Having fractional edit step would be a pain in the ass to implement, to be quite honest.
However, I’m making you a basic tool to easily insert triplets (and other fractional notes) into the pattern, which you can trigger with a simple key binding. I’ll post it here later when it’s ready.
Wow that was unexpected, thanks a bunch! I didn’t realize fractional step would be hard to implement, I vaguely imagined it as a float counter which would round down to nearest line number, have the decimals set as delay and get reset when cursor gets moved manually or some such.
From a conceptual point of view it’s not that complex, as you rightly point out, but Renoise’s pattern structure and interface just isn’t designed to work that way, so I think there’d still be a lot of potential for confusion and weird behaviour.
Making that kind of fundamental change to the behaviour of the pattern editor itself would require a lot of careful planning and consideration, whereas writing a script to automatically insert a few notes and apply some delays is exponentially more straightforward 
This tool has been moved to its own thread:
Pretty straightforward stuff. If you want to insert triplets, then set Beats to 1 and Divisions to 3.
The tool will generate notes wherever the cursor is positioned in the pattern editor, ranging over a certain number of pattern lines based on the number of beats you choose (and your LPB setting). If there is a note under the cursor then it will be used as the template for the other generated notes, otherwise it will default to the current instrument selected in Renoise and the note you set in the tool’s GUI. Depending on the settings you choose it may be necessary to use multiple note columns to fit everything in, so the tool will automatically expand the track to handle this if necessary.
Be warned: Any existing note data within range of the tool will be deleted!
Can be triggered via Context Menu:
or via Key Bindings:
The second key binding will generate notes without showing the GUI, and will repeat whatever settings you previously selected.
I just quickly threw this thing together, so it may still be a little quirky. Have a play around with it and see how it feels. I’m open to suggestions (within reason) for tweaking how it works.
Thanks, it’s the next best thing apart from actually having floating-point edit step (and I guess a good way to prototype such a feature if it would ever appear).
Two suggestions that popped to mind was that it might be useful to use note under cursor and another (non-trivial) was that it could remap a selection (existing notes with their velocities) to new positions (or groove-quantize?). But I’ll tell if any actually sensible suggestions pop up.
Thanks again for the effort, it’s appreciated!
Done. Check the v1.01 update above
If there is a note under the cursor then it will be used, otherwise the tool will default to the current instrument.
That’s something for another day perhaps. I have been thinking about this already though.
Sweet, thanks! 
Thx for the tool, this lua is nice thing, im still in scripting manual and i understand nothing 
win!
Can do some nice things robotic beats with this like setting beats to 1 and division to 64, use a multisampled drum kit and stamp in the different instrument notes according to how you want the beat programmed in the pattern editor. Then use pattern commands for effects (for example 9XX using different offsets on every line) and, or use the note randomizer script for instant panic attack.
Great tool, I’ve been experimenting with polymeters and polyrhythms more and more and this makes things a bit more managable. Thanks
I was going to start a new thread on the following suggestion but since the suggestion was born out of using dblue’s Fractional Notes, I figured I’d post here instead.
My suggestion is to have some sort of flash or LED like indicator when notes are triggered on a selected track. Maybe a flashing mode for the track scopes with color options per note ?
I wanted to play what I programmed on my guitar, so I replaced a bass syncopated polyrhythm with a hi hat and dropped the last hi hat note before the loop an octave down to indicate position in time. It was great all together, how my listening was constantly shifting from ignoring the percussive tempo whilst playing another tempo, then listening to it all and feeling the push and pull groove.
Anyway, it would be cool to view Fractional Notes for instance as a flash like metronome or indicator so I could keep track and play one ratio of a polyrhythm and not get pulled into the other ratio of a polyrhythm.
Suggestion for Fractional Notes, hopefully this is feasible: Have an option to delay the starting point for a beat.
For example, at 16 LPB, the delay values for 1 beat 7 divisions…
00 –
01
02 49
03
04 92
05
06 DB
07
08
09 24 [Here I’d like to further subdivide with 1 beat 5 divisions but use the delay value of 24 as a starting point]
0A
0B 6D
0C
0D B6
0E
0F
Could you make this available for 2.7 as well? Many thanks.
seems i can just change the api version. yay. 
hope it won’t fuckup stuff. lol.
Nope. The tool is very simple indeed. Changing the API version is all that is necessary.
Sure thing. There’s an updated version available now in my earlier post.
This is possible with It-Alien’s Sample Slicer, however, the method involves working and playing with sample editor more so than the pattern editor.
Use dblue’s Slices to Pattern to convert the values on the pattern editor, then use Automation from Notes and you should have the sample editor, the pattern editor, and the automation editor all in sync, although you have to manually shift the Automation to its proper delay values.
thanks again dblue
truly awesome
This no longer works in 2.8 b1, would you be able to update it?
2.8 please? 