Trouble loading DSP FabFilter

[peewee678]

Hi,

I use FabFilter Pro Q-3 as a DSP but MB has trouble loading it. I have to restart MB about 20-40 times before it finally loads FabFilter. After it has loaded, it works just fine, never crashes, it's just that MB has problems finding it initially (it's the only VST plugin I use and I do use multiple Winamp plugins and those all load fine).

Is there a workaround or trick I could use?

[hiccup]

What type and version of MusicBee are you running?
What is the path to your vst plugins?
Could it be antivirus software interfering?
Are you using the latest version of the vst plugin? (dec 2021 I believe)
What happens if you temporarily remove or disable your winamp plugins?

[peewee678]

Well I'll be damned, should have thought about this myself
First: thank you for your help! Greatly appreciated!

I already had excluded the drive with MB (and the FabFilter .dll) from Windows Defender so initially I thought that could not be the problem. But here's the thing: the problem always occurred in the first minutes after booting my PC (that's also the time frame I always start MB).

So... this time I disabled Defender right after booting and after that I opened MB: no problem! Rebooted four times in a row using this method: all succesful!
My theory: the Defender exclusions only take effect several minutes after Windows has booted.
What's weird is that Defender doesn't see the .dll as a virus but for some reason it does interfere with MB loading it...

I don't have a real solution yet (e.g. some kind of Powershell script to delay Windows Defender at Windows boot).
For now I have to do this manually I guess... Oh, well...

[hiccup]

I don't have a real solution yet (e.g. some kind of Powershell script to delay Windows Defender at Windows boot).

I'm not sure that would be good idea.
Are you using MB portable, installed on a different drive than C:?

[peewee678]

Yes, I use MB portable 3.4.7805P on a different drive than my Windows drive.

[hiccup]

Hm, I never knew Windows defender could have this kind of behaviour.
That's annoying for sure.

[hiccup]

Are you perhaps using a portable (removable) drive for MusicBee?

[peewee678]

Same here. It's weird but because I did four test runs each with the same result for now I think that must have been the culprit...
No USB stick here; just a normal external hard drive with all my music and MB on it.

BTW: before testing it this way I also tried your advice: removing all Winamp plugins but that had no effect.

[hiccup]

No USB stick here; just a normal external hard drive with all my music and MB on it.

That's what I meant, so it's a removable drive.
As a guess that could be why defender always checks it regardless of exclusion settings.

[peewee678]

Well, you've got a point there; English is not my first language and I always read "removable" device as "ejectable" device.
I know. It doesn't make sense but hey, it does to me 

Anyway: your suggestion is interesting but I don't think it's the case because a few minutes after Win boot, it never checks the drive anymore and I can always open MB without the problem.

To be sure: I just copied a "eicar" test virus to the drive and I'll wait how long it will take before Defender picks it up.
My best guess is it will never pick it up. We'll see.

[Austin-316]

Oh man, I totally get where you're coming from with those plugin issues. I had a similar thing happen with a different audio tool on my computer. It was super frustrating! Every time I opened it, it felt like a game of chance whether it would recognize my plugins or not.

Then I read on FAQ Audio forum that tweaking the settings may help. I needed to make sure it scanned for plugins each time I started it up. This hint worked. Now, I always make sure to keep everything updated now. You wouldn't believe how often that fixes things!

[peewee678]

Oh man, I totally get where you're coming from with those plugin issues. I had a similar thing happen with a different audio tool on my computer. It was super frustrating! Every time I opened it, it felt like a game of chance whether it would recognize my plugins or not.

Yeah, this topic is almost 2 years old now and nothing has changed. After I boot into Windows (10) and start MB, FabFilter is never detected the first time. I have to close and re-open MB about 3 times before FabFilter gets recognized. Luckily I only have to reboot my system once in a few weeks so, although it's irritating, it's not a big deal.