIN MODULE MESSES UP BAD , They will just stop working when I open a project. The Ampex Tape machine plugin will have massive latency when the project is first opened , The bypass trick will work to get it tight again But the Studer seems to be fine . So my work around to start using X3 with UAD was to #1 tolerate the UAD latency messages #2 never use the Pro Channel for UAD #3 stop using the Ampex Tape plugin . Now I'm working in X3 Smoothly now but wish I had my stablity back for the UAD 2 stuff.  X3 is Super cool 

This isn't good news.. =( I hope they fix it... But the UAD plugins are now 64 bit...  so that shouldn't be an issue with the bitbridge and latency anymore.

Due to past 32 bit/64 bit problems, I stick exclusively with 64 bit plug-in's. To double-check, I just began a Sonar X3 project with no plug-in's in any bins, except for 1 UAD plug-in on a single track. I got exactly the same result as described in my originial post. And, unlike bobgassert, I never get a UAD latency warning.

Boo. Pulled the trigger yesterday because I thought the UAD stuff was in the tolerable range but I guess I'll have to wait to dig in til they update the plugins or CW figures out what's up. Usually this stuff gets sorted out by the next UAD update following a major release from cakewalk.

I am having similar glitches with my UAD plugins. Make sure to submit a support ticket to UAD directly on their site - these issues will not get fixed in a timely fashion until numerous users start making noise.

The fact that some of us are experiencing completely different problems with the UAD platform and Sonar X3 probably makes it harder for the tech people to nail down a solution. I haven't attempted to solve the problem by removing all 32 bit plug-in's, but if the solution is that simple, an official from Cakewalk or Universal Audio should jump up and say so. Their silence indicates it's not that easy, and I have other programs that use 32 bit plug-in's, so I'm not eager to dump them.
 
Because I received email verification from both Universal Audio (on Sunday 10/13) and Cakewalk (on both Wednesday 10/9 and Sunday 10/13), I know they are aware of the specific problems I've been having. The fact that I've heard nothing from them otherwise makes me hope that they're hard-at-work figuring things out and will communicate once they've got good news to share.
 
I trust that the glitches will eventually be fixed, but the fact that Sonar is not a UAD "qualified host" might be part of the problem. According to the recent UAD users' poll on their forum, Sonar ranks as the #4 DAW with their users. Interestingly, the newest UAD 7.3 update lists Nuendo as a qualified host, when it ranked at #7 with barely more than half the users of Sonar. As others have done, I've made an investment in both Sonar and the UAD platform, and it'd be great if they'd work together.

Thanks for the suggestions about relocating the 32 bit UAD plug-ins. I had some time for troubleshooting today, so I moved my 32 bit UAD plug-ins out of the UAD host folder inside Program Files (x86) and had Sonar X3 rescan for VST plug-ins.
 
No improvement. The problem continues just as described in my original post. Existing projects, brand new from-scratch projects, all the same result.
 
Some have posted that they experience problems with certain UAD plug-ins, but not others, so I experimented with Ocean Way, Fairchild, dbx160, Massive Passive and several others. Nothing works like it should on my system.
 
And speaking of systems...stxx and deswind, you both say you quit having UAD/Sonar problems after moving the 32 bit plug-in's. What system's are you running? Is there something about your systems that results in smooth UAD/Sonar operation? 

Mel, if you have some time, I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind trying a few things for me please? I've had similar issues on my end and have fixed them all other than running a Voxengo plug and a UAD in the same fx bin. That causes a crash in seconds. I've reported that to CW support and they have confirmed it as reproducible on their end.
 
But my other issues were fixed by doing the following if you care to try them...no harm should come to your system by doing this stuff, but because I'm not a pc tech, be careful.
 
The first thing I'd recommend is a full uninstall of the UAD software. Totally uninstalling instead of allowing the update over top of update, fixed the majority of my issues. So try that. Before you do that though, back up your "preset" folder if you have any UAD custom plug saves because once you totally uninstall, I'd like you to delete every UAD folder you can find. You can also go into the registry and delete everything UAD as well if you would like to make sure it's all gone, but if you are scared to be messing around in the registry, don't go there.
 
Next, once you have totally removed the UAD stuff from all folders, reinstall the latest software. It updates a few plugin names to Legacy instead of their regular names, so you may need to update your plugin layouts in Sonar at some point.
 
Now, when you reinstall, one of the blunders of UAD is they do not give you a choice of where you want your plugins. I tried my best to get that choice into the last update but was flogged and told "go home lil boy". LOL!
 
