Band Track
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Most segments have a band track containing at least one band. Whenever a band is encountered in the track as the segment plays, the instrument assignments and other PChannel settings in that band are applied.
The following figure shows a segment containing a band track. A band change is made at measure 3.
When you insert a style in the style track of a segment, a band track is created if necessary, and the default band of the style is automatically placed in the band track on beat 1 of the first measure. Similarly, when you import a MIDI file as a segment, the instrument settings in the MIDI file are inserted as a band in the band track of the newly created segment.
In other cases, a band track is not added automatically, and when you create a band track, it is empty until you insert a band. Until you insert a band, the segment is played by the default band. For information on how to add a band track manually, see To add tracks to a segment.
The first band in the track is considered the primary band for the segment and should be inserted on beat 1 of measure 1. Any number of bands can be put in a track, but no more than one per beat.
Note It is possible to enter multiple bands on a beat by changing their properties after insertion. If multiple bands occupy the same beat, their names are displayed in italics. You can cycle through the selection of all bands on a beat by right-clicking any of the bands and clicking Cycle Bands.
Each band placed in the track is a separate instance or copy. Changes made to one band do not affect another, even one with the same name. Changes made to a band in the project tree do not affect instances of that band that have already been placed in segments.
You are not required to include a band track in every segment. However, if a segment does not contain a band track, then no instrument sounds are loaded into the computer's memory for playback, and no MIDI program changes are sent to the synthesizer. The result might be silence; it might be playback using only the default GM patch 00 instrument sound; or it might be playback using the instrument sounds that were last used for the PChannels.
To play multiple segments with a single band, you can place the band in just one segment and play that segment first, either as a secondary segment or as the primary segment. The PChannel settings apply to all segments played subsequently, until another band is played.
For information on entering and editing bands in the band track, see the following topics: