Sonivox plugins - Danger! Warning Will Robinson!

[digitaldrummer]

Ok, I don't usually slam plugin vendors but I bought a "Black Friday Synth Pack" that had 3 Sonivox plugins (Twist, Wobble, Vocalizer Pro). It was cheap. $9.99 for all 3. I also got 3 Air Synth plugins (even though I already had one of them) for another $9.99 on the same offer. No problem with those.

The Sonivox (not to be confused with Sonnox or Sonimus) plugins destroyed my system (or at least temporarily). Windows Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Super annoying. The Sonivox plugins appear to be forcing the install of a very old ilok driver which causes a BSOD. Luckily I know enough about Windows that I was able to recover. the first time was really weird though as it restored an old "restore point" (I didn't tell it to) which took me back to a previous version of Pro Tools - which I had updated last week) and of course several plugins were no longer installed. but hey, it boots. so I uninstall PT, proceed to install the plugins that are missing and then reinstall PT. reboot and BSOD again. MotherFu&^$(&!!

so I go through some recovery attempts and get it booting again. this time it has the correct version of Pro Tools (2020.11) and even some of the plugins are there. I try to start PT but it's dead. does not launch. For some reason Melodyne 4 is fubar'd and won't even uninstall. eventually I run the installer again and it is able to uninstall. weirdo. then I uninstall Pro Tools and re-install again.

Finally back to where I was and magically the Sonivox plugins are installed and working. Also my data files are still intact (although I checked that first thing after the restore point. phew...). But a whole day wasted.

So the lesson here, besides having good backups is to avoid these Sonivox pieces of shit.

[drumsound]

Yikes! I'm glad you have the knowhow and patience to get your system going again.

[Nick Sevilla]

I hate it when that happens with the PACE crap. It seems to happen once a year.

[digitaldrummer]

Many plugins have well behaved installers and will either check to see if there is already a later version installed, or will prompt or give the option to install it. SoundToys always gave an option if I recall. My guess is that the Sonivox plugins have been abandoned. I have some others (Orchestral companion) that installed OK in the past. I almost picked up another but noticed it doesn't even support AAX...

I did email support, which went to InMusic and now it's all starting to make sense -- https://inmusicbrands.com/ -- a conglomerate that bought up a bunch of struggling companies. They will continue to sell the older products but invest as little as possible in any new development.

oh, and their support responded telling me I should install the latest iLok drivers and try it again. I had already told them I had the latest installed and their stupid installer ignored it. I'm not falling for it a third time!

[permanent hearing damage]

i have a few of their products. i don't use them often but i did notice the other day that they're causing protools to crash if i start it. fortunately for me, i rarely use protools - normally mix in cubase.

it's a shame, they sound pretty good, especially for the money.