I also have an effect problem (in vegas 8.0) so rather then creating a new thread...
I've been trying to get this effect were kinda fizzles and bends (like when you
mess with the antennae on an old tv set) in time with the music. what I've been
doing, is I put a duplacate track above my main one, setting opacity to 50%, then
adding the wave plugin and increasing the verticle waves.The only problem is, I
don't want the whole screen to start waving, just different little parts quickly in
sucession. I thought I'd use the mask tool to animate it so that it's just a small
part that flashes on and off. And it worked for the first four seconds (I'm only eight
sec. into the amv

) but then suddenly the wave started affecting the screen,
even when it was supposed to be masked. ( this is two events away for the first 4
sec. btw) any help?