I don’t like the fact that when I’m editing a pattern and then hit paly button to play it and from some reson or other want to hear the next pattern in row the pattern editor jums to the next pattern along with the play position.
I want them separated.
Also I want enable edit-mode hotkey and playing separated, so that pressing edit-mode doesn’t stop the pattern playing. Like Space would alway toggle rec on/off and playing would be controlled with current keys.
e:general clarifying
I think the only way you could tell the program to play the song from a different pattern would be to include a “Play from here” function to the context menu of the pattern sequence. With “Pattern following” turned off you’d then have full separation - is this what you want?
Already there - [Esc] toggles the edit mode without stopping.
I thought that switched off pattern following worked like that (I always keep it on) - but I’ve just checked and indeed it switches patterns. In my opinion you should report this as a bug.
Well, yes - “bug” is a word too big for that. It’s just the name of the toggle that can be misleading, especially to new users. After all, when you switch off something that’s called “Pattern follow”, you can be surprised to see the pattern editor switching pattern after all.
To avoid confusion, I think it could be a good idea to introduce one more toggle and change names - the new “Position follow” toggle would refer to what “Pattern follow” stands for now and new “Pattern follow” would refer to switching patterns during playback. Switching them both off would result in complete separation of playback position (pattern/row) and edit position.
Does anyone actually have pattern follow switched off? To me this seems like the most unnessesary option in Renoise. When I’ve tested there are even no differences in CPU usage when off or on.
Well, this thread was actually started by a person who wants that. Personally, I don’t think this request has much to do with saving CPU cycles - this play/edit position separation would come handy when you’d want to do multiple edits on a note sequence and need to hear how it sounds in a larger context. With pattern following on, you’ll have to return to the edit position manually after each time you play the song, while with edit/play positions separated you can just play the song, hear what it sounds like, make changes and play it again without spending any time on getting back the the edit position. To me it makes sense.
No no no… you got me wrong. I was referring to the current implementation of “Pattern follow” - i.e. scrolling on/off. That seems like a pointless option to me.
Concerning the suggestion, to have a different pattern shown than the one in the sequencer, I’m neutral. I was used to it from Protracker and OctaMED, but then got used to the other way in Renoise when I started using it. Can’t really say I preferr either way 
I know you meant scrolling. In the description I made above by “edit position” I meant pattern/row, so it also refers to Pattern Following in it’s current sense. I should have made that more clear in my above post, sorry.
Since I found the patten follow switch I have never turned it on again. Feels much much much more comfortable this way.
And it is really pain in the ass to for example when you edit the end of the pattern and then want to hear how it sounds to the next one. As you remember, the pattern changes along with play position, and I’m again @ the next pattern, and again have to switch to previous pattern if I want to make further changes.
This is only one example.
I’m confused. 
You say you always have “pattern follow” off now. But that only controls scrolling on/off and not the option you were asking for in the first place? Or did I miss something?
Sorry, Johan, but did you really read entire Kameleontti’s post? He just gave an example showing why he requested the feature.
Yup, Johan, that first line was a comment to your statement that it is completely useless feature to have the option to turn it off. It really does not affect the playlist follow as it should!
I like to be able to edit and play simultaneously. That’s how it has always worked for me. I don’t need the pattern follow feature at all. To me it is the most unnecessary feature.
As you see, we are all different.
I believe it works as it should and you request a new feature completely different from this one. Also as Paulie said it could be renamed to aviod confusion.
Ok, I probably misunderstood you. Kinda hard when talking about two different things at once, one of which we have different opinions about whether it’s a bug or a new feature 
about the notion of editing one pattern while renoise is off playing another:
i’ve been wanting to mention it but i didn’t want people to get mad at me for whining about impulse tracker functions that i want in renoise. this is another one of those. i’m also accustomed to playing the song while editing and it’s kind of jarring for me that when i go to play a section in the song and start editing it suddenly a different pattern appears under my cursor.
i’ve just tended to assume that it’s part of how renoise is designed (ie: it doesn’t keep the pattern data for the whole song in active memory, so it can’t play a pattern that’s four hops away while editing the data in the current one).
this feature is on my a-list of wants, i suppose telling someone about it might make it more likely to see it one day, thanks kameleon person!
Hm, this still isn’t working as it should. Pleeeze make it make it work like I want it to work! It will be most pleasurable to everyone, I promise!
been mentioned a couple of times, mostly in threads about playing live. That would be the only time I’d use this option, and it would defenitely come in handy.
Aha, this feature request creeps back, and it’s not just useful for playing live…
Being restricted to one playback pattern (ie: the very one you’re editing) while you’re editing is very constricting for some of us. This is not a feature request made in jest, it’s fundamental for the composing process! Listening to a completely different portion of your song while entering notes in the pattern that you are working on is a very natural (and useful) composing feature…
Here’s another thread where I got a little, ahem, hot-headed: random other thread about this
I suggested this back in 2005, and I bet someone has suggested it before me: https://forum.renoise.com/t/making-renoise-a-live-sequencer/16374
And you’re right zoner, it would be very handy when editing one pattern of a part that’s several patterns long. Like, you could loop the whole four pattern long chorus to get the “whole picture” while editing the end to get it just right.
And you could scroll through the pattern sequencer while the song is running and use RControl to quickly try out different arrangements… even better if it was quantized.
Sep 11 2004!
So that would be me. Let’s hope to see this in action some day, it’s been 2œ years since. Meanwhile, the discussion should go on. This feature should be coupled with play position markers that would allow one to play a song starting from predefined location(s) so it would not be necessary to every time jump to the position where the song is wanted to be heard from while editing in another position of sequence.
e:grammar correction…