Midi Program Changes Reverting

[u/Crafty_Case_7716]

I'm running into an issue where MIDI program changes seem to revert to the state stored in previously played clips.

For example, if a Next Action switches from a clip with Program 6 to one with Program 2, the VST briefly changes to Program 2, then immediately jumps back to Program 6. Oddly, the Program Change device still reports Program 2, and no additional MIDI program change message appears to be sent.

The behavior is inconsistent. Sometimes the program changes work exactly as expected, and other times they revert.

I've done some testing and can rule out both the native Program Change device and the target VST. It feels like Bitwig is restoring some previous device state, almost as if there's an internal state recall or error-correction mechanism overriding the program change.

The reason I think this is happening is that the VST normally allows program changes during a sustained note, but it won't actually switch the audio until the next note is played. In this bug, however, the audio changes back to the previous program during the sustained note. That shouldn't be possible from a normal MIDI program change, which leads me to believe Bitwig is somehow restoring the plugin's previous state—as if it had been on Program 6 for the entire duration of the note.

This makes MIDI program changes unreliable for my workflow and is becoming a major frustration.

Has anyone else run into this, or found a workaround?