Mysterious routing of one track thru another track

Very bizarre behavior which I’ve seen twice now while using a custom instrument.

I think the instrument is the culprit but the how they instrument might be causing this is beyond my understanding.

I have sample song with two tracks in a group. Track 1 is triggering the kick and snare; track 2 is triggering assorted tings and clangs. All these are in the same custom instrument.

I noticed that sound originating from track 1 was being processed via track 2.

I can switch views between the tracks and watch the VU meters: Some (but, oddly, not all) notes played in track 1 are not changing the vu meter for track 1, but they do register in track 2.

I set the post fx volume of track 1 to -inf; no sound from that track should be heard. But if a note in track 2 is played at the same time as a note from track 1, the audio from track 1 comes through track 2.

The same weird behavior happens even if track 2 is set to mute. The only way to truly stop track 1 audio is to set it to “off”.

I’m using v 3.1.1. I’ve seen this about two weeks ago with 3.1.0. I “fixed” it by re-doing my custom instrument. I’ve now a new instrument and it suddenly started happening again. I’d really like to know what causes this (especially if it’s something I’ve done by mistake).

It’s just bizarre.

I’ve uploaded the xrns file here if someone could take a look.

If the instrument contains its own DSP effect chains then by default it can only be played on a single track at any given time.

Once you start processing effects within the instrument itself, Renoise can no longer route any sample to any track at any time.

You can work around this by creating multiple effect chains, assigning each independent sample (or groups of samples) to each chain, and then routing each chain to a specific track.

This limitation is very much like when using a VST synth with only a single stereo output. Unless the VST is multi-timbral with extra routing options, its output can only can play on a single track.

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If the instrument contains its own DSP effect chains then by default it can only be played on a single track at any given time.

Once you start processing effects within the instrument itself, Renoise can no longer route any sample to any track at any time.

You can work around this by creating multiple effect chains, assigning each independent sample (or groups of samples) to each chain, and then routing each chain to a specific track.

This limitation is very much like when using a VST synth with only a single stereo output. Unless the VST is multi-timbral with extra routing options, its output can only can play on a single track.

Thanks very much for the fast reply. I have to say this just seems completely counter-intuitive : )

But the solution is pretty straight-forward. Thank you!

I have to say this just seems completely counter-intuitive : )

I guess it can be a bit surprising at first, especially when you’re used to how Renoise instruments have performed in the past.

The native DSP effects are essentially monophonic in nature (in terms of “voices”, not mono vs stereo), so once you add one the to output of the entire instrument, you’re basically forcing all samples to be mixed down to a single audio stream.

At that point there’s simply no way for Renoise to isolate each sample within the audio mix and separate the notes back out to the individual tracks.

So you either have to keep your DSP effects at the track level to enjoy the sampler’s “play anywhere” freedom, or add the necessary manual routings to the instrument DSP chains instead.

MPE support or even VST3 could solve this, no?

EDIT: Hm, no.