I know the topic has been on these forums before ( normally under the description of "Play two synths with ONE midi track?" ). I hav e read these, so please keep with me.
What is the current thinking on how to use 1 midi track to switch between two synths. In my case I have one midi track for violins and in some periods of the piece I want the violins legato and some part staccato, so my mental model is to have two VSTs installed for the two styles of violin required.  I then copy the midi track and have some kind of envelope to control which synth is played during which part of the piece. I'm not sure if this is the best method and how to set up the envelope to make the switch happen. Any best practices gratefully received. Thanks

check your synth doesn't have keyswitches to change the articulation (most Kontakt based synths will have this)
otherwise split the midi track up into two tracks and feed two synths will work

I'm sure there are plenty of ways to go about this but I'd just copy/paste the MIDI clip into a second track (feeding the alternate synth) then edit the clips in each track to only trigger the right synth at the right time...
 
So create splits at the right spot(s) then delete the sections you don't want trigger the synth OR use the Mute Tool to silence that section OR use the Comp Tool to mute that section.
 
AFAIK I don't think there is a way to route a single MIDI track out to multiple synths but I've been kind of wanting a feature like this. Maybe it does exist. I'm still a novice at the MIDI stuff. However it would indeed be cool to have multi MIDI out abilities like that WITH extra controls to silence/manipulate the outputs individually (kind of like Sends do for audio). Like instead of a send volume it's a velocity control and maybe some kind of pitch/scale snap control for creating intervals from a single note MIDI note clip run (would be helpful for things like horn sections without having to write the actual MIDI for each part).
 
But I digress... the simplest way to me is just doing things VIA editing in the Track View. No fuss no muss.
 
Hopefully I did not misunderstand the questions.

MGH ... I'm using the studio orchestra expansion pack in Rapture Pro. I don't think this has key switches to change articulation, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Beepster ... you didn't misunderstand the question, and I had the slice and dice approach as my backstop, but it feels very clunky to have to do it like this. That's why I was wondering if there are any smarter ways that folks on the forum have come up with

I have done something similar to what you want using automated mute on the tracks, I just mute and unmute the places I need. I am not a keyboardist, I play guitar, so it works for me on the simple things I do, it may not work as well for someone who really knows what they are doing.
 It would require 2 midi tracks though.
 

Alright, cool. Honestly though the slice and dice (mute/delete/promote/solo/whatever) to me seems like a better option for distinct instrument parts than fiddling with volume automation. I'd only use automation if I wanted to maybe flow into another part... and even then I'd probably remove/mute any clip sections that aren't actually part of the transition (anything that isn't going to be heard is just gone).
 
That's why I brought it up because, at least to me, just chopping out sections I'd don't want heard in the TV is WAY less complicated than mucking around with automation. I find automation in Sonar to be annoying as pizz and would like the Baker's to do some improvements.
 
Unfortunately (unless I've missed something in my studies) you're gonna need two tracks anyway for this and AFAIK removing MIDI info that isn't going to be played/heard should reduce system resource loads (like the Sonar and the synths don't have to read/process that extra data if it's not there).
 
Now if you have a synth capable of mutli instrument stuff then you may want to look into that. I'm not familiar witht he instrument you are using but maybe you can futz with the synth itself to have a single MIDI clip trigger different instruments at different times. That's a different story. I think that gets into channel type stuff and you'd write in control data/automation to make the changes... or something like that. Depends on the synth.
 
Cheers.

IainThompson
MGH ... I'm using the studio orchestra expansion pack in Rapture Pro. I don't think this has key switches to change articulation, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

yep you're right (I think although the almost complete lack of detailed info on RPro makes it hard to confirm absolutely). plus the length of patch changes in Rapture you'd be waiting a long time anyway!

If you can use a single element for each articulation you could set Rapture to multitimbral, and use a different midi channel for them. Then, just write your part, set the track channel to None, select the notes for each element and set the proper channel in the Note Inspector. That should do it, I guess.

I believe products like Chainer and Patchworks would accomplish what you want, but both would require the operation of two instances of the VST(s).  To me, that seems no more elegant (no less clunky?) than the duplicate MIDI tracks, but it depends on your workflow.