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Yes, if you don't provide as much detail as possible, you leave folks that are trying trying to help with guessing. So you will get a lot of random suggestions in that case. Too much detail is always better than too little! Preferably give a step by step list of exactly what you did to setup the project, so that others can either attempt to reproduce the issue., or guide you to a better workflow!

BC (Before Cakewalk) I had this:

You insert AD2 as a soft synth virtual instrument plugin. If you create a simple instrument track when you insert AD2, that track will contain a combined audio track for AD2 to output audio to, and a MIDI track where you can drag and drop MIDI patterns from the AD2 UI. Or like Larry said, you can uncheck "Simple instrument track", and instead choose "MIDI Source" + "First Synth Audio Output". That will create separate MIDI and audio tracks for the AD2 plugin to use. But bottom line, the drag and drop is for the MIDI patterns only as a way to get them from the plugin into your Cakewalk tracks. From there they will trigger the sounds in AD2 when they are played back with your project.

The instrument slots in Kontakt are each assignable to a selected MIDI channel (1-16, or omni) in the Kontakt plugin. So if you are using a single instance of Kontakt, you can insert up to 16 Kontakt instruments in one VSTi, and control them from multiple Cakewalk MIDI tracks based on the MIDI channel number. If you are using multiple instances of the Kontakt VSTi with one for each instrument, then you do not need to be as concerned about the individual MIDI channels. Just make sure that the correct MIDI data is on the Cakewalk track routed to that instrument that you want it to play. Check the output selection for the tracks in Cakewalk that are assigned to Kontakt, to make sure that something there has not been changed. Each MIDI track in Cakewalk can be assigned to a different slot in Kontakt, as well as a different instance of the VSTi.

When I moved a few years ago I decided to leave my MIDI gear packed up, and downsized the home studio from a spare bedroom, into a corner space in another room. I am enjoying the relative ease of working with virtual instruments "in the box", and being able to back up the current state of my entire MIDI studio by simply clicking the "save" button on my current project. Big time saver. Plus now I have thousands of presets that I can pull up and tweak, and easily create multi layers with various instruments. The virtual synth rack is legit! Open any saved project, and I instantly have a "snapshot" of the virtual studio used in that session. No more MIDI sysex backups, and no more tangle of MIDI/audio cables, and no more external mixer.

You do not need a registration file, all you need is the registration code. I wrote mine down on the yellow sticker on the back of the DVD box, where it says "Product Registration Code (Please write down)". In addition the code will be listed in plain text in the user account on the legacy Cakewalk site. https://www.cakewalk.com/My-Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2fMy-Account I have never heard of anyone recovering the online registration info from their disk folders.

Cakewalk is one of a few DAWs around today that evolved from MIDI sequencers. That strong MIDI support is still built-in.

Aha! A a tape room! Familiar site from my early days. It was quite a development when those eventually evolved into robots surrounded by mag tape cartridge racks (tape silo). End of tape operators!

Full image backups only for me! I don't trust having a chain of dependencies to fall back on. I believe that increases the complexity, and odds of failure to restore. Backup storage is relatively cheap now, and USB3 is reasonably fast. Incremental and differential techniques are a throwback to old times (at least for single machine desktop users). If you are a sysadmin running a cloud server farm YMMV.

Backup images trump warranties! Every. single. time.

I still have a copy of Sonic Foundry Vegas Audio 2 from back before the Sony days. It came out before they made it into a video editor. It was a multi-track DAW for audio, and had many of the simple UI features in common with other Sonic Foundry products. Sonic Foundry Vegas Audio 2.0 https://www.mixonline.com/technology/sonic-foundry-vegas-audio-20-370065 So at the core, Vegas is a robust audio editor.

USB3 dock is the way to roll now!

Back up, back up, back up!!! And don't be surprised if your drive eventually fails, no matter what kind it is, But I think that a solid state drive is not likely to give advance warning, in the way that a HDD can, mostly due to the design and lack of moving parts. Electronic failures tend to be sudden. I had a friend who built a computer based on SSD several years ago, and I also added a SSD to my system about the same time. He tried to fire up his computer one day about a year later, and got the no boot device message from his BIOS. He ruled out the cables and SATA ports, and the drive appeared to be completely dead. So he brought the SSD drive over for me to take a look. I hooked it up in an external dock, and even tried connecting it to a SATA port in my PC. But it was totally bricked. My SSD is still showing 100% health after 3+ years. But I take an image every day!

That's the reality of any hard drive, solid state or spinner. Always assume that they can die at any time. And have a good backup plan, and use it regularly.

Which version are you trying to set up? I assume that you are referring to some legacy Cakewalk product, as the new Cakewalk by BandBab is free and does not rely on serial numbers Some will require both the serial numbers and the registration codes that were issued when the product was initially registered. They should be found in the legacy "My Account/My Products" page by logging in at cakewalk.com.

Here are the specs on that CPU: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/43546/intel-core-i5-650-processor-4m-cache-3-20-ghz.html That is a 10 year old legacy dual core CPU and chipset, with a slower DDR3 1066/1333 memory bus than later DDR3 designs. Memory would definitely need to be bumped to at least 8GB RAM to be usable with Win 10. You could probably do that for less than $50. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=8 gb ddr3&Submit=ENE But for a budget system for $150, why not?

Cubase Elements doesn't require a dongle.

Hey Larry how do we know this is still the real you? What if the "cclarry" account here was hacked also, and now we are actually speaking to an alleged Chinese hacker?

Well I don't have Komplete or Battery, so I cannot advise on their use. But I frequently see Battery mentioned as one of the go-to drum sampler instruments by others. Looks very deep, and much more tweakable than Session Drummer, just based on videos I've seen.

Just a reminder to always keep a piece of ductape over your webcam lens!

I think maybe you meant this post for the thread on Steinberg?

Their site says: "All you have to do is register Focusrite gear, and one offer will be featured in your Focusrite account every couple of months." I would be disappointed not to see it in my account, that is if I had one. Not a Focusrite customer, but I bought Biotek directly from Tracktion. Good synth, and well worth having! Biotek 2 adds a few things, and is a nice upgrade!

I guess the OP also has the NI Battery drum sampler available since that was included in KU10. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/drums/battery-4/

Ya, but I still have the flux capacitor, and I'm not revealing where it is located!

Just be aware, that there are a some presets in Pentagon that can cause loud feedback and audio distortion through your monitors in Cakewalk or Sonar. You can disable the audio engine in that event. I also found that you can open up Pentagon in Reaper (yes it supports DXi), and it automatically mutes the track if you hit an offending preset. So no loud noises.