MC5: Missing CakeWalk fx

I'm hoping someone has heard of this problem. Sorry for the long message.

I recently purchased the boxed version of Music Creator 5. I am new to DAW software, but I am technically savy and a software developer by trade. OS is XP Pro latest SP. 3GB memory. 1TB free drive space. I have never installed any other CakeWalk software prior to this. I had installed MAGIX demo and Finale demo. When I intially installed, I did install Cake Walk Studio Intruments as well. I do have a few third party VST instruments installed.

Everything seems to work in Music Creator except that I am missing every CakeWalk audio effect plugin EXCEPT the equalizer (I suspect the equalizer is special anyway). In the FX bin and in the Plugin manager, none of the standard CakeWalk fx are listed or show up. For example, no compressor/gate, no reverb, etc (as referenced at the bottom of the CakeWalk product description page http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/MusicCreator/FXs.asp). This is true on audo tracks as well as midi tracks and buses. The only effect I can use for a track is the equalizer or Amplitube. Both work fine.

It gets stranger.

If I load the mixing tutorial project (off the cakewalk web site), the effects used in that project show up on some of the tracks. For example, I think that project uses the compressor/gate and the reverb. Those display perfectly fine on a couple tracks/buses. I can click on them and modify their settings. The respective plugin dialog pops up perfectly fine. I CAN NOT though, add those same effects to another track. They simply are not there to pick from.

Here's what I have tried which has not worked so far:
1. Reinstalled the software on top of itself twice.
2. I removed everything CakeWalk, did a clean install with a registry cleaner and then reinstalled.
3. I wiped the user settings from the registry (Music Creator rebuilt them the next time I launched the program).
4. Of course, I have scanned for plugins. I even added the Shared Plugins folder to the VST paths.
5. I've removed as many of my third party VST as possible. Maybe a conflict?

Here's what I know:
1. There were no errors during any of the several installations.
2. The .dlls for the "builtin" effects are in the Shared Plugins directory under Cakewalk. They seem to all be there. They are registered in the registry as OLE automation servers (that allows them to be "plugins").
3. Loading at least one project that was already using a couple of these effects works perfectly fine. So, perhaps there is nothing wrong with the plugins themselves.

I'm running out of things to try. But, I suppose I'm going to try installation on another computer for at least comparison. It's almost as if the installation process didn't include something in the registry that it was supposed to. I know there is lots to this application besides effects, but I'm hesitant to get too deep into it without the ability to reach my ultimate goal.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

spenc

Right. They are not showing up in Plugin Manager. Which category should they show up in? VST Effects? Direct X Effects?


I've poked around the disabled list and they are not in there either.


Ya, I've tried various scenarios of rescanning.


OK I'll create another account. At least something else to try.

Beagle


that's a pretty odd scenerio, spenc. 

you say that none of the FX show up in the plugin manager either, so that means that they aren't there at all, not just disabled, right?  and you've made sure and added the folder to the list and rescanned for them you say.

this is a wild shot, but try creating a new ADMIN user account in WinXP.  I know you probably already are using an admin user acct, but just try that and then reinstall MC on the new account (after uninstalling again, of course).

OK. I fixed it. No amount of reinstalling would fix it though.

It appears that maybe a key .dll didn't (and would not) get registered or something. Perhaps the one that looks up DirectX plugins?

I found the section in the registry where Plugin Manager keeps it's known plugin list. It was then a matter of copying keys and values for each of the effects into that subkey. Making sure to get the correct CLSID (some effects had two CLSIDs for some reason). Made .reg files for each one, then executed them. After doing all this they show up Plugin Manager. I tested each one and they seemed to work.