Thank you rharv, but I already run RB as administrator. I also feel that this is a permissions problem. I tried copying RealBand back to the C: drive to see if that might have been the problem, but no change there. I gave users Full Control of the destination folder but still no difference. Even though I suspect that this may be permissions related, I don't understand how I am able to create the SEQ file in the first place. If I simply create new songs and save them I can then modify them to my hearts content and there is no issue. These operation all require underlying permissions. It is only if I decided to Save As.
As soon as I select Save As I get the error, at that point the software has not even asked me where I want to save the file, it just says that an error has occurred as shown below. Because the message tells me I proceed, I dismiss the message and attempt to Save As a second time. This time I do get the choce of where I want to save the new file. I give the file a completely different name - test.seq - (original I know). I then get the error report again. After I dismiss the message I see that the file has not been saved.
I try again and open the original file, I then Save As. Now I put a couple of characters appended to the end of the original file name and then I'm told that file already exists as shown below.
Now, when I continue these test I found that it DID start to save the new file name, but knowing I have done nothing extra to the system I carry on these tests and for a few Save As tries it works a treat, not even giving me this original error! Sometimes the file is save with now filename, just the SEQ extension!
So .., I began the process from scratch but then I get the errors and as I persevere I get it to work several times. After a few successful Save As operations the program loops and I have to kill it in Task Manager.
So really this error is inconsistent and probably not worth anybody's time. If I can get it to work now and again that will be OK because I don't use Save As too often.
I'm very grateful for the very helpful support that we all get in this forum though.
One thing I was intrigued by though, was the ability to run BIAB and RB from and external drive. Does this simply meany, after installation, simply copying the BB and RealBand folder to the external drive. That would certainly save me a lot of save and allow me to use the program on my laptop and other PC.
Thanks again
As an addendum to this post I have spent some time time trying to sort the 'flaky' problems out. It was all too easy to try and blame RealBand for the issues because nobody elsse seemed to have the issues.
The the major issues that I had were:
1. Renaming a file when using Save As (SEQ save)
2. Crash after saving a SEQ after inserting a loop
3. A forever loop when I tried to change the tempo of a song containing audio tracks
Well, after learning that not nobody had these issues and looking at the error log, it did really look like I had a permissions problem. RealBand was already running under the Admin authority' so the application itself should have not had any issues with security. I looked at the set of folders which were the target of the save and I gave them full control to all users but this did nothing to alleviate the problem, still getting exactly the same error.
I tried moving RealBand back to the C: drive where it had initially been installed, but , again, no joy.
I used a folder at the root of the F: drive where RealBand.exe was located, but nothing again.
I did noticed that I could, outside RealBand, use Windows Explorer to make a copy of the original SEQ and I could rename this. This new file was easy to load and use Save, so at least I had a workaround.
I had decided to just to stick with this. Then, on a different tack, I was going to try to run RealBand from a removable drive and work on my laptop. I thought I might try the rename problem on this removable, and it WORKED.
So I moved back to my PC and created a copy of the RealBand song PC folder on my removable and, to my surprise (and delight), it WORKED.
So ..., I went back to the original folder on my PC and, to my delight (and dismay), it also WORKED. Because now I had no idea what was really causing the problem.
Now I couldn't seem to get it not to work. I shut down last night and started this morning working directly from the folder on the PC, doing edits and using Save As with no problem at all.
So now I don't know what the issue was. I'll just have to wait and see if it comes back again
At least points 1 and 2 have now been addressed.
Full of hope from the success of points 1 and 2 I thought I would try point 3 on the removable.
But this was just the same. I added an audio track to the song and tried to change the tempo. Everything appeared to be working. I'm told on a dialog that the Sample Rate is being processed and I even get the progress bar, but the circle appears on the screen and I wait ... and wait ... and wait - in fact I went for a cup of tea. On coming back I could see that no progress had been made. I look in Task Manager and I can see that the CPU is running at 40% with RealBand. I was unable to cancel on the dialog, so I just had to kill it - I don't think I've used Task Manager so much since I started using RealBand.
Still, if I use just midi on my tracks until I am happy with the song tempo then I can insert the audio at the last minute.
Thanks to all for the helpful pointers.
The reason I've spent so much time on it (I am an Ableton user) is that RealBand does have some really excellent features for song creation and I was contemplating moving to the 2019 version (2017 at present) and was evaluating whether or not it would be worth my while.
Not decided yet!
Thanks
John