I have both Music Creator 6 and the new Cakewalk by BandLab (which I am told is Sonar) installed on my laptop.  I can hear my soft synths like Cakewalk TTS in Music Creator 6, but not in Cakewalk by BandLab.  In the project I have open in Cakewalk by BandLab I can play an audio clip that I inserted in an audio track and I can hear it.  I can play a MIDI track using my keyboard and I hear notes if I select Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth as the output.  But if I switch the output on that same MIDI track to Cakewalk TTS I hear nothing.  I still see the green volume levels go up when I press the keys, but there is no sound.  (I did insert Cakewalk TTS in the Synth Rack)  Since this is a new install today I suspect there is some simple setup step that I missed, but I've looked over the Audio settings under Preferences and I don't see the solution.  Can somebody here help me?
 
Thanks, Steve

Some things I generally screw up which cause this problem:
 
1.  Double check for matching MIDI channels? 
2.  Double check for patch and volume settings on corresponding MIDI tracks in TTS? 
3.  Insert TTS into  an audio track FX bin instead of directly into the synth rack and send the MIDI output to that track's TTS instance?
4.  Input echo on?
 
Good luck.

Check that the output of the TTS is routed to the correct Audio track

Thanks for the replies.  I wish I knew this software well enough to understand your suggestions, but I don't  Not a one of them.  I don't want to spend 100 hours learning how to use this software.  I remember when I had the much less advanced Cakewalk by TTS back in the 80s and I could create songs.  Now I just spend countless hours trying to learn how to get this software to work and then I give up.  I have a college degree.  This shouldn't be so hard.
 
How exactly do I "Check that the output of the TTS is routed to the correct Audio track"?

The easiest way to make TTS-1 work with a MIDI file is make sure no MIDI output devices are selected (this includes the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth) in Preferences > MIDI > Devices. When no MIDI output devices are selected, upon opening a MIDI file CbB will automatically add TTS-1 setup ready to play the MIDI file.
 
The easiest way to setup TTS-1 to play MIDI clips inside a project is with the Add Track button just above the track pane in the track view. It is three clicks:
1) click the add track button - A
2) click the instrument tab - B
3) click create - N

Then drag the MIDI clips or record MIDI data into the track.
 
FYI, this forum is slated to be archived in about a week. Consider creating an account on its replacement http://discuss.Cakewalk.com
 

scook
 
Thank you so very much.  I actually understood most of your answer and it sounded like it would work.  So I did what you said, and I pressed Play and I got nothing.  I was crushed.  So I disconnected my headphones, and I ran the Wave Profiler again (maybe that helped?)  and then I pressed Play again and it worked!  I'm so happy.  I hear notes playing when I practice and I hear notes playing when I record and play back.  Can you explain (simply) how that fixed the problem?  Did it route the TTS to an audio track like Bristol_Jonesey said?
 
I thought about my DAW woes some more and I guess it was simpler for me 30 years ago because I wasn't trying to work with soft synths, I was just going MIDI out to a real synth on my desk.  The soft synths are better if I can get it to work, but I guess it takes a little more learning to get it all right.  And thank you for telling me about the forum change.
 
Thanks, Steve
 
 

It might be easier to think of it in a linear context:
The MIDI file has to feed into the synth, telling it what to play.  Make sure that the MIDI Output matches the Synth's Input that you want, and that the MIDI-Out and Synth-In channels match (most have 16 to choose from, IIRC).
Then the Synth's output has to feed an audio channel, so that you can hear what it's doing.
That audio channel has to output eventually to something that feeds your soundcard, either a buss or the main output.

DallasSteve
Thank you so very much.  I actually understood most of your answer and it sounded like it would work.  So I did what you said, and I pressed Play and I got nothing.  I was crushed.  So I disconnected my headphones, and I ran the Wave Profiler again (maybe that helped?)  and then I pressed Play again and it worked!  I'm so happy.  I hear notes playing when I practice and I hear notes playing when I record and play back.  Can you explain (simply) how that fixed the problem?  Did it route the TTS to an audio track like Bristol_Jonesey said?

I provided two solutions. Can't tell which one you tried.
 
The Wave Profiler is used to detect hardware devices and setup AUD.ini for non-ASIO driver mode. It might make a difference if you are using one of those modes and the Wave Profiler was never run. But the Wave Profiler has nothing to do with soft synths and signal routing in the DAW.
 

scook
 
I thought it was two parts to one solution.  I guess I did both.  I set MIDI output devices to none and then I added a track as you described.
 
Slugbaby
 
I don't follow your linear explanation, maybe because it looks like when I added the TTS I think it added a Single Instrument track.  I don't see where it selected a MIDI channel (I think I've always defaulted to Omni) and I don't see where the output is assigned anywhere.
 
For bonus points:
 
I have my keyboard controller working with the track I added for Cakewalk TTS.  I also downloaded Kontakt Player and their Guitar Rig 5.  That's a whole new absurd level of complexity with their Native Access interface and the Kotackt interface.  I can add a Kontakt synth track, but it doesn't play anything.  I don't see Guitar Rig as an instrument, but it does show up under Audio FX.  But if I add that Guitar Rig FX to either the TTS track or the Kontakt track I hear no change in sound.  In fact, I have never gotten a sound to come out of the Kontakt track.  I can see the MIDI volume meter move (on the Kontakt track) when I press a key, but the Audio volume meter does not move.  If you know an answer I probably won't understand it unless you make it really simple with 'click this' and 'click that'.
 
Thanks, Steve

Guitar Rig is not a synth, it is an effect. After dropping the plug-in into an FX rack, select a preset or pick the individual components from the left site of the Guitar Rig UI to create your own effects chain.
 
Don't have Kontakt but most NI stuff requires loading a preset before anything happens. Adding Kontakt to a track works the same as TTS-1. The difference is after clicking the Instrument Tab (B) above, click the instrument drop down (D), select Kontakt, click Create (N) and pick a preset from the Kontakt UI