thanks rharv i will delve into the BBCSO settings tomorrow. i always thought that the meter activity on the mixer showed an audio output (even for a midi channel) but i presume from what you are saying, that the output shown on the mixer channel 'ladders' is midi information/signal being output but not going correctly to the BBCSO soft synth in such a way that the BBCSO turns that into a sound. does that sound right?

sforzando just works and the edirol hypercanvas does too so there must be a setting i am missing somewhere on the BBCSO