Prior to Renoise, I was using Cubase, which everyone know is a midi-based sequencer (it started out that way atleast). The large difference is that Renoise works with steps and ticks, Cubase in bars and notes. In a sequencer such as Cubase you’re not forced to quantize to f.ex. 1/16th note, but it’s possible. Of course each system has its pros and cons. In this topic I’m focused on how to record notes into Renoise without too much hassle.
Since Renoise works in steps, one way to enter notes is to use it as a step-sequencer. For those not familiar with those, you could basically have one key for “space”, one key for “delete previous note”, and optionally one key for “note-off”. This way, you can use one hand to enter the notes via midi-keyboard and the other hand to systematically enter the notes. If the command-keys are conviently put, it will be comfortable to enter the bassline or maybe some chords.
I’ve tried doing this but I’m not sure of what to do, since the note-off is the tab-key (to the left of the keyboard), deleting the previous note could be done by using the up-key (which is to the right on the keyboard) and spacing could be done by using the delete-key. They’re not in the range of one hand and it doesn’t feel convenient to map them, but maybe I can figure out a way to do this.
Another way to enter notes is to play the track, hit the scroll-lock (follow mode) and the esc-key (record) and start playing. I think this could work better than it currently does. Of course it depends on how you setup Renoise, if you record note-offs, if you use the chord-mode or not, if you record note-delays or not and so on, but I still haven’t found a good way to for example play a bassline and make it sound somewhat decent. Even if I turn off chord-mode, turn off note-off, turn off record note-delays and play close to the beat, notes will still disappear or be overwritten. I think it’s because Renoise enter the notes into the step that is playing, without doing any quantization really. If I hit the key a little too early (so I’m still into the last step) it will be entered there instead of the step I aimed at. Purely logical, but also irritating since humans are not computers and doesn’t have exact timing. 
Sometimes I wish that Renoise would enter the chord-notes with a priority from low to high, so if I struck a chord (all on the same step) the lowest note would appear on the first row, and so on. I understand why they appear in timing-order, but it would nevertheless be cool if it was possible, so it resembles more of how you enter chords by keyboard (atleast I enter chords from lowest to highest note).
I’d like to hear how you work with Renoise using MIDI. For the most of the time, I enter the notes by keyboard like everyone else and it’s great when making beats and other stuff, but I sometimes miss the convenience basslines, piano and other stuff which sometimes is a lot easier to do by playing than the trial-and-error-thing on the computer-keyboard. Have you got some tricks or workflows on how to do this easier?
