Dan,
I have tried adding the synth to current projects....and new projects both. Same results either way. I have no control surface apps.
It's really strange. When I add the synth to a project, it's seems to add fine. I can even open up a PRV of the midi track created by the synth, add notes in the PRV and it will show activity on the meters on the midi track...of course the audio track is blank and there is no sound since there is no preset loaded (at least that is what I assume).
But as soon as I double click on the synth icon to open up the GUI....I get the white screen and the pop-up box stating that Sonar has quit working. I have never even gotten far enough for it to ask for activation (or demo mode).