Okay, I feel like I'm being tested, suddenly, starting a new project, basic direct audio recording and everything looks normal, while recording I can see the wave form, but as soon as I hit the space bar to stop, or the transport stop button, the the wave disappears and I have no recording. I've looked under Audio Playback and Record, and Project Record options, and nothing seems to speak to this. What secret little gremlin am I dealing with now? I'm sure it's something simple and obvious, but I'm not finding it.

Is Auto Punch enabled in Preferences > Project > Record?

It isn't.

Do you have Allow Arm Changes During Playback/Record enabled? If so, try disabling it.
 
Preferences > Project > Record
 
See this thread for reference and other things to check if that's not it:
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com...2-and-X1-m2885177.aspx
 
 

Okay, I feel like I'm being tested, suddenly, starting a new project, basic direct audio recording and everything looks normal, while recording I can see the wave form, but as soon as I hit the space bar to stop, or the transport stop button, the the wave disappears and I have no recording. I've looked under Audio Playback and Record, and Project Record options, and nothing seems to speak to this. What secret little gremlin am I dealing with now? I'm sure it's something simple and obvious, but I'm not finding it.

 
I experienced this a few years back as you'll see if you follow the linked threads that others have posted. There didn't seem to be a definitive 'fix' back then however disabling the arm record during playback did solve it for me (and some others.) Having said that, I now have this enabled in Platinum without any issues!! I feel your frustration and I hope you get to the bottom of it, good luck! 

I have platinum and this happened once 2 days ago, that was the first time and it has not repeated itself yet, and I do have arm while in playback enabled.  my guess is the bug is still there and will be difficult to track down, the only clue I had was I used my controller to start the recording and space bar to stop the recording.

Enabling "arm while in playback" seems to have worked, not sure why it wasn't or what changed it, or even if it's supposed to be, but as long as I can get back to work. Thanks very much all.