Automation: Something is Screwed Up

We would need more detail, step by step procedure from a newly created project etc to get to the heart of this I suggest. I half understand what you say, but you will first need to rule out whether this is project specific or not anyway.

Thanks.  Everything is going to master.  In essence, the mix was fine.  I clicked on a node to lower a guitar part one db and then re-exported and suddenly everything was way off.  Strange.  Even supposing I touched O for Offset (which I don't think I did), that would not automatically change the level of lots of tracks whose faders weren't touched.  Weird.
 
Unfortunately, I have done a ton of work on this track over the months so I can't recall everything that happened, but I do know this odd behavior has happened on other projects.  I am going to cut all automation, make sure the offset is zero on every track, and then start over.  Frustrating, but not sure what else can be done at this point.

FastBikerBoy
A bit late for you on this project now but a tip I use is I to "save as" at landmark times of a project so I can always get back to a certain point. Each project I am working on has a main save name such as "My Project" and then others such as "My Project - Tracking finished", "My Project - Comping Finished", "My Project - Automation finished", etc. etc.

Another great FBB tip.

Many of us not only appreciate your in depth knowledge of Sonar but the manner in which you share it Karl.

FBB and Craig are both awesome and we are lucky to have them participating here.
 
About the Save As, I always saved multiple versions of my project along the way, but then a certain company told me that my string libraries (Vienna and Hollywood) were performing poorly because I needed more free disk space.  So, I took a Saturday to move all but the most recent versions of every song to an external drive, keeping only the latest version of each on my internal drive (and backed up externally, of course).  I then defragged the disk.
 
This all made absolutely no improvement in the string performance.   I seemed to be cursed.
 
I think the only solution is to buy a new PC (with SSDs for sample libraries), and install X3 fresh.  (I will also try to install both my V-Studio I/O and MOTU Interface so I can toggle between the two. There is a theory going around that the V-Studio I/O causes a lot of my problems, but I do not believe it.   The issues seem to be Sonar related and I know of no other Roland interface users with similar problems.)
 
Needless to say, this would be costly and the time would be significant, since my Vienna libraries alone will take two days to install, and I have many other libraries.  I will also have to go through all the onerous authentications (like NI!) and make sure eLicenser and iLok are working.

Craig, Many thanks.  And the automation function may just be caused by a number of user-errors + awkward functions.  I did discover that, for me, Offset works differently depending on whether or not tracks are in folders and whether or not they are Write-enabled.
 
However, I do have many bizarre issues unrelated to automation that no one seems to be able to explain.  I won't re-document them all here, but just to give you a a few examples so you know what I mean:
 
1-Sometimes I open a project and the Ins/Outs on every track are messed up: vocal track In set to Vienna, Ivory track output set to Fantom, external synths set to the wrong V-Studio inputs, MIDI Ins/Outs all wrong, etc.
2-Adding VIs/soft-synths will kill all audio.  I have plenty of memory and CPU in all cases, and the number of VIs varies.  For example, audio may stop in a project with six VIs (even though all the meters show audio in the track and at Master).  Sometimes 13 VIs is OK and 14 kills audio.  The odd thing is that I use the same VIs most of the time: RealGuitar, Kontakt, Ivory, etc.  Sometimes I can solve the problem by freezing a synth.  Sometimes I have to delete one.  After freezing or deleting, I may get audio back by cycling the audio engine.  Sometimes I have to reboot the PC.
3-Performance of large string libraries is terrible even though I have cleaned out disk space, defragged, and added memory.  Although everyone says I should go to SSDs (and I will), other people use Vienna and Hollywod from spinning disks, and many do much more elaborate orchestration than I do.
4-Lots of crashes for odd reasons.  Often, opening the Staff View will freeze/crash Sonar; sometimes it is opening Melodyne; sometimes it is just in the middle of normal editing; etc.
5-Common functions cease to wrok.  Split clips will suddenly stop working.  Often Crtl X/C/V stops working and edits can only be done from menus.  Sometimes Cut/Copy/Paste stop working completely from either short-cuts or menus.  Sometimes paste goes to unpredicable places and the Paste Special box won't allow me to direct it to the correct place.
6-A project will peak at Master.  I replay the track from the start and there are no red peaks (not even close).  Play it another time, and I get red again.  There are no external synths or VIs running with LFO, modulation, etc. that vary signal strength or EQ.
 
Those are just a few to give you an idea of how strange things are. 
 
 

Craig, Thank you for taking time to reply so completely.
 
Starting with your last point, as the best example of a human being's physical form and mental capabilities, it would not be surprising that I would be the subject of alien studies.
 
I am on Kontakt 5.2.1.6xxx so going to 5.3 is worth a try.
 
I only have one audio interface active.  I believe Sweetwater would have disabled the internal sound chip in the Creation Station, but that is worth checking.
 
I believe the memory and disk are OK, but I will recheck.
 
About the keyboard, your observation is excellent and good to keep in mind.  In this case, I have had these issues since Day1 and have changed keyboards a few times.  Also, when Split stops working, it stops working from the menus and icons.
 
Thanks again!