Jim: thank you! The very same to you and yours!!!

rayc: yep, you're once again spot on. The transition elements are not easy to do, as you say, and yes - the only way to "cure" that is to generate another run through and splice the smoother entries in. I guess I just didn't have the patience for that on a first go, but will get to it at some point! The other thing I did was to disable "natural arrangement", so as to get the exact chords I wanted. I can try to enable it now and see what it does ... whether it maintains (more or less, at least) the harmonic progression I want with a more natural-sounding arrangement. The mono idea is very interesting - it never occurred to me! I'll give it a shot and see what happens!

Thanks again and, once more, HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all!