Waves Vocal Rider/Waveform 12

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

Anyone know how to set up Waves Vocal Rider to "hear" the instrumental mix? I have all the instruments going to one channel and the vocal on its own channel. How do I get the Rider to hear that instrument channel?

􀂃 Insert Vocal Rider as the last plug-in on your vocal or vocal group track.
􀂃 Send your instrumental tracks, post fader, to a bus, just like a headphone mix.
􀂃 Set the sidechain input on Vocal Rider to the instrumental bus. HUH? WHERE IS THAT?
􀂃 Begin playing your song, then set the Vocal Sensitivity and Attack controls.
􀂃 Set the Target control by moving the transparent screen to the Vocal range peak.
􀂃 The main Rider fader will begin to move automatically, leveling your vocal.

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

(When I launch Vocal Rider in Waveform 12 no icon looking like a "key" shows on its gui. That is where the sidechain input is supposed to be).

[Watchful]

The sidechain element in Waveform is typically located in the upper left corner of the plugin window.

Remember that ALL non-vocal tracks must be in a submix, first.

Then, select the name of the submix in the sidechain section of the plugin window.

I use this tool a lot, but like most folks, not in the manner in which it's intended.

I'll typically comp a vocal track first, then pitch correct it. Following this, I'll the vocal track through Vocal Rider and compare. Sometimes it does a great job, but once in a while it doesn't do that great a job and I level the vocal track the hard way. Most times, you can definitely hear improvement. Then I render that track, and move to the next one.

In the end, I don't have any instances of Vocal Rider running, so no need for instrument and vocal buses or sidechaining.

I bring this up because a similar approach can help pinpoint the issue you're having:

1. Drag Vocal Rider onto just one and only one vocal track.

2, Open it up--is the sidechaining input there, or that key symbol? If the sidechaining option is there, it's working perfectly. If not, there may be an issue with Vocal Rider. Use the WavesConnect app to ensure you're up-to-date and the plugin is fully authorized.

EDIT: Not sure what you were describing.

It works fine for me under versions 9 through 12 inclusive: I suspect Waveform might not be the problem here but the authorization through Waves Central.

[Watchful]

Incidentally, not sure I ever agreed with Waves' recommendations on the chain. I'd advise if you're using Vocal Rider as an active plugin, put it before any compressor and insert effects. You'd want the vocals as level as possible before doing anything further with them.

If compiling a vocal track from multiple clips, sometimes I'll use Vocal Rider to level the audio BEFORE doing any pitch correction.

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

I am running Win10 64-bit, have a fully licenced Vocal Rider, and have tried to find the "key" icon on the vst2 version and vst3 version. The plugin GUI simply does not look like any of the screen shots of V.R in any of the youtube videos.

Several years ago I telephoned a UAD tech to find out why my UAD plugins did not look like the ones in the tutorial videos. I was running T6 (and still am). Sent him a screen shot of my GUI. Was astonished. The tech said that the Tracktion developers did not fully adhere to the vst standard and that kept UAD plugins from displaying properly.

I have waited until now to try Waveform 12 assuming that all deficiencies had been addressed. Instead I find the same quirks persist. Does anyone running Win 10 and Waveform 12 and a Waves product that is meant to be side-chained see that "key" icon that is supposed to be on the upper left top of the plug in GUI?

[pough]

I'm pretty sure that the key icon is not a part of the plugin GUI. It's a part of the DAW's plugin frame.

If a plugin has sidechain abilities in Waveform a dropdown to choose the source can be found at the top left of the plugin frame (not the plugin GUI) as well as in the Control Panel (if it happens to be expanded into Useful Mode.) Here is a screencap of a Boz plugin that has sidechain.

Sidechain Waveform.png

I will also include a screencap of the same plugin in Bitwig to show that the controls you are expecting to see might exist but are not a part of the plugin GUI. In Bitwig it's not even in the frame of the plugin, it's down in a thing somewhere that I can't describe using words. But it's there.

Sidechain Bitwig.png

Whether or not a Waves plugin can do the sidechainy thing in Waveform, I have no idea. I gave up on Waves about 20 years ago.

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

Yes, my VR plugin frame does not have that sidechain button shown in your top screen shot. I have looked everywhere for it. It seems that all other DAWs place all kinds of controls up there except Tracktion and now Waveform. Remember my earlier post about UAD GUIs? THe UAD tech asked, "Hey, where are all the controls that are supposed to be right above the plugin GUI?"

[Kott]

you need to disable sandbox to see plugin's sidechain button

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

How does one do that in Waveform 12?
?

[Kott]

How does one do that in Waveform 12?
?

settings->plugins, uncheck "Sandbox" on your plugin

[dysjoint]

Waveforms best feature: racks. Right click the plugin, choose 'wrap this plugin in a rack', now you can see all the inputs and outputs and route them as needed. Copy the rack to the other track/bus. Add inputs and outputs as needed to the rack wrapper. Route eg track x to the main audio input and track y to the sidechain.

Note: I have no idea about this waves plugin but this is how I deal with any such routing issues.

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

I have actually used a rack wrapper in the past to make a plugin not poof-crash T6 when simply placed on a track. (Slate Trigger) Works perfectly fine once placed in a wrapper. Good last resort technique.

[pough]

It seems that all other DAWs place all kinds of controls up there except Tracktion and now Waveform.

Not all other DAWs. I just showed you how Bitwig, like Waveform, puts them somewhere else.

[RJWlaw@aol.com]

I am running Waveform 12 and it appears from your Big Beautiful Door plugin screenshot that Waveform 12 places the side-chain button on the upper left hand side of the plug-in frame, so would I be wrong in expecting Waveform 12 to do the same for any plugin that has side-chain capability? Is anyone aware of Waveform 12 placing a side-chain button anywhere else other than on or near the upper left hand side of the plug-in's frame? (I am only asking about Waveform's behavior).

Sad Update - changing the sandbox setting for the Vocal Rider vst2 plugin and closing the edit and rebooting had no effect -- the VR GUI opened but no side-chain button was displayed. Doing the same with the VR vst3 plugin made it behave as follows: placing the VR vst3 on a track inside a sandbox caused W12 to poof-crash. Placing the VR vst3 on a track outside a sandbox caused W12 to poof-crash. Placing the VR vst3 in a rack on a track outside a sandbox caused W12 to poof-crash. BUT -- Placing the VR vst3 in a rack on a track INside a sandbox caused the plugin icon to appear and be connected in a rack HOWEVER the GUI of the plugin would not open and therefore the controls could not be accessed and also the plugin within the rack would soon invariably crash with an error message reporting the the process within the sandbox had crashed and to contact the maker of the plugin.

From reviewing other older posts it appears that the Waves developers have communicated to Waveform that they will absolutely NOT work with Waveform to make Waveform a supported DAW. Is this still true in December 2022?

[Watchful]

I have a good number of Waves products and they're working fine in v12. But functional doesn't mean supported.

With your Vocal Rider installation, did you by chance also receive a vst2 version of the plugin? There's definitely a thing going on with vst3 files. Many users here have reported "I can get the vst2 to work but NOT the vst3," and others report "I can get the vst2 to work, but not the vst3." I have some of each that work while their counterparts are not working fully.

I'm wondering this because what you're describing is something of a display issue, and a lot of the vst2/3 issues relate to how the plugin is displayed on the screen.