yorolpal
I find them useful as last stage track tweakers when mixing.  If something needs a skosh more something they are tres easy to use. At $38...they're worth it.

sharke
Why is Waves stuff so damn complicated and problem-ridden when you install it. 

rtucker55
I hope it is ok to post this excerpt from the email I received from Cakes Tech Support. If not, Its' been nice knowing you all but here is what they sent me:
 
"Thank you for contacting Cakewalk Technical Support. You will see a recap of our phone conversation below. If you have another support question please visit http://www.cakewalk.com/support/contact/ts.aspx or call 617-423-9021.
Thank you for choosing Cakewalk!

Problem/Questions: When inserting any of the Waves plug-ins into SONAR X2a, there is a white screen and a crash.

Solutions: According to your dump files, mfc100u.dll was where the problem was.
Typically when a lot of C++ components are crashing, I usually recommend people try installing their Microsoft C++ Redistributable Libraries. Many third-party applications will install these so sometimes the libraries can get skewed as multiple versions exist on the same computer. This may be why things are running smooth on one computer but not another. It might not be SONAR at all, but more so the C++ libraries. Here's what I would do:
 
Go to Start > All Programs > Programs and Features and to uninstall any Microsoft C++ Redistributable Packages listed. Afterwards, I would re-download these packages directly from Microsoft and re-install them. I have listed the most common Redistributable packages below. If you’re on a 32-bit operating system, I'd get the first three. If you’re on a 64-bit operating system, the second three. If you run both 32-bit and 64-bit SONAR on a 64-bit operating system, install them all.
 
For 32-bit operating systems or 32-bit programs on 64-bit operating systems:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package x86: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5638

 

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package x86: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5582

 

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package x86: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5555

For 64-bit operating systems:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18471

 

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=2092

 

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package x64: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632

I hope this helps on that front."
 
I can't guarantee that the above links are still good.
 
On my system I have both x86 and x64 for the 2005, 2008, and 2010 plus I have a 2012 x64. The important thing is that you do not have two of the same pacakge with different version numbers. After the waves install I had two of the 2005 x64 with different version numbers. I just un-installed the oldest version and I'm working now.