So let’s say we have two new shortcuts, it doesn’t matter what so for simplicity let’s just say they are + and - for now, which do as you suggest.
I am just trying to make sure I understand here:
If we had a Sequence of patters:
0
3 4
2
5
1
7
The bold pattern (4) being the selected one.
If we pressed + the you would move to:
0
3
4
2 5
1
7
Correct??
If you press + again what happens? 6 is nowhere in the list! Does the Sequence get greyed out (to show you are now outside of it) or does it temporarily add it to the end of the Sequence (with a symbol to know it’s only there temporarily so you can access it)??
What if you have the same Pattern more than once in the Sequence? Does it always move later with the + and earlier with the - until it find it? Always the same way? Do you not care?
That’s it exactly. If 6 isn’t in the sequence, Renoise currently doesn’t let you get to it. As for what Renoise would do with the sequence while you’re working outside it, graying it out seems logical. If a pattern appears more than once in the sequence then + or - (IT-style) would still step forward or backward through the patterns, ignoring how they appear in the sequence.
To extend your example:
0
3 4
2
5
1
7
8
7
9
Pressing + once moves you to pattern 5
0
3
4
2 5
1
7
8
7
9
Pressing + once more moves you to pattern 6, outside of the sequence. No pattern in the sequence should be highlighted, since none are in the pattern editor. Since Renoise currently seems to use the sequence and only the sequence to show you your current working pattern there would need to be some kind of Current Working Pattern display added somewhere on the interface, so you know where you’re at.
0
3
4
2
5
1
7
8
7
9
Current pattern:6
Pressing + again moves you to pattern 7, which appears twice in the sequence. Since any edits on pattern 7 affect how both instances in the sequence are played they both need to be highlighted.
Yes, definitely. The selected pattern should be indicated somewhere if it’s not in the orderlist. A trick i use often in IT/Schism to determine if a pattern is in the orderlist, is to press F7 (play song from cursor) and see whether the top display says “playing order X” or “playing pattern X”. So, starting from the first pattern, i can quickly alternate between F7 and keypad+ multiple times until it says “playing pattern X” to find patterns that are unused, or the end pattern.
Also, like i said, all patterns are considered to “exist” so if you go to a non-existing pattern, a new empty pattern is created. A huge advantage Renoise has in this case is the “default pattern length” which is sorely missing in IT and Schism Tracker.