Thanks, guys. Scook also posted a link to a working d/l page over at another thread that I started for the YouRock guitar. I've d/l'd and installed MIDI Guitar v0.9.3 and . . . well, let's just say it's been a journey, but I'm glad I've arrived.
 
Once I got MG to make sounds I had some real problems and it all had to do with my overthinking things. I have a sort of complex setup, which is a DAW I built years ago and to which I've added and upgraded things as it's needed them.  Part of my problem was the fact that I have two sound cards installed into my system. Recently, out of simple expediency, I've had most audio activities outputted to an old Sound Blaster card -- an oldie but goodie, it has good specs and actually does a good job. But as I was struggling with things, I got to thinking maybe the SB card was the problem, so I set it aside, figuratively speaking, and centered in on my other sound card, which is the system's main in/out card -- an M-Audio Delta 66 24/96 card. The Delta 66 exhibited mostly the same problems as the SB, though, which was terrible latency and many tracking issues. I should mention here that I was having to use ASIO in order to get to first base with MG -- with either card.
 
So anyway, as I was wrestling with the problem, I noticed down at the bottom of the WDM list in VSIO's settings window an inconspicuous little "io|2" -- which I knew stood for the device I was using to bring my guitar's signal into the computer -- an Alesis iO2 Express:
 
http://www.alesis.com/io2express
 
I bought the iO2 Express originally so I could bring a guitar signal into my laptop via USB. I actually have a 12-channel Mackie mixer and the M-Audio Delta 66 to handle those chores with my DAW. But, yeah, I was avoiding having to get that deep into my DAW at this point, so I just grabbed the Alesis instead and plugged it into a handy USB port. Which actually made things more complicated than they needed to be, but live and learn. Just as an aside, here, the M-Audio M-Track is identical to the Alesis iO2 Express -- the only difference between the two is the Alesis is silver colored with chrome knobs and the M-Audio is black with black knobs. Other than that, they are identical down to the last screw.
 
So anyway, with growing feelings of frustration, I clicked on the io|2 object and saw it was showing an in and out, so I clicked on them and immediately noticed a trace move across "Waveform's" screen. I flicked a string on the guitar, and I heard sound! WTF.
 
I grabbed the guitar and hit a few notes, and hey! Essentially no latency! And most of the artifact problems were gone. I had been struggling with a latency of over one-half second before, trying to bring the sound in through my sound cards. When all MG needed was just the sound converted from analog to digital.  Even though the signal coming from my sound cards was still an unprocessed analog signal at 24/48, I guess the length of the path the signal took was just too much. Anyway, problem solved.
 
I mentioned above that I made things more complicated than they needed to be because if I wouldn't have been so averse to just firing up the ol' DAW, I could have just plugged into one of the channels of the Mackie and that would have been it. No additional device needed.
 
Anyway, I've spent about an hour now playing around with MG, and I gotta say, I'm impressed. It seems to be functionally no different than if I were playing my guitar through my Roland GR-33 guitar synth. Although I don't seem to have quite as many artifact issues with my Roland, to be honest. I gotta say, it's really annoying the way MG plays back many of the notes I hit on the 5th and 6th string a half step sharp. I know why it's happening. If I hit the string with a bit too much force, I can get it to go sharp on me. Problem is, it's unpredictable. Sometimes it takes less force than expected to get the string's tone to go sharp. So I played around with the "Sensitivity" some. I had it cranked up to 98 initially, then I tried turning it down. I noticed when I did so that the artifacts decreased. But not so much the half-step-sharp issue. Maybe a little better. And the Pitch Sensitivity -- I don't know what to make of it. If I crank the sensitivity down on a specific note, will that cause the note to have less volume?  If so, that could be a problem.  But it looks like if I took the trouble to keep track of specific notes I'm having a problem with, it might be of some use. Do y'all use this feature?
 
Okay, I'm done. I'm gonna go play with my YouRock MIDI Guitar some more and see if I can come to some sort of decision.
 
