thanks to you too, Dave

Dave, when I am exporting the file as audio, I am losing the midi keyboard. Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? thanks.

so in other words, the only way I can get the midi track to wav is to plug into my sound card's input and rerecord the track as audio? It would seem that that would degrade the sound quality.

so in other words, the only way I can get the midi track to wav is to plug into my sound card's input and rerecord the track as audio? It would seem that that would degrade the sound quality.

That's how its done with keyboards, guitars, bass, microphones, etc. Most keyboards produce very high quality sound. As long as you use good shielded cables it should provide a clean recording. Also some keyboards have S/PDIF or optical digital outputs. It also helps to have a good soundcard or audio device on your computer. If you're not happy with your MIDI keyboard's sounds, try the softsynths that come with Sonar. You might like those better. 

ok thanks for all the great tips.

As Dave is saying your keyboard ( external source)  can be used in place of using soft synth ( internal source ) . You will just have to record the audio output of the keyboard as you feed the MIDI track back to it via midi out from your interface. Lots of folks prefer their outboard gear. It's just a little more work and hassle as you have to record in real time. 

hmm, I see. thanks.