****Side Note****If you are running both 32 bit Sonar + plugs and 64 bit Sonar + plugs, you definitely want to watch where these plugs are installed because the UAD 32/64 plugs do not behave like most of the other plugs when you have both 32's and 64's. You'll either get crashes or that CLSID (or whatever that code is) thing that asks you which version of the plug do you want to run. So do your best to keep any 32 bit plugs totally out of the plugin folder scan in Sonar 64 since you are using x64. ****End Side Note****
 
Once you have installed the UAD plugs/software, if the VST's were not installed to the folder you were hoping for since UAD doesn't give you a choice, find them, cut them and paste them to the directory where you want them to be. I promise it won't hurt anything and they will work just fine. Remember where you cut them from because if you need to uninstall, it's best to put them back where they were so the uninstall does its thing.
 
From there when you have everything installed and in the right folders, open Sonar and go to preferences then VST settings. Once there, make sure "automatic scan" is NOT selected. Change it to manual scan in the drop down menu.
 
Next, press the "reset" button (to the right of "scan") and then put a check in the "rescan existing plugins" box. From there, press the "Scan" button. This will take some time depending on the number of plugs on your system.
 
When it's all done scanning, take the check box out of "rescan existing plugins" box, change the drop-down where I made you change to "manual" back to "automatic" click apply/ok and see if anything has changed for the better.
 
I can't promise you it will work, but it sure did work for me. No problems on this end other than the Voxengo/UAD thing I mentioned. Everything else is fine. So give it a try if you feel up to it and let me know if it worked. Good luck.
 
-Danny

Great writeup Danny.  The only issue I have is that the meters sometimes stop working, but I might try your steps when I have some time just in case it fixes that as well.  Thanks for taking the time to write up such detailed instructions.

I have a UA Quad and an APOLLO and they work great in X3... no issues whatsoever.... however, I did notice that it was important to see exactly where the latest versions of UAD plugins are installed by UA installer.... once I narrowed down where the new version plugins were and scanned them appropriately, the plugins worked as normal.
 
The symptom I had prior to fixing this are exactly as you described... the plugins would insert and the gui's were there BUT, no audio impact.... it was a UAD issue and not an X3 issue.... 
 
I suggest you UNINSTALL the UAD stuff using WINDOWS, go thru your directories and ERASE any UAD plugin folders that remain... and then reinstall the UAD stuff... note what directory the plugins get installed to and then rescan plugs in X3.... that should fix your issues.
 
I apologize if this solution has been suggested earlier.
 
Jim

Thanks for your time and input, Danny. I uninstalled UAD and reinstalled using the latest 7.3 update, but my situation with UAD-2 and Sonar X3b remained exactly the same. Just to make sure I was doing it right, I uninstalled and reinstalled my UAD system 3 times.  
 
I did notice that UAD installs its plug-in's in a "Universal Audio" folder in both "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)", as well as in a "Steinberg" folder in each Program Files location. When I set Sonar X3 to scan only the 64 bit "Universal Audio" folder, the MONO plug-in's did not show up. So then I set X3 to no longer scan the "Universal Audio" folder, but the "Steinberg" folder instead, and both stereo and mono UAD plug-in's were listed, but still failed to function properly.
 
After doing all of this, I checked and confirmed that the UAD plug-in's work perfectly with X2. I much prefer the new features of X3, so I hope to hear something official from Universal Audio and/or Cakewalk soon.

melmyers
Thanks for your time and input, Danny. I uninstalled UAD and reinstalled using the latest 7.3 update, but my situation with UAD-2 and Sonar X3b remained exactly the same. Just to make sure I was doing it right, I uninstalled and reinstalled my UAD system 3 times.  
 
I did notice that UAD installs its plug-in's in a "Universal Audio" folder in both "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)", as well as in a "Steinberg" folder in each Program Files location. When I set Sonar X3 to scan only the 64 bit "Universal Audio" folder, the MONO plug-in's did not show up. So then I set X3 to no longer scan the "Universal Audio" folder, but the "Steinberg" folder instead, and both stereo and mono UAD plug-in's were listed, but still failed to function properly.
 
After doing all of this, I checked and confirmed that the UAD plug-in's work perfectly with X2. I much prefer the new features of X3, so I hope to hear something official from Universal Audio and/or Cakewalk soon.

Sorry it didn't work for you, Mel. I was hoping it might have made a difference for the better. Yeah I'm sure Cake will get back to us before UAD will. The last time I spoke to UAD support, they told me they no longer test on Sonar in house. I'm not sure if that's changed or not but as of X2, that's what I was told when I had problems with UAD before. If anyone will get to the bottom of this, Noel will eventually. I have insane faith in that guy. :)
 
-Danny