I've been putting up with this for some time now, but it's really getting to be kind of annoying, so I thought I'd toss the problem out to the Forummind and see if there is a solution to this mess before I take it up with the folks at PG.

I've been playing around with the Melodist a lot lately and this is where I usually see this happening. So let's say I generate a tune and the Melodist has selected, say, nylon string guitar for the melody instrument. A MIDI instrument. But when the song begins to play, even though the mixer shows the nylon string guitar as being the melody instrument, the instrument actually making the sounds is some strange synth. When I go to manually correct things, that is, I go to select "nylon string guitar" from the list of instruments, most of the time it will correct to the right instrument. But only for that one set of bars. Once the song times out and restarts, it's back to the incorrect instrument again, and I have to go and manually select the instrument I want.

I probably should mention that I'm using a nylon string guitar as an example. This happens with almost all instruments that are selected for the melody track. And it doesn't matter if I'm working on a song that is saved or unsaved (new and not written to disk yet).

There are some occasions when it won't let me change instruments and I'm stuck with the instrument BiaB has decided to substitute for the one that's been selected. And we're talking MIDI here -- with the yellow text in the mixer windows. Most often when this happens, the tune is stuck on acoustic piano, and no matter what I've tried so far, I can't get it to let go of acoustic piano.

I learned about BiaB's "Save Special" 'feature' and so now whenever I want to save a tune, I automatically save special. But this doesn't always work. Typically, the file will revert to electric piano as the melody instrument when I've selected a different one and "saved special." Unless it's stuck on acoustic piano, in which case it remains stuck, even after I try to "Save Special" with the correct instrument.

The way I see it, these are BUGS. They aren't features. And I question why "Save Special" is even necessary since I want every selection and change I've made to be saved when I save a song. But they aren't unless I "Save Special." Annoying. And even then, they aren't always saved. Very annoying. And frustrating.

Now, I do need to mention that sometimes BiaB will load the correct instrument and everything is sweetness and light -- but this is the exception rather than the rule.

So, before I take this up with PG, is there some 'splainin' you can do to help me understand why BiaB is being so idiosyncratic with regards to things that I consider to be fundamental and simple?

Best,
Michael

My Music:
https://soundcloud.com/michaelmcbroom/albums