Browser Synth Rack: Insert Synth ... greyed out.

 
While attempting to understand what you're describing (I've always just double-clicked on the synth name in Browser/Plugins/Instruments), I came across inconsistencies between Sonar, Sonar Help and the Platinum reference manual.  It's a mess and confusing.
 
In the Synth rack, I have no "Insert  Synths" menu item in "Synth Settings Menu" as described in the manual, nor do I have the "Insert Synths Options" menu item as described in Help (greyed out or not).
 
But in any case (and described in both Help and the manual), doesn't the big at the top of the Synth rack do what you want ? 
 
It's called "Insert Synth".  (Or is this what you're saying is greyed out ?)
 

 
OK, I fully understand now.  Your "Insert Synth" menu item in the list you get after clicking on the "+" is greyed out.  That's odd.
 
I just took some time to learn the Plug-in Layouts functionality (which I'm now going make use of)  and created several layouts in the process.  I used the menu tree in question quite a bit and can't get "Insert Synth" to grey out.  But I'm now scared it will !
 
I'm on Kingston if that makes a difference.
 

Thanks, Steve. I cleared out the folder entirely as you suggested, but this hasn't improved matters. I also then created a new layout (a handful of tried-and-trusted VSTi s) via Plug-in Manager. This makes no difference either (although the new layout is perfectly usable via the PlugIns tab). It's not such a big deal as to make rolling back to an earlier release worthwhile, but it adds to the growing list of annoyances in Sonar, where something used to work but doesn't anymore.

Ah, that's interesting Matt. Can you by any chance remember at which update it broke? It seemed to break intermittently for me until the other day, after which it seems to have become permanent.

I believe MenuLayoutsPath  is used to look up where the custom layouts are stored. The registry keys which store the current active menus are in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR\Platinum\PluginMenuLayoutMRU

• PluginBrowser
• PluginBrowserAudioEffects
• PluginBrowserSynths
• SynthRackSynths

 
If the default is empty, SONAR uses the "Default All Plug-ins" layout. At least, that is what happens based on my tests.

FWIW, I can see that Sonar is writing apparently correct entries to the registry by selecting a layout in each of the locations where that can be done and then looking at the registry via regedit. Seems fine. The key SynthRackSynths is present but is empty, unsurprisingly.

Paul P
 There's a curious "MenuLayoutsDirty" (=0) entry under Cakewalk Plugin Manager.  I wonder what that does.
 
EDIT: And I also discovered an error in my Platinum branch, namely "EffectsChainArtworkFolder" still set to X1's folder, though this doesn't seem to prevent the new Platinum Effect Chains from finding their background graphics.

I have not looked at MenuLayoutsDirty. Dirty flags (if that is what it is) are often used to indicate a change in state to some data which has not been committed. For example the * next to the project name is the visual indicator the dirty flag is set on the project and the project differs from the project on disk.
 
WRT EffectsChainArtworkFolder, yes I have noticed that too. Fortunately the data is fairly static. This is one of those things which results in problems when deleting old versions after installing a new one.

I'd mark this solved, except that having to have Regedit constantly open as a companion to Sonar doesn't seem like acceptable workflow to me.
 

@Paul P: It is not set by the other menus, because each seems to have its own MRU entry, which makes sens I suppose. That said, I can think of one MRU that Sonar seems to share for all kinds of things annoyingly, which is the reason when you attempt to open a Pro Channel Preset after opening a Synth Preset, you are invited to find the PCP in the folder which holds the given Synth Presets. This one is so annoying that I often set up a plugin from scratch rather than try to find the preset! But that's another story ...
 

@steve cook: There doesn't seem to be a specific value for the key that means default, so presumably a blank key is taken as "use default". It may be that my default is corrupt and I notice that my Plug-in Menu Layouts folder contains a file called default.pgl.tmp - can you kindly confirm that this file exists in your setup? There is no other file except for layout files that I have explicitly created, each of which can be opened successfully in Plug-in Manager.
 

