This article was originally written in 2014 and is applicable to Liquid Rhythm 1.4.5 (and earlier), as well as earlier versions of Liquid Music. Liquid Music 1.8.0 + Liquid Rhythm 1.8.0 use bundled Java for all modes of operation, and Liquid Music 1.7.0 + Liquid Rhythm 1.7.0 VST / AU / AAX use bundled Java, so thus should not encounter this issue. However, if this error is somehow ever encountered in later versions the recommended solution would be to perform a complete uninstall and then reinstall, as the error indicates a problem with Java configuration for Liquid Rhythm / Liquid Music in VST / AU / AAX, which should be reset by a clean reinstall. Instructions here: macOS. Windows.
Issue
This is document is specifically for Microsoft Windows users. If your Liquid Rhythm VST Plugin is not launching but your Liquid Rhythm Standalone or your Liquid Rhythm Max for Live is working fine, then this document is for you. Specifically you are receiving an LRPA04 error message when you attempt to run Liquid Rhythm VST.

LRPA04: Please ensure JAVA is properly installed and configured. If this problem persists, contact support@wavedna.com.
What may be wrong
How does Liquid Rhythm start plugin mode? Liquid Rhythm needs to talk to the Windows Registry. In the Registry, Liquid Rhythm is looking for the path of your installed Java Virtual Machine (JVM). If the entry is not available it can result in receiving LRPA04. Depending on the bit-level of your Digital Audio Workstation host (ie, the program you are using to launch Liquid Rhythm’s VST Plugin), it looks at a different location in the registry.
- If you are using a 64-bit DAW on 64-bit Windows, or 32-bit DAW on 32-bit Windows:
\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\JavaSoft\\Java Runtime Environment
- If you are using a 32-bit DAW on 64-bit Windows:
\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Wow6432Node\\Software\\JavaSoft\\Java Runtime Environment
If it cannot find the appropriate entry in the Windows Registry, Liquid Rhythm will not be able to start. The first step is to ensure that you have the appropriate Java installed. If you know you have the correct Java installed, we need to move to the next step.
The second part of this error is that Java may not be in your system path. The path is variable stored in your computer’s environment. The plugin needs to read the path when loading the Java Virtual Machine, so that it can launch properly.
Checking the Windows Registry (Automatic Way)
Our developers implemented a quick tools designed for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. This won’t work on Windows XP or older Windows. It essentially duplicates our startup code for the purpose of testing if the registry is setup in a way we would understand.
Download and run the following: CheckJava.exe
Checking the Windows Registry
We have discovered that in some cases, when Java is installed, the registry entry is missing. We do not know what causes this to occur, however, we can check to see if your system is in this state.
Microsoft ships a tool with Windows that lets your view and edit these settings called regedit. Warning, you need to be very careful with regedit because making changes can damage your Windows install. We need you to only observe and verify the appropriate setting exists. You shouldn’t make any changes with regedit, unless you are absolutely confident that you know what you are doing. You have been warned.
Here are the steps:
- Windows Icon Key + r to open ‘RUN’ command:
- Type in ‘regedit’ and hit ‘OK’.
- Browse to the appropriate path. The regedit allows you open each step path. For example my path is
\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\JavaSoft\\Java Runtime Environment
and this is what it looks like in regedit (a little bit of editing). - Verify the path exists. If you expand a couple more steps, it will show the exact path to the Java Virtual Machine (jvm.dll). Verify this all exists.
If either folders are missing or the JVM.dll is missing then we suggest you re-install Java (instead of performing an update). The newer Java install will setup the registry correctly.
Checking the PATH variable
The environment variable is easy to check, and just involves a couple steps.
- Open Windows explorer and right-click on your ‘Computer’ and choose ‘Properties’ from the popup.
Open your computers properties setting.
- This will open the Windows control panel for your system. Here you want to click the ‘Advanced system setting’ button found on the top left of the screen. This would open the ‘System Properties’ dialog box.
Open the Advanced system settings.
- Inside the ‘System Properties’ dialog box you want to navigate to the ‘Advanced’ tab, and click on the ‘Environment Variables…’ button near to bottom right of this dialog.
Choose the advanced tab and click on Environment Variables
- In the ‘Environment Variables’ dialog box, we need to find the ‘Path’ environment variable. You want to look in the bottom section, titled ‘System variables’, and search for the ‘Variable’ Path. Select this row and click the ‘Edit…’ button. This will let you see the value assigned to this environment variable.
Edit the current PATH environment variable
- This unfortunately opens a very small editor, which is too small to see the entire path. I would suggest copying all of the text found in the ‘Variable Value’ field into Notepad for easier reading.
Path information
- You will notice that system path are separated by semi-colons (‘;’) and you want to make sure there is a path to your installed Java. You would need to ensure 32-bit and 64-bit path are both there. For 64-bit Windows there will be two main directories where software is installed, C:\Program Files\ is for 64-bit software, and C:\Program Files (x86)\ is for 32-bit software. Important part to notice is that it is my ‘java\jre7\bin\client’ directory is in it. If they are missing, you will need to add the appropriate path, and carefully save the value back into the environment variable. Click ‘OK’.
Environment Variable Path
- If the path is correct, then you can click cancel and close all the additional windows you had opened.
Once the fix is applied remember you restart your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Host software for the environment variable to be picked up. On older versions of Windows, such as XP and Vista, the fix will require a system restart.