Problem with Axiom 61 and VSTi's - HELP!

I've got my M-Audio Axiom 61 mapped and working with Sonar in order to use the Axiom for live performance. I've got 18 instances of various soft synths hooked up to the 9 faders on my Axiom.  I've programmed one patch on the Axiom to control Faders 1-9 in my session and another patch controlling Faders 10-18.  They all work great!... until I switch patches back and forth.  Suddenly my VSTi's quit receiving MIDI data.  The only way to correct it is to power the soft synths off and on in the Synth Rack or just restart my session.  If I were only recording, no big deal.  But for live performance, this won't fly.  Funny thing is, the DXi instruments I've also loaded, retain function and work just fine. The Axiom faders still operate the volume faders in my session, but randomly the VSTs just quit responding to midi input.  HELP! Thanks!

I'll give it a shot! Follow up question: Do you use your Axiom Pro live?  If so, is there a better way to have access to more than just 8 or 9 sounds (on the faders) WITHOUT changing patches?  (I have the Axiom 61 2nd Gen, not the Pro so it's probably different)  Maybe I'm trying to do this the wrong way but it seemed to make sense - create 18 soft synth tracks in my Sonar session with 18 different sounds, use one patch (i.e. 20) to control Faders 1-9 in my session and then just page up to Patch 1, and assign the same Axiom faders to control Faders 10-18 in my Sonar session.  If you have any thoughts on that, let me know.  Thanks again for taking time to reply!
Doug

Ok that's what I thought. The 2nd Gen doesn't have the soft keys so I'm limited there. So, update: your suggestion re: Sys Ex didn't quite solve the issue (because I couldn't figure out how to bypass that!) BUT.. and this will answer your other question... it got me to thinking.. I had MIDI Learned the 9th fader on the Axiom to behave like the other 8, even though I knew the 9th one is supposed to be a bus master or whatever. So that's how I did 18. I was using 9+9. BUT your suggestion got me to wondering if additional (unwanted) data was going to Sonar with the use of the 9th fader and I think that was it. I just went through both patches, up down back and forth without touching the 9th fader and all the VST instruments kept working. Im not ready to call this solved yet but this is the closest I've gotten to thinking I might be able to get this to work in a live setting. Just to give you some back story, I'm actually the sound/recording/sequencing engineer for a band we're in, and our band's keyboard player (who happens to be my wife) uses the Axiom faders for live playing at our church. (So to answer your question, yes the faders work best for on the fly live performance for us). In our band we've currently got this monster Korg Trinity that I end up lugging around to gigs. So after using the Axiom at church, we decided to move her into the 21st century and get the same Axiom for our personal use. Problem is, we use the Axiom with Reason at church and it hooks up nice and clean through DirectLink, which Sonar won't do to my knowledge. But I've recorded on Sonar for years and that's where I'm comfortable. If I have to go to Reason or something else I will, but I'm giving this a shot. Thanks a ton for your input so far! I'll troubleshoot this tonight again to see if the gremlins are gone.
Doug

Jim, can I ask what controller you moved to? I wonder if that might be my end result. At this moment, I have the Axiom doing what I want. But I won't be comfortable til we run this rig through a rehearsal with no glitches. Thx for the input!
Doug