Tony....

Sounds like you do have several issues going on.

With the Focusrite, you should be using ASIO.

Are you running 64 bits or 32 bits? I think BB is 32 so if everything else is 64 that might be part of the issue with BB not seeing the 40.

Any sound card such as the 40 should show up and be available to any music program in the machine. If it's not showing up, it's likely because the drivers are the wrong bit rate.

The Axiom connects but the driver mode is likely MME which is really, really bad for midi and yes, the latency will be off the charts.

Perhaps you can use ASIO4ALL or the WASPI driver to get lower latency.

regarding windows 8... man I hated it too. I had to get a new work laptop and it came with W8 and I couldn't figure out how to open a simple program. So a google search turned up a program that would give me a functional desktop like Windows 7. I installed it and haven't had a problem since trying to find and open programs and other computer chores.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.