< The one and only true solution, without loading "ghost" project and retaining original would be a clean Undo + history, so you could potentially go back 20 steps or more without risking of losing anything. >
Depending on the setting selected in the (+) sub menu, the StylePicker is linked to the Recently Selected/Favorites List and is selectable to either automatically save highlighted styles or not save them. Each project can have the complete StylePicker Style search saved and associated with that project.
This linked feature allows the user to search hundreds of styles over time without risk and instantly return to the original style. The Recently Used/Favorites list when set to link with the StylePicker and to save auditioned styles retains up to 250 of the most recent styles and 250 of any marked Favorites.
Charlie. While this is good to know...You are offering yet another workaround, without admitting there is a problem. Very expected. What you offered is a complete style reload not reverting to original project. I have seen many things going south, especially when style previously loaded had special tracks, like audio, silence., frozen, different time signatures and other type of tracks.
Undo needs to Undo last action - whatever steps it took to get there. Period. That would be a first step to fix.
Second, as I've mentioned possibility to take snapshot(s) of project which would include all customization, loaded synths, bar, midi, settings, partial regens, volume automations etc.
I usually end up with 5-10 project copies, mainly because I can't rely on undo.
This redesigned StylePicker is a program feature in BIAB 2026, not a workaround.
The on topic issue: Play Button in StylePicker Not Playing the Highlighted Style
To use it as intended, simply highlight a style, press Apply, then press the green Play button. The selected style is auditioned correctly within the program’s current style, and the StylePicker behaves as expected.
With exception that play button cant play Chord Sheet. And method that does that - is destructive, because Undo is broken. No matter what type of flower garden you will plant on this issue, it will not go away.
Thanks, I can get the demo or my song's chord sto play the highlighted style. What I can't do is to preview/play the highlighted style without loading in into my song.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
Thanks, I can get the demo or my song's chord to play the highlighted style. What I can't do is to preview/play the highlighted style without loading in into my song.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
Charlie, thanks for your feedback. However, the best solution (the only real solution and the easiest solution) and the way BIAB 2024 worked was this: 1) highlight the style one wishes to preview, 2) press the green play button to preview the highlighted style (and of course not load the style).
Simple as that. Enough said.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
Sorry, but for me every time I press the Apply button, it loads that style into my song. I want to preview, not import or load styles that I'm just testing.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
No, this issue is not resolved. I have been using BIAB for years (at least 10). Viewers of my posts should not only know that BAIB 2024 had this functionality, but previous versions had two play buttons, and this was great because one of the buttons (I think the green one) allowed for non-destructive playing/previewing highlighted styles playing the song's current chords.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
Thanks, I can get the demo or my song's chord to play the highlighted style. What I can't do is to preview/play the highlighted style without loading in into my song.
Correct. But, that's actually the way it's always worked. It was done in the background. Referred to in this thread as a Ghost.
Originally Posted by AurealiusB
Thanks for the feedback. Not sure which submenu you are referring to, but I have tried all the submenus and drop-downs.
No worries. It's not necessary for auditioning styles like you're requesting.
Originally Posted by AurealiusB
No, this issue is not resolved. I have been using BIAB for years (at least 10). Viewers of my posts should not only know that BAIB 2024 had this functionality, but previous versions had two play buttons, and this was great because one of the buttons (I think the green one) allowed for non-destructive playing/previewing highlighted styles playing the song's current chords.
Nothing’s been removed. What used to be the play-over-chords button is now the Apply button, and Demo is still the preview with the Demo button.
Charlie describes it well. I recall they added the option of auditioning a style using your own song and not their demo, but kept their existing demo capability. The added feature was in response to user support in the Wishlist.
In general, PG Music adds new features but leaves the existing ones for people who like the existing workflow. You can agree or disagree with that approach but it means less confusion after updates. The trade-off is you have to keep up to learn possibly better ways of doing things.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
This specific behavior (the green button playing the original style instead of the highlighted one) appears to be a point of contention in the current 2026 builds. Even if the manual says it "previews the song," if it isn't swapping the engine over to the new style for that preview, it’s essentially just a "Play" button for your current track, which makes it useless for auditioning.
It’s a classic "feature vs. bug" debate. When developers say, "it's not an issue," they usually mean "the code is doing what we told it to do" (which is play the song), ignoring the fact that it's not doing what the user—or even their own manual—expects.
