Good point Tim, And because he did mention using solo which is wrong anyways for choosing tracks for a export or bounce , right? 
 
I was also wondering about good old OFFSET mode. Many people get caught out on that one. 

Cactus Music
Excellent post Dave. 
 
I'm confused by a few terms the OP using. I get Export but the tem "mixdown" is a little strange to my way of thinking with in a DAW.
The "mixdown" is the export.

 
Sorry if I mis-spoke, but if I Bounce to Track(s), then ask to undo it, SONAR says "Undo Mixdown. Hence my confusion.
 

Cactus Music
Good point Tim, And because he did mention using solo which is wrong anyways for choosing tracks for a export or bounce , right? 
I was also wondering about good old OFFSET mode. Many people get caught out on that one. 

I solo bounced to see what each track looked like, for diagnosis.
 
Anyway...what the..? What is "good old Offset Mode"?

Cactus Music
 I understand some people like to bounce a song to a internal "mixdown" and I see this might be what your having issues with. Not the export mix>  So is this the issue? you can't seem to get an internal bounce to sound right? 
 

\
I am not sure I "like" to do this. I just did it to see what happened. And happen it did.
 
Yes, although now both internal mix and exported files are the same. They were not before, The internal mix was almost silent. The export was down a little, but not more than say 3-4dB

I need to clear this up! Export has NOT been my problem!

OK. So now I _can't_ set anything audio to Master!  Apart from my other woes, I now take, say, a Synth track and ask for Output. There _is_ no Master. There is my soundcard, stereo bus, surround bus ,aux track, patch point.
 
What happened to the Master. If I am to be his slave, as I have been instructed, where is he?
 
Help? It feels like every time I learn something it changes or disappears....

Post #14
 
YOU have to insert the master buss into your project.
 
But.... what is your "Stereo Bus" in your post above? Sounds like it could do the same thing.
 
Please describe exactly how the routing is set up in your project.
 
Which tracks feed into which busses and where do the buss outputs go?

stuffed if I know

Ah well.
 
I tried to help.
 
 

Ah well. I tried to understand. Please accept that I am lost here. I have answered a lot of stuff that has been thrown at me. I even addressed some of the stuff that you raised. Please don't dump me if I don't get everything right.
 
If someone ignores all requests for info then I get pissed off, but I really am trying here and ...well