My "Wishlist": A few things I hope to see implemented

Hi. I’ve decided to make a list of the ideas and features I’d like to see implemented into Renoise. All of the following ideas I feel will be beneficial in increasing workflow and expanding options/techniques that were not there before. I’m going to try and explain anything too ambiguous, and I’m going to provide examples, and reasons/arguments to why I feel these features should be implemented. All of these ideas are open to your own opinion/criticism (Just be nice, please). Here we go:

1. Horizontal sample timeline

-A slightly similar idea has been suggested here

Explaination

The idea is fairly simple: A horizontal timeline in which samples can be arranged and manipulated. Samples are placed into tracks which are functionally identical to those in the pattern editor. In addition, each sample can be pitched, sliced, re-sized, and assigned it’s own fx. Samples have volume/panning envelopes that can be dragged in for fading, etc.

I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this has been posted before, however I haven’t seen anything with exactly this concept. This is something that I, personally, really want, and I feel a lot of other users would support the idea.

To further explain the concept, here’s a mock-up of how I imagine the feature:

eQIyKOk.png1679×1013

This took a lot longer than I’d like to admit.

The GUI and navigation is pretty self-explanatory: click and drag to move samples, scrolling similar to the sample editor, etc. One thing I didn’t add in was that each sample should have the sample name somewhere on it (top left of each one, probably).

Reasons

A horizontal sample editor like this one would improve allow an easier, more efficient workflow, and give a better visual aid when working with more complex samples (For instance, if you’re chopping up and mixing vocals. Or, if you’re dealing with a lot of large samples and want a better visual idea of what’s going on). This kind of thing would be ideal for working with live recorded instruments and vocals.(I’m kind of in a hurry to get this done, but trust me there is a LOT of potential in this feature).

Arguments

-“Trackers are vertical. Having a feature like this defeats the whole point.”

-Yes, trackers are vertical, and I really agree with you there. I thought about having a vertical-style timeline, but a horizontal one gives a lot more versatility/usability. Trying to arrange and manipulate samples in a vertical interface would be strange and confusing (think: having a vertical sample editor, or automation matrix. It would just be weird). I disagree with that it would defeat the purpose of Renoise being a tracker. Most of the work would still be done in the pattern editor: Any kind of note sequencing, complex drum programming, melodies, chords, etc. You get the point.

-“It would be hard to implement this kind of feature”

-To be honest, maybe. Linking the pattern editor and horizontal timeline might be difficult because you have samples being played in two different places. However, let me propose a few ideas as to how to get around that (these propositions aren’t meant to be combined, each is a separate idea):

•Create a separate type of instrument track for the horizontal sample timeline. This track can only be manipulated when the horizontal timeline is open, but shows up in the pattern editor and lets you see what’s going on in the H. timeline while not actually needing to switch to the timeline. This lets you see everything going on while avoiding any confusion.

•Create notes in an instrument track when placing samples in the H. timeline. These notes would have some kind of indicatior to let the user know that the note is linked to something in the H. timeline. I don’t like this idea as much, because it risks adding additional confusion into the pattern editor, but maybe someone can find a way to make it work.

2. Zoomable pattern editor

-A nearly identical idea was posted here

Explaination

Very simple, really. The ability to zoom in and out (in my case, what I want is to be able to zoom in) of the pattern editor. Danoise, of the Renoise team, does a great job of explaining this feature in this post right here. However, I have a specific reason why I want this feature (below).

Reason

There are a lot of good reasons in the aforementioned post.The reason I want it, however, is for the ability to place notes on the sub-tick level. That way, I don’t have to double or quadruple the bpm just so I can get a handful of notes into a quicker succession than what would’ve been possible if the bpm were halved. (I know note delays can do this, however there is no easy way to put in a quick succession of notes without doing the BPM thing).

3. Customizable keyboard layout

Explaination

Again, a simple concept. All I want to be able to do is change the layout in which notes are played on my computer keyboard.

Reason

This reason simply being that I like modplug’s default key layout better than what Renoise provides me, personally. I also have a large (49-key) MIDI keyboard, that I use extensively, however I’d like the ability to switch between my MIDI keyboard and my custom computer layout. I’ve also seen other users wanting to change this on the forums, some wanting to use a harmonic-type layout for example.

4. Instant-pitch pattern effect command

Explaination

Just like an up/down pitch slide, but it doesn’t take time to change the pitch (it doesn’t_slide_).

Reason

I want the ability to dynamically change the pitch of a specific note within an instrument. For example, I’ve chopped up an amen and I want to pitch the snare within the pattern editor.

