DP not loading plugins from old project

[MartinBaird]

I have a client's project that I recorded and mixed in Digital Performer nine years ago. The client wants me to mix out some stems for him with the mix intact from when I originally did it. The project file hasn’t been opened since way back then.

When DP opens the 9 year old project file I get an error message saying “the following effects could not be found". It’s all my Waves plugins that can’t be found - my UAD plugins load just fine. I click OK and all the Waves plugins are in the slots, in the tracks, where they should be, but their names are all italicized (the plugin can’t be found). If I double click on the italicized name of a Waves plugin in one of the slots in a channel, a blank plugin window (just the top part) show up.

The weird thing is that I can go to any empty plugin slot and load any of my Waves plugins and they work just fine. They are all available, they load, I can adjust settings, they process audio, etc. So somehow something has changed in the Waves plugins updates and the DP project isn’t realizing the Waves plugins are in fact there and available.

I currently run DP 8.07 on a 2009 Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.11.5. I have also tried (unsuccessfully) to solve my problem by starting up from a different hard drive running Mac OS X 10.8.x (Mountain Lion). I have Waves V7 - I did a fresh download and install of V7 to make sure that wasn’t the issue.  I spent 20 mins on the phone with Waves tech support and they didn’t have a solution. We trashed some caches and made DP rescan for plugins. Nothing worked.

If anyone has any ideas I’d be very appreciative. My only other option will be rebuilding the mixes.

Thanks very much.

Martin

[cuttime]

Try running DP9 in 32 bit mode and see if they load.

[MartinBaird]

Yes, I tried running DP in 32 bit mode and still had the same problem. Sorry I forgot to mention that in my original post. Thanks for your input cuttime.

Martin

[Shooshie]

This is purely guessing, but have you tried copying the plugin to another slot? Just option-drag it to another slot and see if DP figures out to use the equivalent later-version Waves plugin. If so, then maybe at least you'll be able to save the settings.

Also, if you load the new plugin, does it recognize user presets from the old ones? On occasion I've been able to save old mixes that way, but I don't remember if it was Waves or other plugins that I was able to save. These days, when I open an old mix, I tend to remix it anyway. Especially if I have a 2-track of the final mix from before, I can get it there very quickly. The reason is because I used to be a bit heavy-handed in my mixing, using a little more compression, EQ, and limiting than was really ideal. I don't know why, but I can hear that stuff a lot more clearly now, and I always did rely on my ears to set up plugins. You figure out what you're hearing, vs. what you want to hear, and you let your ears — and your knowledge of acoustics — tell you exactly what the difference is, then setting up plugins is a snap. If it's just too much to do that, then I don't know what else to tell you. If you can't bring back your plugins from the dead, you have no other options. Take the two-track and see where you were. You should be able to get that back in no time. Plus, your automation will still be there, providing it can make the leap from old Waves to new Waves.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

One other option: set up an old Mac. Do you have that one around the studio, maybe out in a storage shed or somewhere? That would be the most ideal way to do it, if you can get the authorizations to work. THAT may be a problem with Waves. If you have it on dongle from way back, that might work. You know, we DID switch from iLok 1 to iLok 2, so your old iLok 1 may still be around. Or, maybe you still have your old challenge/response code from Waves from back then. I used to keep all those things in a file somewhere, and I could probably dig mine up if I tried hard enough. If you're really in luck, you may have the old system drive. THAT would be perfect!

Shooshie

[edit: Unbelievable! I found them! I searched my drive for Waves Challenge Response Codes, and within a few minutes of searching old documents, I found a bunch of them. They were always a series of four-letter words like CRAB VEND BONK REAP KICK LANE COAT. (not a real one, but I copied words from several different ones) You may have kept some, too; it's worth looking. ]

[MartinBaird]

Thanks for your replies Shooshie! I was so hopeful that Option + dragging the italicizes Waves plugins would work but it didn't. What a genius idea though! And I didn't save any user presets from the old Waves plugins if that's what you were suggesting - I guess I should be doing that. Would have saved me here. I need to call MOTU on the off chance they have an idea. If all else fails I can remix. The songs in the project only have about 10 tracks each. And I have no old Mac system I can try this on.
Thanks again!
Martin