Funky setup indeed. I do wish I had not accepted the advice to install programs and plugins on a separate drive! It felt intuitively wrong at the time, but I thought I was being advised by someone more knowledgeable on the subject... I take your point, @scook. I suppose it's likely at the root of all my weirdness, huh? Making Cakewalk behave like a schizophrenic  or a split-brain patient. It is my intention, when finished the current large project - theater installation project for Tim