Total newbie here. I'm just trying to get the virtual instruments packaged with the new Cakewalk to record, such as Drum Kit 1. I open a new project, select Basic. I select "Insert" then "Soft Synth" and Drums, and SI-Drum Kit. This adds a track and assigns a default midi port. I can bring up the kit, select a sample pattern and loop it. I hear it in my headphones, and I see sound bars in the drum and master mix channels. I arm the drum track to record, then hit the main record button (set to overwrite). There is an active sound bar in the drum track and I hear the drums, but I do not see any sound patterns on the track itself, and there is nothing after I hit the stop button and attempt the play button.
Is there some setting I'm missing? I've looked at the midi port settings, tried some variations with the other soft synths such as strings. The default is the Virtual Controller assigned to Midi Omni. I've tried setting this specifically to the SI-Drum Kit 1, Midi Omni, but still nothing is recorded.
I'm running on an HP laptop, 16 GB RAM, Windows 8.1, new Cakewalk installation a few days ago. Thanks for any ideas to get me out of the ditch!