@steve cook: your #19 raises another thought. For a week or two, I have from time-to-time had a CLSID query pop up when I try to access various plug-in handling areas (sometimes even as the file opens). This always identifies three alternatives for Boost11, and I simply confirm that the third alternative is correct. I confess that I did not give this much thought, as the resolution was quick and easy, and Boost11 is in my default template so is loaded (albeit not always active) in most of my projects. When I have had these CLSID errors before they have typically been to do with an obsolete plugin where the replacement is already present in my system. Could this be anything to do with this new corruption of my MRU key and/or is there any easyish fix?
 

The VST reset has not changed the grey-out behaviour (nor has it fixed the CLSID issue, but you predicted that it wouldn't). The scan paths seem OK - the only one that seemed unfamiliar to me is a Cake Internal path, which seems mainly to contain PC modules, so I guess that's OK. I have never attempted to set a plug to Excluded or vice versa and the ones that are excluded are all Cake items that are themselves contained in the Internal path - I vaguely recall seeing a forum post some time ago that said this is normal and a byproduct of some change deliberately engineered by the Bakers (I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of your posts, Steve!).
 
I much appreciate your help on this, but I'm just going to adopt the workaround of never selecting "default" for the synth rack. It's all more Dark Star than 2001, it seems.

Interesting, but not what I am experiencing. The MRUs reflect the different layouts last used, so it is possible to have different layouts in use almost simultaneously. It only goes wrong for me if I select "default" in the Synth Rack.

Paul - I am on Manchester 1. I can't recall which update first brought this issue, which I suppose is because the fuse only blows when I select "default" layout. I don't typically do this, because I have specific layouts developed to suit my purposes.
 
I have checked again how my various MRU keys are updating and there is no question that they respectively show the latest used layout file instantly it is selected in the given part of Sonar. I can't seem to find a key for the ReWire tab, but that may be because nor can I find a way of creating a layout file for ReWire devices - this is anyway academic, because the only one I have installed presently is Melodyne. I don't have a key called Synths, so I can't comment on that, but I do have one called PluginBrowser, which has remained blank throughout. All of the others are pretty much self-explanatory and work as I'd expect.
 
[Interlude: The Cynic's Lament. Lugubre, ma non troppo] I vaguely recall when Sonar was something that I used for making music. These days, I seem to spend more time artificially applying stimuli to randomly uncovered inputs and then looking for randomly exposed outputs, then using WTF theory to discern what is going wrong. That, and installing updates, which rarely actually add any functionality that I ever use.

My insert synth never comes back, no matter what I choose for a menu layout or how I modify the registry.  But I do think they are related.  Here's the original thread on this (maybe some clues there)
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Insert-synth-greyed-out-m3244558.aspx
It's been happening since at least June, 2015.
 
A few things about mine, Insert Synth from the top/main menu does open a synth menu.  It's not quite right though, because its manage layout options don't appear to actually work.  When I pick any of the layout management options in the first item in the menu, the menu closes but nothing happens.  The only way to change the layout in use is to right click on an audio track and pick insert synth from there.  That version of the synth dialog, looks the same as what the main/top menu's Insert->Soft Synth looks like, but it actually works and I can change the layout.  Which then does change the layout that the top menu uses.
 
But nothing I pick causes the plus sign on the Synth panel in the browser to enable, Insert Synth is always gray.
 
This doesn't really effect my ability to use Sonar, since I can use the PlugIns panel in the browser to insert synths just fine.  And the top level menu, while its layout options don't work, does work to insert synths also.
 
My guess has always been it's some side effect of having many versions of Sonar on this same machine.  I've been using Cakewalk/Sonar for a long time (my current store history goes about to Sonar 6 but I've been using Cakewalk even longer).  This computer (built in 2010) has had every version of Sonar since 8.5 installed on it.  I currently have 2025 plugins according to the toast popup when I start Sonar (it's not really that high since I install 32 and 64 bit of everything plus VST2 and VST3, but it's still a large number).  No amount of re-scanning/resetting VSTs has seemed to help this issue though.  
 
This is a bug in Sonar, of that I'm sure, but there is no way to get through to anyone at Cakewalk that could actually look at why the Insert Synth in the Synth Rack is different than any of the other Insert Synths.