Synth is playing without being selected

Welcome to the forum.
Being new, you don't have enough posts to insert links.
Check the inputs, outputs and channels of each MIDI track.

You're going to have to explain a bit more for any meaningful help. There's not enough information.

Ampfixer, the video would have been perfect for that, but I'm not veteran enough.
 
Alright then. Here goes.
 
I'm still to new music-making in DAWs, so I don't know anything concerning inputs, outputs, or buses. The only channels I've ever worked with were the ones from OpenMPT. That being said, concerning messing with any of that stuff in SONAR, I have not done it, unless Ctrl/Alt+ Up/Down/Left/Right Arrow does it as a shortcut.
 
In my project I have about 7 seven tracks: Bass track from the Cakewalk Bass library, A Drum track from the Cakewalk Drum Kit library, about 5 synth tracks from the Z3TA+ 2 synth (the main culprits in question), a piano track, and one other Z3TA+ 2 synth track added out of frustration from the malfunctioning synths. The tracks in question are three Z3TA+ 2 synth tracks named Air Long , Air Short, and Whine. Air Long and Air Short are clones of each other, specifically Air Short being a clone from Air Long.
 
This first started being a problem with Long and Short playing at the same time, even if only one of them was selected (i.e. I click on Short, press a key, and Long plays with it). Then, a couple exits and reopens later, they quit making noise and Whine plays in their stead. No matter which one of the three I had selected Whine would always play. On top of that, whenever I tried to click on the synth icon next to the Air tracks to open Z3TA+ 2 dialog window for them, it would always open up to the instance for Whine!
 
Neither Solo nor mute was on for any of the tracks, and I haven't done anything fancy. Honestly, between the problems I've had with MC6 Touch, MC7 and this, I'm too scared to do anything right now. I just want to push a piano key and have this DAW work...consistently. I have not gotten that.
 
I promise you, unless otherwise by nuance, I have not messed with anything existing outside the bounds of the Track Editor, Pattern Editor, and Staff Notation windows. About the only thing I've done was mess with the preferences so that it can pick up input from my mio MIDI receiver and output to headphones: that's it. And I must stress this: it was working without a hitch waaay before this, with me messing with nothing.
 
Huh, I guess I could have just said all this at the beginning. I suppose I was too angry to think clearly about this.
Is all this helpful?

If I shouldn't clone instrument tracks, then why is that an option?

I avoid creating simple instrument tracks because things can get confusing. If there are 3 midi tracks going to 3 instances of Z3ta it's easy to put each on it's own midi channel and prevent cross talk. If the 3 midi channels are going to a single instance of Z3ta then you will likely get interaction. Another thing that could cause interactions is if the tracks in question are being echo'd. Try turning off the echo function on each track and see what it does.

It may not be the problem but cloning instrument tracks is a big red flag. Cloning instrument tracks has been the subject of several lengthy threads. I use instrument tracks all the time. Their implementation has improved much over the years. That said, I avoid cloning them preferring to split the instrument track then clone the Audio and MIDI tracks as needed.

I avoid cloning Soft synths at all costs. Instead I use Track Templates (may even lead to the same problem). But they are just as fast. To be perfectly honest, 75% of my Projects are Audio So when I need to insert a synth I use the "Insert Synth" menu.

ampfixer
I avoid creating simple instrument tracks because things can get confusing. If there are 3 midi tracks going to 3 instances of Z3ta it's easy to put each on it's own midi channel and prevent cross talk. If the 3 midi channels are going to a single instance of Z3ta then you will likely get interaction.

 Okay, how do I check to see whether or not this is happening?
 

ampfixer
Another thing that could cause interactions is if the tracks in question are being echo'd. Try turning off the echo function on each track and see what it does.

 
I'm using SONAR Home, so the only options I see for this are Input Echo = On or Input Echo = Auto Thru. Which should I do?