I find my 2012 Macbook Pro to be a decent Renoise driver, even with a fair amount of plugins. I do find that the CPU can get taxed when a ton of plugins are running simultaneously though. Still, it does impressively well.
Do you use a laptop for Renoise? If so, what kind? If not, what type of desktop hardware are you rocking these days?
I’m considering a new mobile device for Renoise as well. I wonder if I need to focus more on RAM or CPU to handle heavy Renoise stuff. Probably a blend of both.
Most laptop these days come without a numpad, which I find quite important for Renoise (mainly because the default shortcut for loop block is located there). While I have a laptop myself, I feel that I am more productive when I connect an external keyboard (and monitor).
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I’m considering a new mobile device for Renoise as well. I wonder if I need to focus more on RAM or CPU to handle heavy Renoise stuff. Probably a blend of both.
And do not forget an SSD to store the data.Once you have the data in the memory is another thing. But loading data from a hard drive can be very frustrating, especially if you use VSTi’s with large libraries. For Renoise, without a doubt the best thing is a powerful desktop PC. If you need a laptop, at least the screen has HD resolution (1920x1080 minimum).
For a laptop, the best solution is to have an SSD drive for the operating system and to load data, and another hard drive to save much larger data.
My MBP is from around that period, and it works fine with Renoise. I don’t use too many external plugins per track tho.
Renoise has several features that are designed to help you minimize the hit to your CPU, like copying your plugin instruments into Renoise instruments/samples to save CPU. Ideally, the only instruments you should be synthesizing live are the ones you’re doing a lot of improvisation/modulation with? Wherever possible, I use samples and then just modulate them using Renoise’s internal modulation and effects tools.
Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga X1.
2nd gen I think.
14" WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS10-point multi-touch screen
16 GB RAM
1 TB SSD drive
Plus trackpoint. : )
Terrific machine.
A Big SSD disc.
My operative system it,s Windows 10, and its switch on in just 2.5 sec using a SSD Samsung. !!! In a old laptop Asus 17".
Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga X1.
2nd gen I think.
14" WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS10-point multi-touch screen
16 GB RAM
1 TB SSD drive
Plus trackpoint. : )
Terrific machine.
1 TB SSD drive???Expect a very high price for that notebook.I also find a very high resolution for a 14 "screen, for the graphics processor… the graphic performance is not so good…
If you need a laptop, at least the screen has HD resolution (1920x1080 minimum).
I use an HP Elitebook 8570w and it works really well for the most part. However, it has 1920x1080 resolution and I find renoise hard to see, it’s not terrible but I wouldn’t want any more resolution. Until we get proper scaling I would recommend 1920x1080 to be a maximum.
The sad truth is that renoise is not made or suited for modern hardware at the moment.
I use an HP Elitebook 8570w and it works really well for the most part. However, it has 1920x1080 resolution and I find renoise hard to see, it’s not terrible but I wouldn’t want any more resolution. Until we get proper scaling I would recommend 1920x1080 to be a maximum.
The sad truth is that renoise is not made or suited for modern hardware at the moment.
True. Renoise was outdated with the theme of the graphical interface.The current version seems to move well in two bands of re-solution, in 24 “monitors of 1920x1080 and monitors of around 32” 2K.A lower resolution you run out of space. A higher resolution, it looks too small. The issue here is to find a surface size or area according to the resolution.A 2K screen of 14" seems excessive, not only for Renoise… It is finding “a balanced” laptop.
We will see that there is in the new version of Renoise…
I really hope so, I know we’ve said it before but I think it is the most important thing for renoise right now. Most of us would love new features and ways to make music but as it stands right now it is stable and we can make stuff easily but if you can’t see it properly it all goes to waste, and it will only get worse as time passes I think.
I really hope so, I know we’ve said it before but I think it is the most important thing for renoise right now. Most of us would love new features and ways to make music but as it stands right now it is stable and we can make stuff easily but if you can’t see it properly it all goes to waste, and it will only get worse as time passes I think.
https://forum.renoise.com/t/whats-next-for-renoise/46714
The last bigger thing I worked on for the Renoise core was a HiDPI “compatible” GUI, but I could not finished it before the other project started. Would make sense to use this as a base for another bigger Renoise release. Everything else is still open though.
This was one of the last taktik messages in January 2017._Would make sense to use this as a base for another bigger Renoise release._Maybe for Renoise 3.2. But nothing is clear. This declaration of intentions has been a long time ago…
I’ve only used laptops for many years but have returned to a desktop
recently an IBM S30 workstation with Intel Xeon and Windows 7
need less space on the desk because most things (10 * USB , Soundcard, Harddrives, Midiinterface) are now back under the desk
power is not so important to me because I prefer to use hardware rather than software, just play around for fun, to not produce songs
for internet and entertainment, use a macbook air separately, its also fast enough for renoise and me
i used to work on an HP envy x360
amd FX9800p quadcore
8gb ram
1920x1080 resolution !!!
it works perfect on my laptop !!
My main problem with using a laptop is the cursor stuck in the middle of the pattern. With 4 LPB, if I scroll to hex line 16, hex line 0 scrolls off the top of the screen. This means I can see less than 1.5 bars’ worth of note information prior to the current line.
I just need to get a super tall external display to keep track of melodies 
I’ve been using Renoise on “ASUS N552VX 15.6” Full HD matte" quite a lot. It was a great buy when being released. Regarding screens, somehow, I find that IPS laptop screens are often really nice in practice, even compared to ‘prosumer’ desktop screens. Maybe its higher pixel density and more lightness that’s giving this impression?
Now I’m mainly using my desktop computer (i7-4790K, 16GB, raid ssds) with one Dell U2515H and one Dell P2715Q. Resolutions are probably one big reason to why I don’t use Renoise as much as I used to.
I bought a used business laptop (Lenovo T420) last year for 200 euros. It has a still-impressively-fast Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD-drive and 4GB of RAM. Resolution is 1600x900 and Windows 7 installed, screen size is around 14 inches. I really like the keyboards on these business models over the usual crap you get with the low- or mid-priced consumer models. For 300 euros or so, one could get T430 with 8GB ram and 256GB SSD.
So for those on a tighter budget, used business laptops can give great value for money.
I’m using an MSI Ghost 3K Pro GS6o-2QE. Hella expensive when I bought it 3 years ago but although it’s not now the latest an greatest, it still holds it own. The first thing I did was resize Windows down to nothing since I pretty much use Ubuntu Linux exclusively.
Dell XPS 15 9650 with an Intel Core i7 7700HQ. I also bought a Samsung 960 Pro 1TB drive for it.Everything is as smooth as it can get.
Last year I had a decision to make. My super old core i7 920 desktop was starting to fail randomly… So either a new desktop or a Laptop plus docking station.
When docked to the TB16 it acts exactly like a desktop. Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard, Ethernet, External soundcard, Xbox controller etc are all attached to it.
It’s a nice setup. 
I use it with a 2014 HP Spectre x360. I use mostly stock effects, and no plugin instruments as I use hardware synths or sample stuff. Been using laptops for years, and can’t imagine being tied to a stationary computer like in the old days.
Been using laptops for years, and can’t imagine being tied to a stationary computer like in the old days.
Same here. I bought a reasonable expensive unit thinking it will give me years more before obsolescence and that approach seems to work for me. Though, sometimes I miss the simple upgradability of desktop/workstations. In truth, my laptop hardly leaves my desk but I still think thats the way I prefer it - as an option to be mobile. 