Greetings,
 
The subject says a lot, but I should be more specific. Early 2010, I bought a desktop single core Dell Window 7 home edition machine and put my Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition on it. Worked great. Did multiple albums - no issues with it.
 
For Black Friday, I got my mitts on a laptop quadcore Dell Windows 8.1 machine and put my Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition on it. Works surprisingly well with the touchscreen! ....but I ran into one bump for sequencing...
 


 
I don't have any instruments?  I've selected Microsoft MIDI Mapper and pressed Ok, but I still get the No MIDI Outputs Selected prompt.
 
My Windows 7 machine, I literally installed, picked my instruments and went. No looking back.
This Windows 8.1 machine, there's... no MIDI instruments to choose. Is there something from Microsoft I need to download? Am I missing hardware or software?
 
Also on my other machine, I used soundfonts quite a bit using LiveSynth Pro. I can't find a fresh install of that anywhere and the SFZ+ Professional appears to be discontinued? The website link to download just takes to the store page and there's nothing matching in search.
 
So, I'm not sure where I need to go from here. Can someone help me get going?
I'm open to any and all suggestions - whether it be something better than soundfonts or good old fashioned MIDI.
I like classical instrumentation - violins, viola, cellos, harpsichord, timpani... those things.
I appreciate any and all help.
 
Thank you,
 

The screen shots are for MIDI I/O hardware such as a MIDI controller or hardware synthesizer. Deselect the Microsoft device, it is unecessary. The software synths are shown inside SONAR not in the configuration screens like MIDI Devices.

I'm sorry, but your reply just left me with more questions.
 
Why do I hear nothing when I try to use instruments? 
That prompt stated that I have no selected a MIDI output and may not hear any MIDI.  (which is true! I hear no MIDI!)
 
Also, I have no outputs to use.  I'm not sure why that is.  
What am I missing here?
 

Picking a Channel (Cakewalk TTS-1), a Preset (15488 Preset Normal 0) and a sound (Harpsichord) should let me go into the Piano Roll view of a track and HEAR sounds when I press the keyboard and lay down notes.
 
I hear nothing.
 
 

The screen capture in #3 is a configuration screen intended for hardware devices.
 
I suggest working through Tutorial #4 in the help to refresh your memory on how to use softsynths.

No memory to refresh.  I installed and started playing with the last PC, no issue.
I never had to resort to tutorials on how to use my own product.
 
Besides, I already checked the tutorials and Google before I came here.
Tutorial #4 says nothing about MIDI settings/configurations.  Only how to edit already created (and working) MIDI.
 
I appreciate the replies, but I'm afraid I need a suggestion that's a little less cryptic, a little more straight forward.
 

Things have changed greatly with the technologies since sonar6. Workflow changes as well as software integration-which is much more seamless now. Insert a simple synth like tts-1 as an instrument track and open the prv alt+3. Draw some notes and play back. If you don't hear anything report back. If you do, experiment from there and ask questions along the way. It's a quite different enviroment to work in.

Btw if you hear nothing when trying to play to the track via midi keyboard the input echo button - looks like this ))) needs to be clicked and enabled.

EverSoul
I appreciate the replies, but I'm afraid I need a suggestion that's a little less cryptic, a little more straight forward.

We appreciate the question, but we need a little more info about what you actually have that's a little less cryptic.
 
You hinted that you have a midi keyboard..  What is it?  Does it connect with a MIDI cable or USB?  If USB, does it have drivers? If Midi, have you got a Midi port in your new laptop? Does it require drivers?
 
 

EverSoul
Picking a Channel (Cakewalk TTS-1), a Preset (15488 Preset Normal 0) and a sound (Harpsichord) should let me go into the Piano Roll view of a track and HEAR sounds when I press the keyboard and lay down notes.
I hear nothing. 

TTS-1 does not need external Midi for you to hear it. if you can't hear TTS-1 while you're editing, then you either have an audio setup issue, or an internal midi config issue, or the track is muted, or the output is muted, or.. or.. there are lots of reasons.  We need more specifics.
 
The "Assign Instruments" dialogue you posted will not help you hear TTS-1,  that is for routing Midi to devices.

SOLVED
 
The answer was on an old forum post:
forum.cakewalk.com/No-Audio-or-No-MIDI-or-BOTH-Answers-and-Wave-Profiler-instructions-m949316.aspx
 
 
Thanks for the assistance guys!
Now if only I could find something on how to get soundfonts to work without LiveSynthPro...