A song based on autostyle segments can be changed dramatically by the selection of a different style.

You select an initial style during the New Song process, but you can adjust this and a variety of other style options at any time afterwards.

Track Styles

The Tracks page of the Song Setup window lets you configure the styles you are using for the song.

It shows the style of each track in a drop-down list, which can select any other available style instead.  Next to each is a Test Style button that auditions the events that will be generated by the style in each track.

Depending on the Apply To setting for the song, all drop-down lists may be selected independently (for Each Track) otherwise only the top list is active, as shown, and the others simply reflect its selection (for All Tracks).

Transport Bar

The other way to change styles is with the drop-down list at the left of the transport bar.

This selects the style to be used for the current track or the whole song, depending on what styles are set to Apply To.  First it opens the Change Style window, which allows you to audition and adjust the settings that control how it is applied.

If styles are set to apply to Each Track, the style names in the list are color-coded for the focus track.

Style Events

When a style is changed, the virtual events in all affected autostyle segments are updated instantly.

You can see this happen in work sheets, staff sheets and segment sheets (and of course, you can hear the difference during playback).

Consider how the events in the work sheet above change when a different style is selected.

Mixed Styles

As already mentioned, there are two Apply To options you can choose, in the Controls page of the Song Setup window.

All Tracks - only a single style is selected and used for all tracks.  This is the easiest mode to use and the default for new songs.

Each Track - a different style can be selected for each track.  This offers much more variety by allowing a combination of styles to be used in the song.

A vast array of arrangements are possible with mixed styles.  For example, if you have 20 styles which can be selected separately for any of the Riff, Rhythm, Bass or Drums tracks, you have 160,000 possible combinations.

Song Controls

There are three other settings on the Controls page of the Song Setup window that influence how style selections are managed.

First is the Song Settings option, which specifies that when a style is selected, the song should be updated with the same master volume, master tempo, staff resolution and bar sizing that the style was designed with.

This helps to keep the mood of the song similar to the style it is based on.  These settings can still be manually overridden, or you can disable this feature altogether.

It does not apply and is disabled when Apply To is set to Each Track, where the song may be using several styles.

Track Setup

Next is the Track Setup option, which specifies that when a style is selected, the tracks are to be updated with the same setup parameters (voice, level, reverb, etc) as the corresponding source track in the style.

This is generally recommended, to retain the same sound and event formation options designed into the style.

The track setup can still be manually overridden, or you can disable this feature altogether.

Track Scope

Finally, the Track Scope option specifies that when a style is selected, the track is updated with the same scope (note range, drum kit, etc) as the corresponding source track in the style.

This is generally recommended, to retain the same scope designed into the style, but this feature can be disabled.  If the scopes do not match, Songtrix attempts to fit the style events as well as possible.

For melody segments, note events may be shifted by an octave to make them fit.  This may happen anyway as events are reharmonized between the source and destination key centres. 

It can actually be a handy trick to deliberately shift the note range of melody tracks so that autostyle parts are generally pitched up or down.

For rhythm segments, chord events may be trimmed or shifted across tone lines to make them fit into a smaller scope.

For drum segments, events are dropped if the equivalent drum is not available in the destination kit.