is anyone using the VR while recording vocals live; if so what buffer setting works best
 
 
 
 
 
 
win 7, 64bit, 64 bit firestudio 2626, 10 g ram,  one tb of hard drive

Are you sure the dropouts are caused by this Vocal Rider?  (just wondering if it could be other settings)
 
I did a tiny bit of digging, and found a nice explanation from the Sound on Sound folks on using it, but they were applying it in the mixing stage, not during tracking.  I do not know anything about how Vocal Rider is intended to be used.
 
Here is the link to that: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/articles/vocalrider.htm
 
I'll poke around some more and post back if I find anything relevant.
 
Bob Bone
 

VR is advertised as mixing tool. I doubt it's meant to work in live recording.
Nothing in the user manual points to use in live recording.
Also, it's not mentioned in the manual, but one might assume a plugin like this has some kind of a lookahead function, which requires existing, recorded material.
And further, VR can also react to the level of the accompanying music, which means, IMO, there needs to be a decent mix of the project in order to get good results. 

thanks for the replies gentlemen;
robert e_bone I will check out the article and I will check to see what else could be causing the drop. 
Rantaaho  you can use the fader rider as automation when you  are tracking vocals to keep the vocals level consistent. I am recording my pastors sermons so no music is accompanying him as he preaches. and you can use it for live recording because there is a video on waves site and there is a (vr live plug) that comes with the bundle.

You may have effects in the fx bin but they are not being recorded on the track. All tracks record dry in SONAR so there is little point in having effects in the bin during the recording process unless you are using them for monitoring purposes by echoing the track.

I do monitor nector plugin gate so I will check that. what about the buffer should I increase are leave it at 512