A lot of synths that are not multi-timbral are wired to respond to omni, but transmit on 1.
This situation seems like something else, though.
SI-Bass DOES run in other hosts. Have you tried loading it into a different DAW OR VST host? You can download a free demo of Brainspawn's Forte, which is a performance-based VST host, and you can test out SI-Bass there. I just tested it on my system, and once you insert it in Forte, clicking on the strings/frets will play notes in SI-Bass.
The above is an attempt to isolate where the issue lies. If SI-Bass works in a different DAW or host, then SI-Bass itself would seem to be fine, and then the issue would appear to be something within Sonar.
www.brainspawn.com Bob Bone