Subject:Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Posted by: Skaven

Date:6/6/2003 3:57:56 AM

This is a problem that is a combination of multiple factors, so I'm afraid the Sonic Foundry staff cannot do anything about it, but I thought I'd inform you about it anyway.

I run Sound Forge and Vegas on a Win2000 machine. At work, we have a number of Norton Ghost disk images which we use to speed up setting up a new PC for a worker. Ghost was also used to back up the disk image during the installation of Windows and the needed software, just in case we need to revert back if something goes wrong.

And something indeed did: F-Secure Anti-Virus and the Waves audio plugins' super paranoid copy protection system don't like each other. The computer blue screens instantly if you attempt to install Waves plugins with the virus protection on.

The problems don't stop there. If you disable F-Secure, then install the Waves plugins, then Ghost the disk image, something goes awry. The Waves copy protection does something hideous to the boot sector and the registry, because many Sound Forge plugins also begin to malfunction after Ghosting. In my Sound Forge 4, 5, 6, in all these, the Simple Synthesis and Graphic Dynamics plugins' (and maybe some others) parameters have gone, to put it appropriately, totally fux0red up, rendering the plugins useless.

Oddly enough, when I tried the Sound Forge 6.0 Beta, the plugins worked perfectly. Now, when we purchased the full version, the problems have returned.

I guess the only thing to do in the future is to get me a new system, re-install Windows and all the needed software, and NOT use Ghost at any point.

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:6/6/2003 6:27:05 AM

... or F-Secure ....

geoff

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:6/6/2003 11:29:39 AM

Thanks for the info, that's good to know. I've been wanting to go with the new Waves plugins, and also update my current version of Antares Autotune. The problem I have with these new versions is that they use the Pace Interlok copy protection scheme. It's something that resides under your OS. I've read many horror stories like yours. Yours is just another reason why I won't update to the latest versions, no matter how good they claim to sound. My TC Works, and UltraFunk plugins sound pretty damn good also without the Pace Interlok.

I've even saw cracked versions of Waves and Autotune posted out on the web. So I guess the Pace Interlok doesn't work as well as they expected.

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: Skaven

Date:6/7/2003 1:36:00 AM

Yeah.

I would like to plead Waves to start using just a simple copy protection scheme for their plugins. More sophisticated schemes just f*** up your computer, and will eventually be cracked anyway. It causes a paradox, as even legal customers are forced to use cracked software, if they want to keep their systems working.

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: DCools

Date:6/7/2003 3:47:55 AM

Nice articel to read.

Click

Regards,
Diederick.

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: drbam

Date:6/7/2003 3:40:45 PM

The ProRec article is outdated at this point. As of Waves 3.5, the latest Pace drivers were posted on the Waves site and it was suggested that everyone update to these. Reports are that the new drivers have helped. At any rate, I'm not defending Waves on this issue - quite the opposite, as I've had some problems with this and I think this kind of copy protection is downright stupid! It only encourages people to buy and use cracks and obviously does nothing to engender Waves' reputation or customer loyality. If I didn't absolutely love a few of their plugs, I wouldn't own anything of theirs!

drbam

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: Skaven

Date:6/9/2003 3:09:02 AM

I updated my Waves Gold Bundle plugins to 3.6, the newest version currently. It seemed to work OK without having to re-authorize (thank god), but it didn't fix the problems. My "Synthesis --> Simple" tool and the "Graphic Dynamics" effect in Sound Forge 6.0 are still malfunctioning (and maybe some others, I haven't checked them all yet). The parameters are all crazy: enter a value in one field, then go to the next field, and the value in the first field goes cryptic.

However, the Waves plugins themselves seem to work perfectly. They just apparently maim other plugins.

What might be causing this? Ghost, F-Secure and Pace Interlok could be it, but it could be something else as well. The problem seems permanent. Uninstalling and re-installing or even upgrading Sound Forge to a newer version will not fix the problem. However, using public betas (at least in the case of SF 6.0) seems to fix it. Weird.

Any idea, Sonic Foundry?

Subject:RE: Severe problem with Waves, F-Secure and Ghost

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:6/9/2003 6:44:37 AM

As previously stated, F-Secure and Pace have no place on a DAW. You should feel justified (as you have paid for your Waves) to visit a.b.s.u and get a depaced crack of Waves. PACE is evil.

Ghost should be OK as long as there are no background processes running during normal operation.


geoff