Hello! I haven't posted much and am somewhat new to the program and forum!

I recently uninstalled/reinstalled BIAB because I was having problems with missing sound tracks and now when I open files I am working on, "Artist" appears in the mixer where there should be a drum or other real track in place of the instrument that was there a minute before. And I can't get it back!

For example, today I am working on a song and I change the style; then "Artist" in orange writing appears where there was the drum track and now the track is empty.

Is this a setting I have accidentally set? Any suggestions are much appreciated!

It sounds as if you're working on existing projects. I would first test to see if the problem exists on a New Project.

An Artist Performance Track that's orange in color is an audio file that has been converted by BIAB to be able to exist and be used on another Mixer Channel besides just the Audio Channel. There are several reasons for these files to exist and be used by BIAB. One is to preserve an audio file of an Artist's performance and to combine it with a BIAB SGU file. Another is to move an audio file from the Audio Channel to another Mixer Channel to free the Audio Track to work on an additional Audio Track with your project. A third use is to render and export a Mix from the Mixer to a stereo audio file and then import that mix back into your project for additional tracks to be added to the song. This is using BIAB similar to a hardware digital multi track recorder.

Artist Performance Tracks use a naming method that's shared with the project name. It's possible there are audio tracks in the folder storing your BIAB files that have the same name as your project. Check the folder and rename any of these files and BIAB should no longer import them into the project. It's also OK to delete these files if you're sure you don't need them in your project.

Another possibility is the original SGU file has been corrupted. But my guess is the problem stems from your "missing sound tracks".

Thank you for your response, Charlie!

The missing real tracks seem to have mended after the re-install but once the "Artist Performance" track appears in the mixer, it replaces say the guitar or the drum track - even if I change styles. Now there are even "Artist 1" and Artist 2" tracks that I can't replace with the original files.

I went through the folder and the naming of the exported files are different.

Is there a separate area in the BIAB program folder or somewhere else that stores all of the created files?

Oh wow! I just moved the original BIAB file to its own folder and it's fixed! No more Artist tracks.

Thanks for your suggestions, Charlie!

I'm glad you got it resolved. There are a lot of things Artist Performance Tracks are helpful with in a song project. I listed about 20 different things I use them for at various times in a post in the UserTrack Forum. There's not much documentation or discussion about using these tracks but it may be worth your time to look at what they can do and see if there are any benefits for your future projects.

Here's a link to the post:
The Case for Artist Performance Tracks