I have set up a couple of templates in Sonar.
One acts as a 16 tracks to 16 channel (acts as a midi router as well), with an additional track to route the keyboard back into the Octopus. The 16 tracks take inputs only from the port for the Octopus, then the channels are remapped to different synths on different ports.
When the sequencer is not running I use MIDI-OX for routing with the same channel assignments.
The other is similar, it just opens up with the favorite set of plugins, and effects buses, I have et the plugin tracks to receive only on a specific channel (from any port, so that I can switch between controllers).
I usually start with the second template and if needed I copy in the 16 tracks from the first template (in fact now that I think of it I could set them up as template tracks).
For dumping I’d say that using a single track and the "Dissolve part" trick is pretty good. But it’s applicability depends on how many midi ports you are using (and the midi routing needs you may have).