Pattern sequencer

Hi,

After a way too long break from digital music production, i’ve finally found the time to pick it up again. I’ve always worked in trackers since the Amiga days, so Renoise was a logical choice. I love a lot of its elaborate features that are new to me and ooze potential, but there are some irritating annoyances and the biggest of them is the Pattern Sequencer.

This thing is so unintuitive that i don’t see how i am supposed to use it. The principal seems to be the same from what i’m used to: each pattern has a number, indicated by a yellow block, and the user arranges them in the order he/she wants them to be played in. Where it start to be frustrating is when you want to repeat certain patterns.

Why can’t i just click on the next yellow block and type in the pattern number i want it to play? I first have to insert a new pattern to open that space up, which will cause the pattern that already exists in that spot to shift to the next number which means you lose track of what’s where very quickly.

Why can’t i drag and drop the yellow blocks around to change the order to play them in? I just want to create a bunch of different patterns and decide which order to play them in later. Determining the pattern playing order should be fast and intuitive. I can’t believe something so simple should be such a pain to work with.

Can someone explain how you deal with this and how to work with the Pattern Sequencer? Any help is much appreciated.

Another thing i find very annoying is the difference between the ‘cursor’ in the pattern editor and selecting something. Having to double click to navigate somewhere is so unintuitive and slow. What happens a lot is that i select a block of stuff i want to delete, hit ‘delete’ and then it deletes the note where my cursor is at rolls eyes Can i change the settings somewhere to have the navigation focus after a single click? I’m on a wacom so double clicking just doesn’t make sense.

Also, why can’t i select the data from just the volume or decay column to copy-paste it somewhere else? I have to copy the notes too.

I really hope someone can explain that Pattern Sequencer for me or direct me to a tutorial on how to use it intuitively. It’s a major frustration and buzzkill.

Greetings. If you haven’t read the Quickstart at least, it’s well worth the time. Renoise has it’s own workflow compared to traditional trackers you may have used in the past. It’s more complex and takes some time to get used to so you may have to “unlearn” some old tracker habits. It may seem frustrating at times and “buzzkill” as you put it, but in the long run, the results are indeed worth it.

You may also find these Renoise 3.0 tutorials helpful: https://www.renoise.com/tutorials

Concerning your specific problems with the Pattern Sequencer:

http://tutorials.renoise.com/wiki/Pattern_Sequencer

http://tutorials.renoise.com/wiki/Main_Page?title=Pattern_Sequencer&oldid=1916

If Renoise isn’t your cup of tea for whatever reason, Adlib Tracker has been updated and may suit your needs: http://www.3eality.com/productions/reality-adlib-tracker

Cheers.

I really hope someone can explain that Pattern Sequencer for me or direct me to a tutorial on how to use it intuitively. It’s a major frustration and buzzkill.

Different people will find different things intuitive or not. The basic approach is to learn what Renoise does and what options it provides, and then ask in here when you have questions, just like you’ve done here :slight_smile: I’ll see if I can help out on some of these…

Why can’t i just click on the next yellow block and type in the pattern number i want it to play?

I agree it would be cool to click on the next yellow block to insert a new one. Anyway, as you’ve found, that doesn’t work.

One thing I will suggest is that you get familiar with the keyboard shortcuts, which can help you use Renoise quickly – especially with the pattern sequencer.

A couple shortcuts that can help you with inserting and choosing patterns (I’m going to give you the names, and you can see / edit the shortcuts on your system).

  • Insert Pattern

  • Increase Pattern Number

  • Decrease Pattern Number

I thought there was a shortcut for typing in the pattern number, like when you double-click on it, but I’m not finding it. I guess I’m wrong there, or maybe someone else knows…

I first have to insert a new pattern to open that space up, which will cause the pattern that already exists in that spot to shift to the next number which means you lose track of what’s where very quickly.

Auto-sorting pattern numbers is a pattern sequencer setting. Right-click in the pattern sequencer, and uncheck the bottom-most option “Keep Sequence Sorted.” Now when you insert a pattern in the middle of the sequence, the numbers won’t change.

8058 Screen Shot 2018-05-20 at 5.19.14 PM.png

Why can’t i drag and drop the yellow blocks around to change the order to play them in? I just want to create a bunch of different patterns and decide which order to play them in later. Determining the pattern playing order should be fast and intuitive. I can’t believe something so simple should be such a pain to work with.

You can. The trick is that you have to click on the pattern number once to select it, and then drag and drop it to move it in the sequencer. If you click one that’s not already selected and drag, it creates a selection of multiple patterns. Click on any of the selected ones to move the entire block selection around the sequence.

Another thing i find very annoying is the difference between the ‘cursor’ in the pattern editor and selecting something. Having to double click to navigate somewhere is so unintuitive and slow. What happens a lot is that i select a block of stuff i want to delete, hit ‘delete’ and then it deletes the note where my cursor is at rolls eyes Can i change the settings somewhere to have the navigation focus after a single click? I’m on a wacom so double clicking just doesn’t make sense.

That is the Keyboard Focus Concept. I suggest reading that section so you can understand why it’s set up the way it is. This lets you temporarily use your mouse in one area without moving the entire keyboard focus. If you do want to change how it works though, so clicking somewhere changes the focus, it’s configured with View->Lock Keyboard Focus

Also, why can’t i select the data from just the volume or decay column to copy-paste it somewhere else? I have to copy the notes too.

You can! There are a couple ways.

  1. If you’re selecting the volumes from a single column in a single track, you can use the alt- key modifier when making your selection to select only that column. I’m not sure where that is documented…
  2. You can use the Advanced Edit Content Mask to only copy specific columns. Select the area you want to copy from, set up the mask to be volume-only, and copy. Now you’ve copied_only_ the volume data. Advanced Edit is powerful.

I hope that helps :slight_smile:

Thanks so much for all of your answers!! Really helps a lot! That ‘keep sequence sorted’ check made it unable for me to drag and drop the yellow blocks around.Sorry for being a newbie on this stuff.