For long-time users (like me) who point out that "The Manual says X, but the Software does Y," the harder it is for development to categorize it as a "user preference" rather than a functional oversight. Hey, I was once a programmer folks! That said, I will use Ghost files as a workaround but this is definitely a functional oversight.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
This specific behavior (the green button playing the original style instead of the highlighted one) appears to be a point of contention in the current 2026 builds. Even if the manual says it "previews the song," if it isn't swapping the engine over to the new style for that preview, it’s essentially just a "Play" button for your current track, which makes it useless for auditioning.
It’s a classic "feature vs. bug" debate. When developers say, "it's not an issue," they usually mean "the code is doing what we told it to do" (which is play the song), ignoring the fact that it's not doing what the user—or even their own manual—expects.
For long-time users (like me) who point out that "The Manual says X, but the Software does Y," the harder it is for development to categorize it as a "user preference" rather than a functional oversight. Hey, I was once a programmer folks! That said, I will use Ghost files as a workaround but this is definitely a functional oversight.
I disagree the new StylePicker is useless for auditioning.
Comments about what the manual says:
AurealiusB: The BIAB 2026 Manual (PDF) says this on page 74 (per the StylePicker): "You can also audition a style by actually playing it over the current chord progression of your song. The green arrow button plays your song with the currently highlighted style."
Noel96: On page 74, the instruction manual says: "The green arrow button plays your song with the currently highlighted style."
As quoted above and shown in the Screenshot of page 74 of the 2026 manual, the manual doesn't say it "previews the song,". Both you and Noel96 quote the manual to explicitly say, 'plays your song'. The wording is confirmed in the screenshot.
The StylePicker is doing what developers programmed it to do, which is play the song in audition mode. The redesigned StylePicker eliminates the need for Ghost files to workaround. It eliminates the need to redesign the program to create and activate undo (which doesn't currently exist) for the StylePicker. Some forum members and users may recall older versions of the two play buttons (Duplicates the Chord Sheet 'Play' and 'Generate and Play' Buttons) were restricted in audition mode to the default of generating and auditioning only the first 4 bars of the Chordsheet in order to create quick auditions. Later, the number of bars auditioned was adjustable, but the audition was still constrained to the beginning of the song.
The main question of this thread is only the green play button and it's function or functions. Different from earlier 'play' and 'play and generate' buttons, the StylePicker itself is expanded, upgraded and improved and that redesign in itself indicates a more sophisticated, intuitive (because of user preference and customizing) advanced and powerful tool.
Your last post served as a prompt to me to have Chatgpt assist me in producing a discussion detailing some of the advanced techniques, theory behind 'new' uses for the StylePicker and examples. Ignore the tone and pointed questions to Chat some may take offense to. These are to prompt questions intended to direct input from Chat not to be constrained to it's internal 'learned' biased answers it generates generically from its training. A post of this discussion with Chat will follow soon.
Thanks for the explanation of the line from Page 74 in the BIAB 2026 manual: "You can also audition a style by actually playing it over the current chord progression of your song." Followed by this line: "The green arrow button plays your song with the currently highlighted style."
My mistake for thinking that "auditioning" a style is the same as "previewing" a style.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile using Windows 11 REAPER (latest version)
I appreciate the question. In most cases, audition and preview are often interchangeable. It's only in the sometimes unique language of BIAB the definitions become meaningful to be more specific in use. In earlier additions of BIAB, like it was in 2024, the generate and play acted more like a true preview than in 2026 because of the need to restrict the number of bars generated so auditions over the users song began playing sooner.
My mistake for thinking that "auditioning" a style is the same as "previewing" a style.
Hi Aurealius.
My goodness this thread has become immense! Honestly, I don't think that you've made a mistake. I've thought about your post a few times and I've also done a bit of homework. The green 'audition/preview' button was introduced in BIAB 2024. I'm was a beta tester for BIAB 2024, and I'm reasonably sure that I tested this feature at the time of its release.
My recall is that, just as you describe, the green arrow allowed the selected style to be played using the chord symbols on the chordsheet. Then when I closed down stylepicker, the original style that I used on the chordsheet wasn't overwritten with the new style. Unfortunately, I cannot be 100% certain about this because 2024 is a couple of years ago now and, as a result, my recall may be faulty.
For me, what is happening now when I use the green arrow is that it does not generate and play the highlighted style. It only plays the chordsheet with the original style that is loaded and already generated. In other words, having this green arrow seems pointless. That is why passed on a link for this thread to the development team.
Sooner or later, we will know exactly how this icon should work --Noel
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