 

Guys, I was just doing some more searching on the YouRock and I ran across a thread where BAPU had bought one, then returned it. BAPU, I'll bet you bought a gen1 product. The gen2 version is way better than the old one. Y'all were mentioning not being able to strum with a MIDI controller. Well, I can strum like Johnny Cash on my YouRock.  Or John Lennon, if you prefer.  The gen2 is really surprisingly good at how well it tracks.
 
My biggest problem with it right now is I can't get Sonar X2 to produce any sounds with it. The track meter is responding, so there's a signal getting to the track, but from there on, there's nothing. No meter movements in the master panel, for example.  I double checked to make sure I had assigned everything properly, you know, all the i,o,c,b,p stuff. I'm still pretty new to Sonar, but usually when I'm having a problem with not being able to hear something, it's because I've gotten one of those settings wrong. Maybe I oughta start a thread on this if I can't get it figured out.

Just read over at the KVR thread that Midiguitar has had a minor update, no tracking update but some bugs fixed.  Either Go to the JamOrigins site or the KVR thread to get the download: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=359095&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=975
 
------
0.9.4 BETA Released 

We have recently been doing more work on general tracking, including recognizing bass notes, but its not yet ready to go. So meanwhile we are releasing a minor update or two. Version 0.9.4 is ready for download now. There are no changes in tracking compared to 0.9.3, but many minor bugs have been fixed, compatibility issues with some VST plugins and a few new features including: 

* Fixed crash when loading some VST plugins. 
* CPU usage meter and warning about lack of CPU power. 
* Checking for updates is optional. 
* Pitch bend enable/disable parameter. 
* AudioUnit MIDI Output support. Not supported in most DAWS. 
* Fixed issue with instrument and effect programs not being set correctly when 
loading a project. 
 

i've been using MG as a stand alone for broadcasting and haven't touched the DAW end of it for a while.  i know i had it working before, even had a template made.  but now i can't get it to work... the "enable midi output" will not activate. i've read some threads on here about that but nothing so far has helped.  am i missing some part of the process that needs to be done with each update of MG?  is this a Sonar thing?  it's probably something simple as usual that i'm missing.  

Depending on when you last used MIDI Guitar, there was a change between 0.7.4 and 0.7.5 that broke the 64bit VST installation. The dll name changed from "MIDIGuitar 64.dll" to "MIDIGuitar64.dll". As a result, the plug-in needed to be rescanned and the registry edit (step #4 in http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2749799) needed to be made again for the new dll.

Well, also over at the KVR thread, there was one guy who claims that v0.9.3 is crashing Sonar X2, X3 and Win 7 64bit. I haven't tried it yet in Sonar X2, but I'm running Win 7 64-bit and my OS hasn't had any issues with v0.9.3. But if he's having problems, others might too. So if you're running 0.9.3, you might want to upgrade to the lastet beta -- 0.9.4 -- which is mostly a bugfix from what I've read. I haven't d/l'd and installed it yet. Honestly, I'm waiting for JamO to vastly improve tracking before I'm gonna do anymore with it.

hmmm i updated to MG 9.4 and redid everything....  noticing that (even on the previous version) that MG was only showing up in the VSTi section after being scanned in Sonar instead of the audio effects section.  which means i can't use it as an effect, i can insert in an audio track as a vsti but no way to enable midi output.  not sure what's going on there and why it's not showing in the effects section... ideas?

That is correct, it will show in the synth plug-in section. Just drop the plug-in in the FX bin, it will also show up in the synth rack where you can enable MIDI output if you want to drive a synth in another track. Then add a synth to the project and set synth MIDI input to MIDI Guitar. Alternately, after adding MIDI Guitar to the FX bin, you can add the synth directly in the MIDI Guitar plug-in (just like the stand alone) if you do not want a separate MIDI track.

well if i have it set right i'm back to the problem of not being able to enable the midi output of MG when it's in the FX box.  being able to manipulate the midi in it's own track is one of the reasons i got this.  i know i had it before.  is this a Sonar issue with the enable function?
 

It should not be a problem. After dropping the MIDI Guitar in the FX bin, MIDI Guitar should also be in the synth rack. Open the synth rack, right click on MIDI Guitar and enable MIDI out. At least that is how it works in X2a for me. You have verified the MIDI Guitar generateEvents registry entry is set to 1.