Just for grins I loaded up X3e (still installed) and it has the same crazy behavior with the top menu Insert Synth (not letting it change the layout) and the grayed Insert Synth in the Synth Rack that Sonar Platinum Manchester does.  So it's not a "version" of Sonar problem, it's all Sonar's.
 

msorrels
Just for grins I loaded up X3e (still installed) and it has the same crazy behavior with the top menu Insert Synth (not letting it change the layout) and the grayed Insert Synth in the Synth Rack that Sonar Platinum Manchester does.  So it's not a "version" of Sonar problem, it's all Sonar's.

Which to me means some setting or corruption in a settings or preset file, something that gets migrated forward (and back, in this case).
 
Do you have a lot of important stuff you'd lose if you wiped Sonar (only Sonar) off your system and started fresh ?
 

Paul P
Do you have a lot of important stuff you'd lose if you wiped Sonar (only Sonar) off your system and started fresh ?

 
It's hard to say how big a deal uninstalling and removing all the Cakewalk products I have would be.  I'd have to take extra care to make sure I keep all the various bits from X1, X2, X3 that aren't in the current Sonar.  I think it's doable, but it is a lot of work.  My fear is I'd do all that and still have the problem.  Though it might actually be nice to clean things up.  My system does a full backup every week Friday night/Saturday morning.  Perhaps I'll give it a try this weekend after the full snapshot. 
 
I just wish someone at Cakewalk would answer the question of exactly how (as in what the code does) does the Synth Rack's Insert Synth menu get populated/displayed.  There must be code/a reason that it is gray for some of us.  Someone with the Sonar source code should be able to answer that question in a few minutes.  But despite repeated requests Cakewalk support never would get an answer or even look into this.

I'd be reluctant to wipe Sonar and start again because I have a hunch that all of this may be to do with something with Sonar's scanning of plugins and if that is related to one-or-more specific plugs (3rd party or CW) then it's not just Sonar that needs to be wiped and reinstalled. Just a thought, though, for which I have no evidence whatsoever.

if it's to do with the plugin scanning, the (long-winded) way to troubleshoot then is to:

• rename your vst folder & rescan/reset in sonar
• create a new folder with same name as before (same as original vst folder)

in the new folder (must be in sonar's scan path)

1. add a plugin from the original vst folder
2. launch sonar, rescan plugins, then check the synth rack for greyed-out-ness
3. if ok, close sonar, go to step 1 and repeat
4. if not ok, that last plugin is (one of) the cause(s), so remove it and rescan, go to step 1

repeat until you've re-added  all your plugs - long-winded, but surely quicker than blanket un-installing/re-installing everything...
 
hth, good luck!
 

Paul #29: I admire your persistence on this one! I don't know whether I'm fully understanding what you are saying in #29, but I don't seem to get the same results as you. Whether the button is left blue or not seems to make no difference. I have found only two ways of reliably blowing up Synth Rack: selecting "default" layout in Browser Synth tab (i.e. Synth Rack): or selecting "default" via (main menu) Insert - Soft Synth. Oddly, in the latter case, the main menu is happy to be set to "default" (i.e. it works fine and can later be reset to a specific layout) but the collateral damage is that Synth Rack is then crippled until I go to regedit and fix the blank key.
 
I have already filed a bug report (although I don't have much hope that this is persuasive of the Bakers - I'm guessing it needs at least fifty bug reports on a topic before they take it seriously).

msorrels
 
It's hard to say how big a deal uninstalling and removing all the Cakewalk products I have would be.  I'd have to take extra care to make sure I keep all the various bits from X1, X2, X3 that aren't in the current Sonar.  I think it's doable, but it is a lot of work.  My fear is I'd do all that and still have the problem.
 
I just wish someone at Cakewalk would answer the question of exactly how (as in what the code does) does the Synth Rack's Insert Synth menu get populated/displayed.  There must be code/a reason that it is gray for some of us.  Someone with the Sonar source code should be able to answer that question in a few minutes.  But despite repeated requests Cakewalk support never would get an answer or even look into this.

 I share both of your concerns.

Okay, so in the past when looking at this I'd reset my VSTs in the Plugin Manager and then have it rescan.  Doing this, I'd never get my insert synth option back, but I never did it a single path directory at a time.  I have 5-6 directories in my VST scan list (VST3, Cakewalk dirs, my VST2 32-bit dir and my VST2 64-bit dir).  So I wiped my VST inventory registry and had nothing in my VST scan list and started Sonar up.  It found 22 plugins, all DirectX, and my insert synth menu item was back! 
 
I then started to add one directory at a time and rescan.  I put the Cakewalk dirs back, no problem.  I put the VST3 dirs back.  No problem.  I added my VST2 64-bit directory.  During the scan one plugin crashed, Tunefish64.  Some free synth I think.  I just moved it out into my Bad VST holding dir, don't think it had anything to do with this.  Re-did the scan and my Insert Synth menu item was gone!  So I've narrowed it down to one of my VST2 64 bit plugins.  A file search for *.dll on that directory says 671 DLLs, one or more of which is the problem, or perhaps it's just the sheer number of them. 
 
I'm pretty sure I can turn off the rescan on startup option and then just chop parts of the VST Inventory out of the registry in order to narrow this down.  But it's going to take some time.  And it still just may be the total number or it might have something to do with the path.  I do notice some issues in Procmon (a Windows Developer tool) when Sonar reads the registry complaining about the entries being too long.  My plugin dir has a number of sub-directories, which makes for some long entries in the VST inventory.
 
I may have some time this weekend to see if I can narrow this down some more.  Considering how little this bug effects me I've certainly spent a lot of time on it though.

So it wasn't as hard to narrow down as I thought.  It's not a specific plugin, but rather the total.  I believe I've worked out a way anyone with 64 bit Platinum can reproduce this.  Though I'll warn you this requires fiddling your registry and shouldn't be attempted unless you are fairly computer fluent.
 
First get this Zip with exports of my VST Inventory (zip also contains a screenshot of what this bug looks like and a copy of these instructions).
 
http://www.pontari.com/sonar/InsertSynthBug.zip
 
How to reproduce using Sonar Platinum 64 bit.

First start Sonar and in Preferences under File->VST Settings set the Scan Options to Manual Scan
This way Sonar will use the registry you are going to import from my computer to reproduce the bug.

Start Window Regedit
Goto HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR\Cakewalk VST X64\Inventory

Export that branch to a file on your computer (so you can restore your settings)

Delete the Inventory key

Now import the file "VSTInventory-BAD_1217 entries.reg"
This has 1217 VST Inventory entries (but I'm not sure how many actual plugins that maps too, which may be the real issue).

Start Sonar.  Make a new project
Open the browser, go to the synth tab, click on the + sign to insert a synth.  Your insert synth option should be grayed out.  See included screenshot.

Exit Sonar.

Delete the Inventory Key and now import the other file included in the zip
"VSTInventory-GOOD_1216 entries.reg" it has exactly one less plugin

Restart Sonar and go to the insert synth tab.  Notice the insert menu now works.

To restore your version of Sonar, exit, and once again delete the Inventory and reimport the version you exported at the start.
 

Matt, I don't doubt your sincerity nor your findings, but it would be a braver soul than me who would download registry entries and then insert them into their own registry. Sorry. I suggest you take the contents of your post and convert it into a bug report and let the Bakers have it with your .reg files and see what they make of it.