This is all I can think of for now, however it’s really late and I need to get some sleep. I might add some tomorrow/later if I think of any more. Please leave a response with your thoughts on these ideas, I’m interested to see what other people have to say on the matter. If you can, please share this post as I put a lot of effort into it, although if you don’t want to that’s completely fine. Thank you for reading.

+1 for horizontal sample track thing. Essential not only for sequencing, but real audio tracks recorded somehow, or rendered/baked tracks. vertically you could do the same just rotating the sample graphs, or display midi/note tracks rotated horizontally as little block patterns as to where the notes are.

Instant pitch - have you already tried to work with the pitch modulation graph possibilities in the instrument editor? I did pitched snares this way, and there’s multiple possibilities on how to map the stuff onto a keyb or sequence the pitches, depending on what you want to achieve. it’s just not “out of the box”, you have to work and build up your modulations.

Horizontal sample timeline

Very nice mockup! I know how long it takes to make them feel “native”.

… but otherwise not particularly excited about this idea. It’s not about “horizontal, bad” or “hard to implement”. For me, it’s mostly because it breaks the song into separate compartments, when everything really (IMO) should be able to fit side-by-side. At the very least, your screenshot would then need to contain all existing types of content (like a giant sideways matrix kind of view). And then we get to the conceptual difficulties which have been discussed in great detail - how to deal with repeating patterns, etc.

If we instead look at the problem that it’s trying to solve (working with long samples), some alternative ideas have been suggested that I find intriguing - such as having a sample start marker. For example, if you have a vocal recording, place the marker where the singing actually starts - not the initial breathing which always accompanies a vocal recording - and enter that into the pattern. When playing the song, the sample will then be triggered playing before the note arrives, perfectly aligning the time of the start marker with the note.

Also, I’m a tracker purist in the sense that I feel it’s good to hear the music rather than seeing it. This is of course just like, my opinion

Zoomable pattern editor

My original proposal is chock full of various ideas, including a pattern matrix (yes, it’s an old topic

So I will just add: improve subtick timing editing, +1

4. Instant-pitch pattern effect command

You’re not alone:

https://forum.renoise.com/t/pattern-fx-for-pitch-control/40501

Pretty much have to +1 everything. Really want a sample timeline, doesn’t matter to me whether it’s vertical or not. Zoom would also be amazing.

btw, for number 4: are you aware you can use Dx in the volume column? It’s a bit of a compromise, but then you can’t change the volume, but a lot of times you don’t need to with breaks.

Very nice mockup! I know how long it takes to make them feel “native”.

… but otherwise not particularly excited about this idea. It’s not about “horizontal, bad” or “hard to implement”. For me, it’s mostly because it breaks the song into separate compartments, when everything really (IMO) should be able to fit side-by-side. At the very least, your screenshot would then need to contain all existing types of content (like a giant sideways matrix kind of view).

Thanks! Took a longer than I expected but it was worth it.

And I agree with your point. I kinda tried to talk about this in the arguments subsection (The “Hard to implement” one). However I didn’t really do a good job at making myself clear.

Here’s kind of how I imagined the timeline would be viewed in the pattern editor:

This would give you an idea of what’s going on in the timeline without needing to switch to it.

You could use the add/subtract buttons to change how many timeline tracks are visible and minimize it if it’s getting in the way.

Maybe you could even do some basic editing within this simpler track if you need to move something around and not want to switch to the timeline for it.

btw, for number 4: are you aware you can use Dx in the volume column? It’s a bit of a compromise, but then you can’t change the volume, but a lot of times you don’t need to with breaks.

This is still a pitch slide. I’m talking about an instant jump to a different pitch as if the sample slice itself was transposed then played.

This is still a pitch slide. I’m talking about an instant jump to a different pitch as if the sample slice itself was transposed then played.

Yeah that’s what I meant! If you put the command in the volume column instead of the effect column, it’s instant

(Dx, rather than 0Dxx)

Yeah that’s what I meant! If you put the command in the volume column instead of the effect column, it’s instant

(Dx, rather than 0Dxx)

I’m not sure if you’re doing something differently than I am, but it’s acting like a regular pitch slide regardless of if I use the volume column or not.

I appreciate the suggestion though !

oh, I think I figured it out- if Dx is on the same line as the note, then it transposes it, otherwise it just acts a pitch slide.

(try C4_DC, and C3_… if you render them out they’re identical)

Eitherway it’s not a perfect solution cause you can only transpose 16 semitones up or down, but I thought it might be helpful in the mean time