I think a negative delay, despite being a feature that seems somewhat natural/functional, does run contrary to deep tracker logic. Lines don’t look backward, only forward. It’s an aspect of the simplicity and elegance of tracker design. This being said, I totally agree that it would be nice to at least have a note’s placement on the pattern more accurately reflect its position in “rhythm space”, only I don’t think the default pattern view is the place for it. So, nobody freak out on me here, but you may have noticed that I’ve recently been proposing some piano roll or “roll view” designs in this thread:https://forum.renoise.com/t/brainstorming-piano-roll/12547
The reason I point to those designs is that the roll view could allow for delay-nudging of notes up and down, providing a more accurate visualization of their trigger times. Back in the default view, Renoise is setting the note placement and delay values for you. There you would see the tracker-brain version of the programmed rhythm, as it has always been. It would make for no changes in core/expected functionality.
In short, I think an alternate presentation view (still vertical, always vertical), one focused on visualizing melody and rhythm, could come with a surprising number of natural-fit benefits.