Tracktion Software

james · Post by **james** » Tue May 10, 2005 4:16 pm

Beno,

I'm having the same problem. Yesterday, for no reason, my MDA plugs failed to load. All my projects reported "!" signs next to the MDA filters. No luck after trying multiple variations of rescan, clear & rescan, drag from vst folder & repeat then replace and repeat and more.... I finally ran disc permissions and the full utilities in ONYX and did multiple restarts without ever solving the problem.

You should also know that this has happened to me twice before in T1 over the last year. Each time, my MDA plugs are all still right there in the same folder as before but for some reason, Tracktion will not recognize them. Sure I can reinstall them but why should I have to and what's to prevent it from happening again?

The MDA stuff is too good not to use, low CPU and good range of effects. Considering they are working so closely with Mackie by bundling the group, you should consider taking a fresh look at the problem.

james · Post by **james** » Tue May 10, 2005 4:19 pm

By the way...

T2
Mac
OS 10.3.8

Thanks,
James

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Tue May 10, 2005 4:36 pm

Can you rename your T1 plug-in folder, then take it off the list, then re-install T2?

I would assume that they are like conflicting or something, but I haven't had the same problem, so I'm not sure.

Koolkeys

james · Post by **james** » Tue May 10, 2005 5:33 pm

Hi Kool Keys,

Well, hope this doesn't come off the wrong way but I'm not going to reinstall Tracktion if I don't have to. I get paranoid that the second install will overwrite my vst folder, create permissions problems, have to be reauthorized and generally just be a lot of extra work with no guarantee that the MDA plugs will be recognized. I'm pretty darn methodical (former broadcast engineer for 14 years) and have done more than my share of reinstalls so pardon me if I've had enough!

Luckily, I did a large backup of audio apps, prefs, folders and some projects this last weekend. After deleting the MDA folder and replacing it with my last saved version, everything works as normal. Apparently, something got corrupted which is bothersome because none of my utilities or general trouble shooting techniques caught it. Is it Tracktion or MDA? I'll probably run repair permissions once more just to see if it catches something.

My advice to anyone else having the problem would be to drag-restore from the last back up they have. No backup? Then you're probably looking at a fresh reinstall of Tracktion. After which, I strongly recommend backing up the working vst folder just in case.

valley · Post by **valley** » Tue May 10, 2005 5:45 pm

Has anyone experienced this on the PC, or is this a Mac only bug?

james: does removing the Tracktion conf files make any difference? Maybe blowing away Tracktion's list of known plugins so it is forced to completely rescan the lot might help.

james · Post by **james** » Tue May 10, 2005 6:22 pm

Hi Valley,

How do I remove the configuration files? Are they in a Library directory at the system level or user? How is this different than choosing the "clear all plugs and rescan" option on the settings page?

valley · Post by **valley** » Tue May 10, 2005 6:25 pm

I'm not sure for the mac, but on the PC the Tracktion config stuff is in the Tracktion directory.

I'm not in front of T right now so I can't check what filenames you are likely to have.

How is this different than choosing the "clear all plugs and rescan" option on the settings page?

It probably isn't - but if Tracktion *is* getting confused somehow, then it isn't beyond the bounds of possibility that the 'clear all plugs' option is not doing quite what one might expect.

james · Post by **james** » Wed May 11, 2005 12:51 am

Thanks. I'm not likely to do any more troubleshooting right away since it's working again but that's good to know.

Take care.

frankvg · Post by **frankvg** » Wed May 11, 2005 7:31 am

I think it was probably a conflict with the mda plugs I installed myself earlier (because T1 didn't include them all)

I tossed them all in the bin and copied the T2 mda plugs from the package content into the vst folder. That resolved the issue.

thanks all.

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Wed May 11, 2005 7:58 am

Doesn't work for me either (OS X, 10.3.9), but I just went to www.mda-vst.com, clicked VST Effects, selected Download all plug-ins for Mac OS X, deleted the original mda Plug-in folder and replaced it with the newly downloaded one. And hey, presto! all the MDA plugs show. No need to re-install T2 or throw out T1...

jerbare · Post by **jerbare** » Wed May 11, 2005 2:07 pm

i have the same issue - no mda plug-ins show up in t2.

i did a clean install of t2 on a clean install of mac os x 10.4 at home and JUST NOW at work. the mda plugs get dropped in to: /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST/MDA Plug-ins
...upon tracktion2's first run (with the install dialog).

i'm willing to bet that the issue is that which i hate most about the mac: resource/data forks. the file creator/type seems to be funky.

comparing between the Mackie Plug-ins folder, each mackie plugin shows...
Kind: FinalMix.vst Document

looking at the MDA Plug-ins folder, each plugin shows...
Kind: Document

also, there isn't a .vst extension on any of the mda files (mackie plugs are MacOS bundles but mdas are not).

going from memory -- being something i thought was weird looking at things last night -- my computer at home showed the Mackie plug-ins to be Kind: 'QuicktimeJava Document' for some reason, but the mda plugs were the same as they are here... just Kind: 'Document'.

one last thing: each mackie vst shows the version in the preview column when browsing the finder:
FinalMix version 1.1.6.0

...whereas the mda plugs don't have any version information.

last thing: the filesize/permissions seem to be different for the mda plugs when installed. mackie plugs have 755 (drwxr-x-r-x) where has the mda plugs get 644 (-rw-r--r--). the binaries within mackies bundles have filesizes where mdas filesizes are all 0 bytes (im guessing because the data is either forked funky or because of the file/creator type). upon changing the permissions manually via terminal and launching t2 with a plug-in rescan it still doesnt fix the problem (unfortunately), so im still betting its silly resource/data fork funkiness with the type of file...

i would highly recommend mackie 'bundling' the mda plugs with appropriate .vst extensions, or persuading mda to do so...

hope this is of some help to beno/jules for troubleshooting...

love,

jer

james · Post by **james** » Wed May 11, 2005 5:13 pm

Thank you Jerbare.

I noticed the lack of .vst extension too and tried to add it manually but that was pretty silly of me. I only changed the file name. I suppose there is some kind of file creator program for changing the extension, would this do any good?

Your post is a great example of why I still read this forum.

webmob · Post by **webmob** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:11 pm

Hello
Make a right click on the tracktion aplikation
go to the folder macos and then to plugs
take the mda plugs and put them to
/library/audio/Plug-ins/vst folder
delead the old ones first!
make a rescan and bumbumbum
works on my mac

webmob

webmob · Post by **webmob** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:14 pm

has nothing to do with the extention!!!!

frankvg · Post by **frankvg** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:50 pm

mmmmh....yes but...

when you open T1 the plugs vanish from T2
(but why would I want to use T1 ever again?)

Tracktion Software

KVR Audio

mda plug ins not working in t2 but in v1 ? what the...