Always prompt on a midi import is a good idea. When I exploded the tracks Reaper created 16 new midi tracks - and now that I think about it maybe that happened in the video also, I just didnt scroll down far enough to see them. So I checked the original 16 midi tracks and they were still routed correctly to Sampletank- so I just selected all 16 parts from the imported and exploded midi file (I selected the parts, not the tracks)and dragged them all at once onto the 16 blank pre routed for Sampletank midi tracks and so far its working great!! Then I just deleted the midi tracks created from the "explode midi by channel" command. Im feeling like I got past a big part of the Reaper learning curve
(at least for my needs)- thanks again DarkStar! Im sure ill have more questions soon