scook
I understand the Guitar Rig a little better now and you are correct.  It's an effect, not a synth.  I am happy to report that I was able to load some other free samples from NI into Kontakt and one was a library and now I can play it with the Kontakt Player synth/instrument and I actually hear sound.  It's pretty cool.  If I can get the Evolution Strawberry demo they sent me to work I may buy that or something like it.  I feel like I'm over the hump now and I can start to actually produce some music.  I'm off to study what tricks there are in Sonar (CbB I think you called it) to help me do that quickly.
Thanks, Steve
Note, I marked your post as the answer.  I'll mark them all helpful, if it makes a difference.

scook
FYI, this forum is slated to be archived in about a week. Consider creating an account on its replacement http://discuss.Cakewalk.com

scook
 
Do you have input to BandLab?  There doesn't seem to be any link to the new forum on their website.  They should fix that.  I always have to come back here to find this link.

AFAIK, this is by design. It has been discussed on the forum. Can always bookmark the link. Can't say for certain but there may be a link added to CbB on the help menu just like support link.
 
I am not a BandLab employee.