Really basic problem I am having with DP8 / Win7

[MikeTa]

Greetings, all
I was a DP3 then DP5 user on a Mac, took a few years off from stuff, and am now putting a small home studio together. I upgraded to DP8 today, installed it, and loaded a few plugins onto my machine (Minimonsta, Battery, and RealGuitar 3). I was psyched!!! But .... DP8 is not recognizing any of these plug ins. They're not loading on startup and they're not available within the program. It's like they don't exist - I can't assign them to a VI track or anything. I am now wondering if they needed to be installed into some DP-specific subdirectory. I'm really stumped. If anyone has ideas about how to get this going correctly, please let me know. Thanks a lot!
Mike
PS - Windows 7, 6 gigs ram. No other music software running

[NazRat]

Is the folder where they're installed listed in the plugin paths in DP Preferences? It would look something like this C:\Program Files\Vstplugins. Different developers sometimes use different paths, so you might need to enter more than one.

[bayswater]

Does Windows DP have the 32/64 bit issue same as Mac DP?

[MikeTa]

OP here.

Wow....what a mess

Well, the problem was that DP will not play ANY 64 bit plug ins. Once I figured that out and loaded 32 bit plugs, a lot of them worked fine. Quite a few don't work at all.

There seems to be a very basic, like real basic, flaw in the copy/paste function in DP8. I can't copy license keys (from an email or my evernote license list or whatever) and paste them into DP8. Paste does not work in DP8. For licenses with 10 or 20 digits, it's not a big deal; I just typed them in. But, for example, a Fabfilter license, is several hundred random characters; it'd take all night to hand-enter.

Man, this was a disappointing day, trying to get back into DP and music making, and struggling through such basic issues like 64 bit plugs not working and many other little things. Really missing good ole' DP5 right now. DP5 was SOLID, like a rock. DP8 seems buggy buggy buggy.

Right now I am downloading a demo version of Sonar in the hopes of loading my plug ins and getting them authorized, so I can use them in DP.

[bayswater]

You are running it in 64 bit mode, aren't you? I ran the Windows trial version and didn't have this problem.

[MikeTa]

I just checked, and, oops, it's the 32 bit version. Not sure what to do about that ... I downloaded it today from MOTU's website, and it was the one downloadable version they offered and it says Full 8.06 version. Didn't offer me a choice of 32 vs 64 bit. So I guess I will go look around their site and see if I can find a 64 bit version.

[NazRat]

Both the 32 and 64 bit versions are installed with the DP installer if both your PC and Windows are 64bit and would be available in the start menu. It is not a separate download. If you only have a 32 bit PC then the 64 bit version would not be available. I would guess that you have a 64 bit PC because of the 6 gig of ram, but you can check the System Type in the System Control Panel to make sure.

[NazRat]

Does Windows DP have the 32/64 bit issue same as Mac DP?

Yes and no. There are two separate versions of DP for Windows rather than one version with a 32 bit option. Also Windows has been 64 bit for so long (since XP) that I have yet to encounter a plug that is 32 bit only. Doesn't mean there aren't any. The plug installers will install both of you have a 64 bit machine. The thing I think causes some problems is that VST2 plugs can be installed anywhere either you or the developer directs so you need to either override the path on install or enter multiple paths in the app preferences. This goes away with VST3 - there is a standard install folder. VST3 is currently not supported in DP.

[MikeTa]

OP here.

I have managed to solve all issues I was having with DP 8 on Win 7 except for the odious inability to paste from clipboard (for instance, to paste a 300 character license key into an authorization field on a plugin).

The Windows setup is just a lot different than the Mac setup which I'd gotten used to over the years. Simply selecting the right version of DP (64 bit not 32) and ensuring that every plug in is installed for 64 not 32 bit, solved about 90 % of the problems I was having. Another 9 % was solved by ensuring that DP8 was looking into all the folders where plugins were hiding, which must be done manually. The remaining 1 % of my problems relates to being unable to authorize some plugins, because, inexplicably, I cannot paste text into any field anywhere in DP8.

But except for the paste problem, I have to say, it is an absolute pleasure to have DP up and running on a Windows machine!!!!!!! Everything is working well and the new version of DP has a LOT of cool stuff!!!

[NazRat]

You should give MOTU tech support a call to see if they have any ideas about the copy/paste issue. I think you are saying that you don't even have the basic functionality, i.e. paste a track or bundle name? Sometimes plug UIs can have issues, but full loss is strange. I do not have that problem here, though I'm using Win8.1 and don't remember having it with Win7 before I upgraded.

[bayswater]

I didn't think that DP was doing the authorization of the plugins. Isn't this part of the plugin code, specific to each plugin? So in this case, it's Fabfilter that's the issue, not DP?

I've had authorization processes that won't let you copy and paste a code, but not that many. I can also say I didn't have copy paste problems with DP 8 on the Windows trial. I use it all the time for object names, and would have noticed something as basic as that.