swamptooth
Hey Tom, 
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
 
I looked at the files and yes, there are track header messages setting cc93 among other things in the midi file.  Sonar creates by default what Cakewalk calls a General Midi setup measure.  This essentially embeds all GM messages like patch changes and GM cc values that occur at the start of the track in the project and hides them in the event list.  You can see this because there are programs in the inspector and the chorus and reverb midi controls in several tracks are at a value other than 0 but they aren't in the event list.  
You can disable this by editing the ttsseq.ini  (found in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\SONAR X3 Producer) file by adding the following line in the [Options] header:
GeneralMidiSMFs=0.  
 
Here's the help page - TTSSEQ.INI
 
When you add that line, restart sonar, and open the midi file this is how your event list will appear:
Hope this helps!

 

I just finished testing this out, it worked. Turning off the General Midi setup measure, importing the file, then removing the controllers and playing the track no longer results in the distortion getting zeroed out. There still doesn't seem to be a way to make the setup measure data visible once it's hidden though. I crashed X3e twice doing it though. The second time I saved before hitting play. :)
Thanks!
Hey try this since you have my file:
1. New project
2. Import the midi
3. Event view -> track 5 (the first SQ Wave track)
4. Uncheck notes and delete all the controllers.
5. Bounce track 5 to clips
6. Insert a soft synth (Sylenth if you have it) and route track 5 to it.
7. Hit play.
Do you get a crash too?
 

swamptooth
Nope, it's the midi setup measure - because it's hiding the options as initial settings that are only able to be edited in the inspector.  This is useful in a lot of instances, but not in others as when using sylenth which uses GM mapped cc's as defaults.  The only two options are to insert ccvalues overriding the initial ccs in the midi file or to just set the ttsseq option.  The latter is the only foolproof way.  

Inspector? Where is that?
Nevermind, you can't get at anything other than the basic stuff from the inspector, I thought there might be something that would let you fiddle with everything. Yes, the best option is to turn off the setup measure.
Thanks.
 

press i and the track inspector pops up in the left side of sonar by default.  click the midi track you want and then click the track tab in the inspector.  scroll up and you'll see knobs for chorus and reverb.  i think i get where you're going with this.... open the sylenth ui and then move the chorus knob in the inspector.  dollars to doughnuts, the distortion knob in sylenth moves too...

swamptooth
press i and the track inspector pops up in the left side of sonar by default.  click the midi track you want and then click the track tab in the inspector.  scroll up and you'll see knobs for chorus and reverb.  i think i get where you're going with this.... open the sylenth ui and then move the chorus knob in the inspector.  dollars to doughnuts, the distortion knob in sylenth moves too...

Haha! Yep, the distortion knob moves when you adjust the chorus. Disabling the control would probably stop the CC 93 issue. Now I've got to see what CC moves the osc1 level :)

just tried this in dimension pro, enabled midi learn on filter cutoff and moved the chorus knob... 
sure enough, dimension "learned" it.  
I don't know how to override these knobs...
if anyone else can help on that one much thanks!

sylenth 1 manual for osc a1 volume is cc10, so try moving the pan knob on the midi track.
 
EDIT - ok, this is getting WEIRD!  There has to be a way to bypass midi cc's on midi tracks...
I just learned pan to DP level for element 1.  I can see where this would be a PITA with sylenth!

Yes, the pan knob moves the osc1 level control in Sylenth.
You can disable the fader, pan, chorus, and reverb knobs by right clicking on them and selecting disable.

Ha!  That's what I love about sonar!  Learn something new every day!

swamptooth
Ha!  That's what I love about sonar!  Learn something new every day!

Thinking about it, the GM setup block probably only maps things that are visible in the UI (fader, panner, patch, channel, etc). So it looks like everything is editable even if you have the setup block enabled, the data just moves to a different place.

Right! This is more like a program peculiarity with sylenth... Using gm midi ccs for non-standard parameters and all...