Hi, Smokey!

I thought you might like to know that I have created my own Playlist Folders in My Music. I created several, but one Master with all the songs I currently take to a job (about 500). I arranged them in the order they appear in my song/fake book. I did this by first saving all the finished files to a new folder. I then renamed each of them by adding a number in front of the file name, e.g., 0001 for the first song in my song book - Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground, etc. My song book is not strickly in alphabetical order. Files with extra solo verses (that I use when people are dancing) start with the number 3001. My original songs start with 5001.

I set my Real Band to always open in the last used folder. When I start a job I open the Master Playlist folder, load the song, and play. After the song is over, I click open and I am back in the Master Playlist folder and ready to select the next file - from anywhere within the folder. Of course the song doesn't start until I hit the space bar so I have the option of talking to the people before I start the next song and the whole selection process is almost as fast as the Cakewalk Pro Playlist function - especially since with Cakewalk's Playlist you can only have a max of 128 songs in a single playlist.

It was a lot of work to set up. With 500 songs it took me part of three or four days. I also later had to go back and reset some bank changes for some unknown reason. But I only had six songs for that step.

Someone suggested the new features in the Conductor function were helpful in setting up a playlist but I have not had time to check it out yet. What I have done seems to work fine so far. Of course I have back-up files where each song is still listed alphabetically with the original file names.

My wife and I honey-mooned in St. Thomas, Frenchmen's Reef, in 1985. I suppose the 14th hardest working band on St. Thomas knows all the places to play!

Have a great New Year! Regards, Scott