What I've Learned.

Peter's suggestion about RealTracks preferences (above) worked well and it was just one step so that makes it quick and painless. But it didn't fix the loss of the melody track

The other resource was in the email support. Rob suggested my using the other RealTracks option.. the Realtracks Picker Dialog and clicking the radio button(s) by the track(s) desired (Bass, Piano, etc.) in the upper left of the dialog window and then putting a check by the "Disable RealTracks.. Force to MIDI" for the chosen track (not tracks) and then press the [Generate] button which does the job but also closes the window. That's because each track needs to be generated separately. So it's open dialog select what track to change, put check in (force MIDI) and press generate. Open dialog, select track, force midi, generate.

This was effective though it required more steps.

Rob solved the bit about the melody track, he diagnosed that the midi files I was making were somehow getting corrupted. He recommended a re-install of BB and that fixed the last complaint. I'm impressed by pgmusic's help systems. Thanks to Rob and Peter!