Sound Design Tutorials in Renoise/Redux (feat. CDP tool)

Hello everyone. I figured I could use a single thread on the forum where I could link my tutorials as I write them. So here are the most recent ones:

VS 27: Randomizing Things

VS 26: Parallel Modulations

VS 25: Akaizer Tool

VS 24: Programming Breakbeats in Renoise/Redux

VS 23: Combining Approaches

VS 22: Sound Design Guidelines

VS 21: Processing A Bass Sample in Redux

VS 20: Redux Bass

See this guide for installing CDP tool:

CDP Interface Tool Installation Guide

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Cheers,

Emre.

Hi i like what you did with that bunch of random sounds, totally transforming them.

It would be nice to post a tutorial where you stick with just one sound and give an explicit foolproof set of instructions too?

Thanks man! Sure that’s the usual format I go for but wanted to cover a more general approach this time. And all sounds basically feature a modulation set and a device chain so it’s (hopefully) easy to dissect the patches and see how things work.

Hi i like what you did with that bunch of random sounds, totally transforming them.

It would be nice to post a tutorial where you stick with just one sound and give an explicit foolproof set of instructions too?

You shold check out this one then:https://forum.renoise.com/t/a-bass-tutorial-using-redux/43849

It’s Redux only for the moment, but we can expect Renoise 3.1 some time.

It’s Redux only for the moment, but we can expect Renoise 3.1 some time.

Hope so. Because I’m here playing the waiting game.

Gotta get that CDC properly installed on my mac. When I load the tool it’s asking for an install location. Eager to try this thing out.

The tutorials are cool. One thing though: l keep wondering how the sound would sound when playing different notes. I’m guessing what you’re doing is adding modulation that doesn’t change in freq. from note to note? I mean, it always pulsates at the same rate, regardless of the note being played?

[in response to this tutorial l mean:]

If you add a keytracker the modulation will be (mostly) consistent for different notes too. As shown in the image:

But for these kinda basses I eventually end up resampling a note that sounds good for sequencing with slicing, glides, reversing etc.

enjoyed reading your tuts, thanks for them!

Hi, updated the first post a little to compile my latest posts and added a new tutorial. Let me know if you like it!

VS 23: Combining Approaches

Cheers.

Emre_k, love the tutorials over at Vorpal. Been trying to get up and running with CDP Tool to no a avail, and the thread in the tool forum is not super geared towards beginner users of CDP. I have plenty of renoise experience but haven’t had any luck finding a sort of “Getting Started” guide for the tool (installation, directory assignment, usage, etc.). You seem like the guy who could write one, and I’d be happy to help if you’re interested in doing so. Most tool installations are a piece of cake, but your sound design tutorials gave me the CDP lust and now I can’t resist. Apologies if this is an improper place for such an inquiry.

Emre_k, love the tutorials over at Vorpal. Been trying to get up and running with CDP Tool to no a avail, and the thread in the tool forum is not super geared towards beginner users of CDP. I have plenty of renoise experience but haven’t had any luck finding a sort of “Getting Started” guide for the tool (installation, directory assignment, usage, etc.). You seem like the guy who could write one, and I’d be happy to help if you’re interested in doing so. Most tool installations are a piece of cake, but your sound design tutorials gave me the CDP lust and now I can’t resist. Apologies if this is an improper place for such an inquiry.

Hey thanks a lot! I’m on a little trip right now but I’ll definitely do it when I get back home. But it is actually pretty simple. In theory at least. You download and install the CDP package from their site (you don’t need soundshaper or soundloom) and after that you install the latest version of the CDP tool from tools page. It’s been a while since I’ve set it up actually but IIRC the tool asks the location of CDP processes when you first launch it. You then point to the cdprogs directory you’ve set up. (Something like c:\cdpr7_cdp_cdprogs)

The final (and crucial) step is setting the environment variable:

Windows: The usual cause of this error message is that the environment variable CDP_SOUND_EXT has not been defined (to wav ). This can be done via Control Panel->System Settings->Advanced->Environment Variables.

MacOS: Follow the steps in manualconfig.pdf which can be downloaded from http://www.unstablesound.net/cdp.html (Mac Documentation)

It still might not work for some odd reason but after this point you can usually find a solution using the CDP thread. A quick troubleshooting step would be reinstalling the tool and maybe deleting the preferences.xml file located in “User/Library/Preferences/Renoise/v3.0.1/Scripts/Tools/”.

Hope this helps for now!

Also, this might be of use: recent Renoise blog entry -focused on linux, but perhaps useful

http://www.renoise.com/blog/linux-cdp-tool-guide

I swear setting up CDP is hair pulling. But once you get it setup once, you can do it again and then you wonder what was so stressful to begin with.

Ask me how I know!

And then you define the environment variable (the missing piece, thx!) and realize the majority of the definitions fail to return an output file. Is this the nature of a beast in development or am I doing something wrong again?

Cool at least you have some progress! So, which ones work? If filter, distort etc. work but blur doesn’t, then it’s still environment variable error. I think new version of the tool notifies of this problem though?

Sometimes even if you set it up correctly, it requires a reinstall and/or computer restart. Also try deleting that preferences.xml file I’ve mentioned above after uninstalling the tool.

If it seems to be a different issue, best ask about it in the CDP thread.

Hey everyone. Finally made a CDP setup guide, check it out here:

http://vorpalsound.com/vs/cdp-setup-guide/

I tried to keep it short & simple. The Mac setup is quite messy so I could refine that more perhaps. Problem is, I can’t get it running on my Mac now! XDIn any case, I would love to know if it’s helpful or not for you, so drop me a line.

Cheers!

Yo Emre - thanx for all the many tuuts :slight_smile:

Im a novice at sounddesign hoping to gain wiz with the renoise bunch here, stumbling upon you and yours quite interesting “Desktop peopls” things. Wondering, is the “Soundshaper” neything like Maximus P?

Also, do you reckon is necesarry to have experience with soundshaper standalone, to be working and making sense of the dsp plugin thing in Renoise?

Cheers!

Yo Emre - thanx for all the many tuuts :slight_smile:

Im a novice at sounddesign hoping to gain wiz with the renoise bunch here, stumbling upon you and yours quite interesting “Desktop peopls” things. Wondering, is the “Soundshaper” neything like Maximus P?

Also, do you reckon is necesarry to have experience with soundshaper standalone, to be working and making sense of the dsp plugin thing in Renoise?

Cheers!

Hey man, thanks for the good word, glad to be of help! TBH I haven’t tried Soundshaper at all, the interface is a bit clunky as far as I know. Renoise tool does the job nicely without any prior CDP experience. Just load up some samples and get going with blur, distort, filter etc. and soon you will be wondering how you were able to make any sounds without CDP in the first place!

wicked - I’ll give it a go

Here’s an extensive guide for programming breakbeats on Renoise/Redux:

http://vorpalsound.com/vs/renoise-redux-breaks/

Cheers.

All your tutorials have been incredible! I’ve been using the CDP posts as a great way to get to know the various CDP tools, and it’s practically a CDP walkthrough! really dig it man, and keep it up!

have you been experimenting with breakpoint text files at all? done a little here and there—brings CDP to the next next level!