Or less in comparison to a common DAW. It depends…
If somebody can say something about long recordings, you’re the one. And yeah, the Focusrite Scarlett interfaces kinda suck. There’s always a glitch respectively crackle at the beginning of every sound that you’re playing for the first time, for example if you click on a YT video or if you start to play an MP3. Or if you simply switch from your common soundcard to the interface. Of course these crackles doesn’t exist in reality, neither in any YT video nor at the beginning of any MP3. I cannot recommend Focusrite Scarlett stuff. Maybe that’s also the reason for some blue screens. Anyway…
We are many millions of tracker users.
The tracker originaltes on the Commodore 64 and was coded by Chris Hülsbeck in 1986 and published for free.
That spread the the Amiga 500 computer in 1987 where another german composers created the Soundtracker. 4 mono channels, with full stereo seperation, 8 bit samples. This became the MOD format.
The crackers stole Soundtracker and it becamse PROTRACKER. (1988)
On the pc scene, came now various tracker, and it all ends with there being many variations of tracker, where as of now Renoise is actually a full modular synth and has anything you ever need.
But alas, if you didnt use a tracker for 40 years, I can see that it may be a technical challenge!
Personally I also have Studio One, but i dont know when I switch. I just sometimes do tunes in S1, but mostly in Renoise.
Your programming skills in drumming, is the main advantage in Renoise, or if you use REDUX inside Studio One (everything on 1 screen, like Renoise)
Is a week enough to know? What I remember from my childhood is that you are pretty much in fantasy land once you get over the hurdle, I don’t believe anyone then will ever leave the tracker concept behind.
The HEX concept is a bit mind-bending to the average Joe and probably a larger entry of barrier than we think, on this day and age they’ll just click/swipe on to the next DAW.
Quality of life updates are a given, yes. VST3 support took way too long to be implemented. And there a whole host of things that could be improved, of course. But as it stands, Renoise is more than capable of doing what it sets out to do. As in, there is nothing missing that 's keeping you from making full albums in Renoise.
Excellent point indeed!
I can see that as being true. I wonder though, how many (new) people are embracing the tracker aspect of Renoise. By which I mean, do they even use the sample commands? Or is it just a vertical scrolling alternative looking piano roll used to trigger VST instruments? In which case you don’t have a lot to do with hexadecimal.
It’s been a long time since that week, but I guess this is a subject that many people are interested in.
You don’t have to use a drill to eat pasta, nor does a fork on a drill make it more useful.
You can use anything to make a great song.
If you learn some computer science and MIDI standards, you will understand the rationale behind Renoise and Tracker.
Age is not a factor.
You are not completely confined to the Tracker interface as there is automation, etc.
This is a good one. With this, REAPER and plugdata, I feel we can cover a lot of ground in the software environment.
@taktik I have purchased Renoise and Redux.
Thanks for making them. Really useful tools. I appreciate it.
And if you have extra power, please make the sampler property a macro or add a jump command!
I consider myself new to tracking - Renoise was my first tracker (I also own Redux). Previously I used regular DAWs and worked more with recorded music. I like idea of tracker, feel I can do things quicker with keyboard.
But I rarely use sample commands. In my recent song I do it once to reverse hihat sample. Generally it’s quite easy to reproduce sample commands with note repeats or sliced samples. Or even render to sample.
To me sample commands that are useful for breakbeats are not a selling point of Renoise. I can live without them. I’d say ability to use keyboard, to see note names instead of piano roll (though if somebody invented a way to precisely move the note in time without typing delays that’d be cool) and SAMPLER are main selling points.
The music I create ranges from orchestral to rap beats.
To me Renoise is rather DAW / Sampler / Sequencer. I use some VST instruments, but generally create my own instruments/drum sets.
I started with Renoise circa ~2019 and use a ‘hybrid’ workflow: mostly VSTi + render to instrument function to ‘consolidate’ the patches/presets I make. It’s the best of both worlds, imo. You have all the fancy stuff that Vital and Surge have to offer (just to mention a couple plugins) plus the ability to convert them into instruments and go crazy with pattern FX.
It may look counterintuitive for outsiders, but I also really like the precision when programming my automation in the tracker sequencer (and here Hex is really handy). In my brain, this works better than graphic automation (speaking of which, I never use the graphic automation in Renoise).
Making patches in my favorite VSTis and then resampling them into Renoise instruments is my favorite workflow ever. No other DAW matches the creative momentum provided by tracking w/ keyboard only. It’s buttery smooth and also very open to subversion, specially through pattern manipulation (I’d marry the ZLXX command if it was a person).
The learning curve is steep only at the beginning. After learning hexadecimal and a few keyboard shortcuts, it’s easier and more intuitive than lots of other DAWs.
