Something I've Always wondered About With Staff View

I haven't even hit the limit you did, so I cannot answer.  When I had so many tracks (also writing for symphony orchestra) I put everything into a notation program.  I'll be interested if someone knows the answer to your question, though.
 

michael diemer
When writing for orchestra I naturally have many instruments, usually between 20 and 30. But only about 21 can be viewed in Staff View at any one time. I usually deal with this by selecting all the winds only, or all the perc. and strings only. This works fine, but I've always wondered if there is a way to have them all up in staff view. I don't want to reduce the font size, I need it where it is or I can't see!

I have never seen a way of doing what you're asking . . . after all it is a staff view, not a score view . . . purposed more for pop tunes than orchestrations. When I attempt something orchestral, my workaround in Sonar is to group the orchestra sections on different multi-dock tabs. ie. if you right click a staff view multi-dock tab, and select "lock contents", it enables you to open another staff view multi-dock tab. Lock and repeat as needed.
(I've never run into a limit of how many tabs you can have, but maybe there is ?)
Then . . . it's a quick keyboard shortcut to move between the "staff" tabs
(Ctrl-Shift . . . left + right arrow keys)