Docs

Troubleshooting

The things worth checking first, and where to go when they do not help.

The plugin hasn't appeared in my DAW

The plugin ships inside the app, and macOS only registers it once the app has been launched from where it is going to live.

  1. Launch DropWave once, from your Applications folder.
  2. Restart your host. Every DAW caches its plugin list, and most will not notice a plugin that arrived inside an app bundle until they rescan.
  3. Logic Pro — Logic Pro → Settings → Plug-in Manager will show it and let you rescan.
  4. FL Studio — Options → Manage plugins → Find plugins, with Audio Unit ticked in the format list. It is not always on by default.

Look under Effects, named DropWave Analyzer.

The plugin shows a key but no tempo

That is correct behaviour. On vocals and other soft-transient material there is frequently no reliable pulse to find, and the plugin would rather show you nothing than a number it cannot stand behind. See BPM.

A file won't open

DropWave works out what it can open by opening it, so a refusal means macOS genuinely could not decode the file.

  • Does it play anywhere else? If QuickTime or your DAW cannot open it either, the file is the problem.
  • Is it still being written? A bounce mid-render or a download that stopped early will fail. Wait for it to finish.
  • Is it protected? Purchased, DRM-protected media cannot be decoded by anything.
  • Is it very short? Under about half a second there is nothing to measure.
  • A missing extension is not the problem — those open fine.

The key looks wrong

In order:

  1. Check the confidence band. If it is low, DropWave is telling you the call was close and naming the alternative. That is the answer.
  2. Is the material actually keyed? A drum loop, a riser or a noise sweep has no tonic to find.
  3. Is the alternative the relative key? A minor and C major contain the same notes. Both readings are defensible and your ear decides.
  4. Check the tuning offset. A large deviation in cents means the material genuinely is off-pitch — that is information, not an error.

If it is genuinely wrong, that is the most valuable thing you can report. Post the file, what DropWave said, and what it actually was.

The BPM looks wrong

  • Exactly half or exactly double what you expected: both grids are real. See half time and double time.
  • Neither half nor double — 137 against 103, say: that is worth reporting.
  • Rubato, live or unquantised material: there is no single tempo to find.

"Analysing 1 of 12"

You dropped several files. The current beta analyses the first and says so rather than silently ignoring the rest.

Space doesn't play the file

Space plays and pauses only when a file is loaded. On the empty drop zone it passes through to macOS, which is deliberate.

Anything else

The Discord is where builds, install notes and bug reports live. The most useful report is: the file, what DropWave said, and what it actually was.