I’d love to help building a new guide for new users.
All videos and tutorials are made for version 2.8 and 3 is very different!
Thanks for mentioning this. I’m a brand new Renoise user as of version 3, and have been wondering where I can find up-to-date information, preferably in written format. Suggested possible “workflows” for digging in would be hugely helpful too.
have been wondering where I can find up-to-date information, preferably in written format. Suggested possible “workflows” for digging in would be hugely helpful too.
The tutorials wikiis up to date, but the quickstart guide is still covering 2.8
And I totally agree, its better to introduce various “tasks” rather than trying to explain everything (that’s what the tutorials wiki is for)
A couple of weeks ago I posted this - it’s trying to slice everything into easily digestible chunks:
Chapter 1: Getting started
- What was that tracker thing again? (keyboard, vertical patterns, and hexidecimal sample-commands)
- Setting up the audio card (input and output)
Chapter 2: Loading and playing a song
- Using the disk browser (picking a folder, loading a song)
- Using the transport to start - and stop - playback. First keyboard shortcut learned: SPACE
- Adjusting the volume and tempo (now you can DJ with Renoise!)
- Using track scopes to toggle tracks on and off
- Using the “song follow” feature to make the cursor follow the playback position. Keyboard shortcut learned: SCR LOCK
- Looping a pattern (single pattern via transport, or multiple patterns via pattern sequencer).
- Anything else?
Chapter 3: Entering notes (pattern editor)
- Playing notes vs. entering notes (edit mode)
- Keyboard is mandatory (return of “what was that tracker thing”)
- Anatomy of a track: note/vol/pan/delay/effect columns
- Previewing a sound (which keys on the PC keyboard actually play notes? can I play via a MIDI keyboard instead?)
- Edit mode: how to enter notes (…), delete a note (DELETE), stop a sound (CAPS)
- Clipboard: cutting and pasting selections using the mouse + CTRL/X/C/V, as well as keyboard shortcuts for patterns, tracks and columns
- Effect commands: demonstrate a few, such as backward/forward and slice
- Other important things?
Chapter 4: samples and instruments
- About plugins, midi and the renoise sampler
- Introduction to plugins (plugin tab)
- specify a plugin folder (preferences)
- once done scanning for plugins, choose one
- using scopes, you can choose a track
- how it can be controlled via automation (instr. automation device)
- Introduction to the the sampler (sampler tab)
- how to load an instrument/sample (“same thing”, any sample is a renoise instrument)
- the structure of a renoise instrument (just a few words on samples, keyzone, modulation and fx)
- how to loop and process a sample (sample properties) - tip: autoseek on long samples
- how it can be controlled via automation (instr. macro device)
Chapter 5: adding effects
- Renoise can use either native effects or effect plugins
- Effects are applied to the track in which the sound is playing, or internally in the Renoise instrument
- A track can make use of any number of effects, and/or send its audio to other (send/group) tracks
- Chaining: multiple effects make up a a DSP chain (copy, paste, save to disk, store as preset)
- Chains (and tracks) are processed from left to right, re-arranging devices (or tracks) can change the overall sound (DIST->FILTER vs. FILTER->DIST)
- Demonstrate loading/swapping DSP chains inside a track (via disk browser) - also: fx-chain presets (instrument)
- Recording an effect parameter (automation, via right-click slider) - also: How do I use my MIDI controller to control a parameter?
Chapter 6: putting it all together (pattern sequencer + matrix)
- A song is composed from series of successive patterns playing in vertical order (also: sorted vs. unsorted)
- Using the pattern sequence to insert, duplicate and remove, assign a name to the pattern etc.
- Use the matrix for overview (every track in every pattern), to toggle (mute) and cut/copy large parts (CTRL+drag)
Oh, and the seventh chapter should be about mixing. Quite important, but not where you’d start…
Not to get too technical in terms of instructional design, but I think that it would be helpful to consider some basics.
For example:
Who is your audience?
This may seem like an obvious question, and the answer you might think is “New users, duh!” but the fact is that different new users have different desires and requirements. Some new users want carefully chunked microtutorials which address specific issues, some want a complete walkthrough on the whole thing, some want reference material because they get the general idea but want to be able to see all the options at their disposal.
All these people need or want different things.
How sophisticated will you get?
If you’re only interested in explaining what a tracker is and how it functions, that’s one thing. On the other hand, if you want to get someone from newbie to Lua coding, that’s a whole different story. Working out your scope will help you save time and focus on what’s important.
What media are best?
Text? Screenshots? Presentation style for delivery in a class? Hypertext? Video?
What will you do about peripheral topics?
Instrument design, music theory, mixing, mastering, production, hardware choices, workflow - will you cover them? Provide pointers to resources? Ignore them completely?
I could go on (and on) but I think you get my drift.
An updated video would be great, too. For me, the hardest part of getting into Renoise was (and still is) the abstractness of trackers, though at the same time that is also what is appealing. Hands-on, “song from scratch” type of videos make fantastic learning tools since they don’t just provide knowledge, but demonstrate how it is applied. Achenar’s stuff is a great example (I just discovered that he’s done a few Renoise 3 related videos – entertaining as always. :))