Artist splitter erasing split artists with Vorbis tag

[Phaedrus]

I've realized this has happened with other files, and I've probably lost a good bit of information. I assume that this is a limitation of my knowledge and understanding of how MusicBee works.

I use the "Artist splitter" to pull the guest artist out of the artist field. This seems to work, until I save it. Once I save the tags, the Guest artist disappears. I don't find it in the database, or in the file. The little plus does not show up next to artist to indicate there is more than one artist. The artist field is also updated to show that there is only one artist, having removed the separated "Feat." artist. I can see other values entered in MusicBee using TagScanner.

What am I missing?

[Steven]

I am sure there are people on this forum using the guest artist functionality in the artist splitter. I am not aware of any issues around using it and the tag values saved.
In order to get help i suggest you provide an example and go through step by step what you do and what the end result expected was and what actually happened

[Phaedrus]

Working with an album in my inbox, the Album Artist is "The Runaways" and the Artist is "The Runaways feat. Joan Jett." Using the Column viewer, displaying "Album Artist," "Album," and "Artist." Artist shows the appropriate name. At the beginning of this procedure, The "Artist" colum shows only "The Runaways feat. Joan Jett"

I take the following steps;

1. Right-Click the file, and select "Edit."
    the appropriate windows shows up.
2. Click on the "Artist Splitter" button next to the "artist" field.
    The "Multiple Artist Splitter" dialog box opens as expected.
    The text in the "display artist" box is the same text as the "artist:" box. The "role" is set to "Artist."
3. I click on the "Split" button.
    As expected the "artist:" fields are split, with one box showing "The Runaways," and the other box showing "Joan Jett."
4. I click the down arrow on the drop-down list for "role," and select "Guest Artist" on the line next to "Joan Jett"
    The "display artist" field is not altered.
5. I click the "Update" button.
    I return to the "File Properties dialog box" as expected, and all settings appear correct. The "artist" text box title has a small "plus" next to it denoting that there are multiple values. The text in the box is shaded indicating that it has been changed, but not saved. Clicking on the "Artist Splitter" at this point shows the same status as in step 4.
6. I click "Save" on the files properties dialog box.
    This returns me to the original MusicBee view.
    The "artist" colum briefly shows a third entry, but it returns to showing only "The Runaways," and "Joan Jett & The Runaways"
    When I go back into the properties of the file, the "Artist" field shows only the main artist; "The Runaways" and when I go into the "Artist Splitter" there is no secondary artist shown.
    Checking the tags with a third party application shows no other artist information.

I have no recollection of any changes I have made recently, and I assume that I have made some kind of configuration change that has broken the Artist Splitter.

Since this has started, I have upgraded to the latest MusicBee patch level, and this behavior continues. This happens with Mp3, and FLAC files. I can create screen captures of each step if this is not clear enough. Information in my signature is current.

[Steven]

i just tried those steps and cant reproduce any issues. I have tried using mp3 and flac files.
If you open the file with the tag editor and click the tag inspector button do you see the correct values for "Artist", "Display Artist" and "Guest Artist" ?

if anyone else can reproduce this then please chip in and confirm there is a bug

[Phaedrus]

The External Tag reader agrees with Music Bee. There is no "Guest Artist" field, and the "Artist" and "Display Artist" fields are the same.

I'm confident this isn't a bug, It was working for a while, and I noticed yesterday that it was not working. I can't state exactly how long this has been going on. I upgraded to the latest version as a troubleshooting step.

Should I be looking at configuration issues, or is some kind of corruption more likely? Am I missing some maintenance somewhere? My next step is to test my restore process.

[Steven]

can you send me a link to your settings file (help/ support/ view settings)

[Phaedrus]

PM sent.
Thank you for your patience. It turns out, it was my own fault.

I recall playing with the "Advanced Search and Replace." So I took a look there. I must have selected "Remove all items from multi-item 'Artist' except first one," instead of "Remove all artists from 'Displayed Artist' tag."

I love a good learning curve. On the plus side, I know my backup strategy is fully functional.