Thanks Scook. I contacted Waves support, they got back to me so I have some things to try tomorrow.
 
Rocky

Hey Rocky,
 
Just so you know, they do work in Sonar X3e. That's what I use and I have not had any symptoms like you describe. Waves really do make great plugins, but their installer and Waveshell architecture are problematic.
 
I have had to cleanup registry keys in Sonar when moving from 9.2 to 9.3, but other than that, I've had great luck with their plugins.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks for the vote of confidence and ideas Dan. Here's where I'm at:
 
Hi Rocky,
 
Thank you for contacting Waves technical support.
 
This might be a graphic issue. 
 
1. Install the latest drivers for the graphic adapter - from the vendor’s site. Don't run their automatic check, but download and install the latest driver for your graphics card model.
2. Only if problem continues:
Create a text file named: no_context_sharing.txt
This file should be empty, we only need it to be named properly.
3. Place this file here: C:\ProgramData\Waves Audio\ 
 
I suggest we get a fresh start, let's remove Waves completely and reinstall.
 
Please take these steps to completely remove Waves from your PC:
 
If you have any Saved IR acoustics save the following folders located at:
C:\Program Files\Waves\Plug-Ins
IR1Impulses
IR1Impulses V2
Acoustics.net Impulses
 
Paste them on to your desktop.
 

Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove anything of      Waves - Start > Settings > Control Panels > Add/Remove      Programs

Go to Program Files and delete the Waves folder.      - My Computer > Hard Drive > Program Files > Waves

Go to the Start Menu > Search > For all files      and folders and search for "Waveshell". Delete any      entry you may find.

Go to C:\Users\youruser\AppData\Roaming\Waves      Audio 
If you don't see the AppData folder it's probably hidden. On the explorer window click on Organize > Folder and Search Options, go to the View tab. Under Advanced Settings, under Hidden Files and Folders make sure it is set to Show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives.
 
Delete the Caches. and in the Preferences folder remove everything but the Waves Plug-ins WAPAI folder shortcut. If you don't have it, simply remove the entire Preferences folder. 

Empty the recycle bin. 
Now we will need to re-install Waves.
 
Here is a link to download "Waves Online/Offline Installer" V9. When you get to "Installation Type Menu", check Gold, GTR Solo and JJP Artist Signature  only, scroll down to Single Plug-Ins and check Bass Rider , Renaissance Reverb and Vocal Rider only.
Go to the following location and look for the 32 bit VST3 Waveshell file – Waveshell-VST3 9.2.vst3 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\VST3.
 
Go to the following location and look for the 64 bit VST3 Waveshell file – Waveshell-VST3 9.2x64.vst3 - C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.
 
Launch Sonar, go to Edit > Preferences > Vst Settings. Check that you have the right Waveshell VST3 file location depending if you're using Sonar in 32 or 64 bit. If you don't, please Add them manually.
 
If you're running Sonar is running in 64 bit make sure it doesn't read the 32 bit Waveshell-VST file and vice verse.
 
Under VST Scan Options check all three check boxes, and click on Re-scan VST Folders.
 
Let me know how this worked out.
 
 
If you need further assistance feel free to contact us or visit http://www.waves.com/support

Best Regards, 
 
Yoni Kesar
Waves Technical Support Staff
Here's my Reply:
 
I went through the steps suggested but when I scanned  for plug-ins in the Sonar plug-in manager a browser window opened and with a request for the Waves V9.3 plug-in folder. When I browsed to the location where it resides,  C->program files (x86)->Waves->plug-ins V9  in the ‘ look in’ dropdown menu  and clicked select the look in dropdown menu  bounced back to Documents (default I guess)  the select box didn’t get populated so the folder couldn’t selected  ( see screen shot ).
The second time I went through the steps suggested I also did a registry clean up and changed the location of the VST folder to Programs instead of programs x86 in the installer. When I scannned for plug-ins in the Sonar plug-in manager a browser opened and I got a request for the Waves V9.3 plug-in folder. When I browsed to the location where it should have been, C->program files there wasn’t a waves folder. I did a search and couldn’t find that vst folder.
The third time I did the above steps including the registry clean up but left the vst folder to the default in the installer and disabled my anti-virus and firewall. This time when I scanned in the Sonar Plug-in manager the manager became unresponsive when it was scanning the waveshell.
I never found the app data folder during any of the attempts and I did have “show hidden folders” checked during the search. Before each attempt I moved my licenses to the cloud and back to my computer before scanning vst’s in the plug-in manager.
 
Rocky

I would suggest two additional steps:
 
1) (Only if you are running Sonar 64 bit) Remove the 32bit VST folder from Sonar's VST scanner. Once you've got Waves working, you can add it back, however I would urge you to consider creating a subfolder in that folder for any 32bit VST's you want to use and only add those to the scanner. Leave any unused 32bit plugins in the base folder where they will no longer get scanned. This should include the 32bit Waveshell.
 
2) Before reinstalling, manually search your registry for entries in Sonar (Cakewalk's) keys named "Inventory". Make sure there are no references to previous versions on Waves plugins. If there are, delete them.
 
Good luck!
 
Dan
 

Rocky, are you running 64bit sonar? If so, you should be looking in the regular Program Files, not Program Files(x86). It is probably located in Program Files/Cakewalk/VST.

I am running 64bit Sonar. I changed the vst location to programs during installation in the second attempt but the waves vst folder was nowhere to be found when I was prompted for a location during scanning. I checked Program Files/Cakewalk/VST and it's not there. I have no need for 32 bit Waves plugs. I like idea of cleaning up folder locations. I sent a reply to Waves along with some screen shots. Waves replied to my first request in short order. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Rocky

Yoni from Waves Tech dept. was incredibly helpful. Dan you were spot on, Yoni cleaned up the search folders in the plug-in manager and deleted some old waveshells that I didn't find for some reason. I'll mark this as Solved. Thanks again for the help.
 
Rocky

Rocky,
 
Glad to hear you've got things working!
 
Regards,
Dan
 

dcumpian
Rocky,
 
Glad to hear you've got things working!
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks Dan. It seems that housekeeping may have gone a little too far as I now have some other issues now. I'm happy to have access to all my Waves plugs and I'm pretty confident I can fix the other issues but at this point it's a little bittersweet.
 
Rocky

 
 

bluzdog

dcumpian
Rocky,
 
Glad to hear you've got things working!
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks Dan. It seems that housekeeping may have gone a little too far as I now have some other issues now. I'm happy to have access to all my Waves plugs and I'm pretty confident I can fix the other issues but at this point it's a little bittersweet.
 
Rocky

Hmmm, I would have expected that Waves support housekeeping would only impact their own plugins. Maybe when they had you delete something out of your AppData folder it took out profiles belonging to other plugins?
 
Sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's one reason I cringe whenever I get updates to plugins. Sometimes, I just save them and never install them.
 
Regards,
Dan