Amen, the only familiarity with Hex was from my old PlayStation GameShark. I was a traditional DAW kind of guy, but now after roughly over a year with Renoise, I could never go back, that precision is . I spend time finding plug-in patches I like and turning them into xrni’s because the commands and sampler are much more flexible. I do love the graphic automation though and being able to use the keyboard to key your points/slopes in is so much better than using a mouse to do it
Say, that plug-in rendering needs to be a background process…maybe in 3.4, for those times when you just want to focus on library building or continuing to create
I did that. I wanted a sequencer that would handle both MIDI and samples, without the limitations of LMMS. Had no interest at all in trackers, but Renoise was the only viable option, so I sucked it up and learned how to use that style of interface. Now, like icasiino, I love the precision and flexibility.
Hex doesn’t bother me. It isn’t that complicated; like converting to/from binary, it just takes a little mental adjustment the first couple of times.
I think confusing is creeping in with the term “DAW”, where people use it to mean so many different things, up to and including the idea that it’s an app that encompasses all possible music-production functions. Personally, it calls to mind a recording and editing suite that may also have other capabilities.
Each app has its strengths and weaknesses, and some things that they don’t do at all. To me, Renoise is a sequencer, and an extremely capable one at that; calling it a DAW just sets expectations that it can’t meet. As I use sequenced audio as the basis of my music, layering live instruments over the top, I use Ardour for recording and editing - it does a brilliant job of that, no matter how underwhelming I find it as a sequencer.
I disagree. Renoise is a digital audio workstation, and a unique one. People who limit the idea of a DAW to a Protools-like interface just need to get out more. Not all DAWs use that interface, nor do they have to.
It does do far more than a sequencer. It’s unique ability is you can really find a way to work with it for whatever you want to do. It’s got a fantastic sampler; it can be its own synth; powerful sequencing on multiple levels; massive precision.
Back in the 90s, even then I was able to use Trackers to create songs with guitars, rapping, singing - because a Tracker really gives you options. Then it was the only option. Cakewalk etc. was an expensive set up, but I got brilliant results from free software on a cheap PC.
In my view, when it comes to upgrades, Renoise doesn’t need to bring in what other DAWs have, except in maybe some technical compatibility issues that all DAWs need to keep up with anyway. All Renoise really needs to do is continue to innovate on its own workflow. The workflow is already exceptionally powerful, and I keep trying with other DAWs but come back to Renoise. That could be familiarity given my history, but I am not someone who is scared of change. I just find Renoise makes me a better musician, provides precision in editing, and is a heck of a lot faster in creating songs. Renoise for me is an instrument all of its own that complements the other instruments I can play, and lets me put them all together. It’s a DAW that works like an instrument. It’s not like other DAWs which I find encourage a hundred plugins to fix all your problems. Rather, it seems to get you to focus on the actual music making.
Someone who tries it for a week and wants to leave complaining is, in my view, someone who didn’t want to use any creativity in making music but just wants to push “record”, “stop”, “run plugin”.
In contrary to those who need to hide for whatever reason, just like you, we already showed our real faces (yes indeed, plural), just like my avatar and @stoiximan 's former avatar. And everybody who’s familiar with this forum also knows where to find a current picture of @stoiximan Anyway, if you’re posting shit like in the past, I’ll put your new account on the ignore list just like all your other accounts. This is your last chance to behave like a real member and normal human. I would recommend to start with writing in whiole sentences that always match the topics
Sorry for this kind of post. I’m to old for this. But his “Plans for Renoise” Thread amuse and pleasure me excellent. I personally dont expect a one futhermore thing from renoise.
I have been using Renoise since version 2.5 (around 2010 or so) now, and for me it is mainly that Renoise in some aspects is already 95% there, but seemingly refuses to go the last 5% to actually get there. Take the sampler for instance. It is very capable and has some very advanced features other samplers don’t have (phrases for instance). Yet, some of the most basic features that exist in other samplers since 30 years are not implemented. To me that is just frustrating to see sometimes, knowing what huge potential there is, especially since Redux exists, to become a universally useful tool that has a place in all kinds of setups, but is neglected for the sake of staying a niche product. Same with the whole piano roll discussion, which in itself feels absolutely ridiculous to me. It’s an objectively useful alternative view of note data, but its addition is perceived as some kind of threat to Renoise’s niche existence. Anyways, I still use it for what it is, but for most of the time using I have been waiting for it to finally fully become what, at least to me, it was clearly heading towards.
. I spend time finding plug-in patches I like and turning them into xrni’s because the commands and sampler are much more flexible. I do love the graphic automation though and being able to use the keyboard to key your points/slopes in is so much better than using a mouse to do it
