Ok  Polyphonic ...Sorry I could not help more,......Just a last variable to check up on...as I know you probably have done.
Does cd audio and midi playback work in win 8 media player correctly through your default device?

Yes, everything else ... media player etc. including playing back wav and mp3 files from my Sony Sound Forge etc. is working fine ... frustrating ...

Are audio tracks routed to a Master bus that goes to Main Outs? Is there signal on Main Outs in the Console view? (you might have to drag the divider at the right-hand end to see them).
 
Also, I'm still a little unclear on where these MIDI tracks reside, and what the sound source is. Hardware Motif keyboard synth playing internal MIDI tracks with output echoed through SONAR or MIDI in SONAR driving the Motif or MIDI in SONAR driving a soft synth or Motif  direct-monitored through Patchmix or...?
 
It's really difficult to troubleshoot this kind of thing remotely without very specific routing and Sonar and Patchmix routing details. Maybe a screenshot of Patchmix would help.
 
 

brundlefly
Are audio tracks routed to a Master bus that goes to Main Outs? Is there signal on Main Outs in the Console view? (you might have to drag the divider at the right-hand end to see them).
 
Also, I'm still a little unclear on where these MIDI tracks reside, and what the sound source is. Hardware Motif keyboard synth playing internal MIDI tracks with output echoed through SONAR or MIDI in SONAR driving the Motif or MIDI in SONAR driving a soft synth or Motif  direct-monitored through Patchmix or...?
 
It's really difficult to troubleshoot this kind of thing remotely without very specific routing and Sonar and Patchmix routing details. Maybe a screenshot of Patchmix would help.
 
 

 
Motif is playing back MIDI files to and from Sonar and is plugged L and R into back of E-MU1616m ... I took snapshots of default input and output settings on Patchmix but can't upload them here ... and yes, I have the Console view expanded ...

At this point I really wish I was back in Win7 ... 8 and 8.1 have been a pain in the butt ...

Got it ... finally ... in my case it is Sonar X3 Master Bus Output = E-MU ASIO ASIO Out 15 ... Thanks to all who helped me on this ...  Glenn