Hello & Impressions From A Newbie

Help, Support & Bugs Beginners Questions - Renoise
1

I am close to completing my first Renoise project, and I thought I would share some of the things I have learned before I forget them.

  1. Buy Renoise -> Open Renoise -> Watch the tutorial vids: Duncan does an outstanding job narrating these videos, and they are perfectly designed for taking you from the basics to the more advanced topics. There are 10 in all, and it takes a couple of hours to get through them all, but if you have Renoise open and work through them (pausing and rewinding as necessary), it will make things so much clearer.

  2. RTM: After the video tutorials, go through the Quick Start and User’s Manual in parallel. The quick start introduces a topic and then the corresponding section in the user’s manual defines it further. Of course, if you are working on a song while going through the manual, that is even better.

  3. Don’t fear the hex: The hex thing may be a bit awkward to begin with, but learn the basics (as shown in the tutorials) and move on from there.

  4. Don’t discount the included DSP effects: The included effects are quite powerful. If you have a certain 3rd party effect that you just love, by all means use it, but don’t fall victim to the ‘snobbery’ that seems to permeate many people’s opinion regarding built-in FX.

  5. Exploit this DAW: While on the surface it appears like the old Amiga Modtrackers, under the hood, this thing has some straight up horsepower. I am not going to make senseless comparisons to other products as they serve no useful function. Renoise stands well on its own merits.

All in all, I had a lot of fun using Renoise, the sessions were also highly productive, and I have a great new tool in my sonic arsenal.

2

Nice review, experienced some cons as well?

May i suggest a slight change in the order of events?

3

@vV: good question, i too noticed the overall happiness, which can’t be right. ;)
also, i like the no. 6 addition.

@rictheobscene: welcome to Renoise and the community. in addition to your points, i would like to point out the immense value of the Renoise Forums. for a quick example of the amount of helpful and friendly people, check out this recent thread: https://forum.renoise.com/t/i-cant-do-it/32175

4

Hello:

I wasn’t really trying to post a review; rather, I was hoping to put together a collection of my thoughts of the things that helped me get a handle on Renoise. Right now, I don’t have a good grasp on what is a con and what is simply a lack of experience. After another project or so, this will become more defined.

The Renoise experience was overwhelmingly positive, and I will append this thread with cons once I am certain I have them clearly defined.

I would also agree that this forum is a great resource.

Thank you for your feedback.

5

that’s a mindset i welcome with open arms. don’t bitch about stuff until you know for sure it is something worth bitching about. good luck with your explorations, and feel free to ask any questions.

6

Somehow I figured that would be the case.

7

Okay so i guess you don’t have other experiences that you can set off against this program.
Well in that case, i’m glad you enjoyed the first impression. Always nice to hear something like that from someone who hasn’t a lot of luggage with experience.

Sorry that i forgot:Welcome aboard and have fun while exploring further.

8

Okay, I do have experiences, just not a lot of it with Renoise. I started on the Atari with a product that eventually became Cubase. Early on, I also worked with ModEdit on the PC and had a bunch of hardware too. At SX2, it was clear that Cubase and I were 2 ships sailing in opposite directions. About that same time, I went to work for FX-Max as the support guy, and that experience exposed me to Sonar, Samplitude, Live, Acid Pro, and just about every other DAW that ran on the PC. I bought FL Studio around this time too. I struggled with Sonar, it was better than Cubase, but it was still bloated and inefficient.

I stumbled across Reaper, and Reaper’s routing and sound was easy to fall in love with. I bought Renoise about this same time, but I only dabbled with it, something I now regret. However, right now, my rig consists of Reaper with FL Studio and Renoise Rewired in. IMHO, that gives me a kick @ss arsenal.

I find it counterproductive to make comparisons between products or say product x has this feature, so you should have it too. For example, currently on the Reaper forum, there is a collective of jackwagons that are constantly whining about Reaper not doing things like Pro Tools. My opinion is that if you want Pro Tools, buy Pro Tools. Stop trying to turn Reaper into Pro Tools. The dev team for Reaper is down to earth and approachable, not some impersonal borg collective like Avid or Steinberg.

By the same token, I don’t have any desire for Renoise to be like Reaper; it has a unique flavor, and I like it. Thus far, I have found the Renoise dev team to be deserving of the same high regard as the Reaper devs. Certainly, each team has a different approach to taking the product to market, but I am rather fond of both styles.

After that very long-winded word fit, I will wind it down by saying that I will have constructive feedback in the future. But, it will not be geared toward Renoise becoming more like another product; rather, it will be the interest of making Renoise better in its own right. While I may use another product to clarify the point I am trying to make (picture = 1000 words thing), I have no desire to see Renoise do something exactly like another product.

Disclaimer - I have liberally given my opinions on numerous things in this thread. It was not done to give offense; it was done to give perspective. If you do not agree with any or all of my opinions, please know that it is your right to do so, and that I am delighted that you have chosen to exercise said right.

9

@rictheobscene: in the end, i believe (or at least hope) we are all here on the forums to get to know Renoise better and/or help make Renoise better in its own right. the uniqueness of the software is important to me, and i wouldn’t want it to lose its feel or spirit. i’m glad to hear a new user come forth with words that are in that same vein.

10

Well, you have these kind of people a dozen, but there are also enough people that have constructive criticism to explain why they feel that some feaatures come over counter-intuitive.
That kind of feedback is also pretty important for product improvement.

11

Absolutely, and I will do my best to incorporate this perspective into any feedback I provide.

I did encounter something last evening that I found to be a bit of a con. Currently, it would seem that I can only have MIDI input from 2 devices. I have 2 keyboards and a Maschine controller, and as I am composing I use all 3 devices. I did discover a workaround using MIDI-Ox and MIDI Yoke, but it is, at best, cumbersome. Being able to have more than 2 MIDI input devices would be a nice improvement.

12

Renoise 2.7 allows for up to four MIDI-in devices.

“unlimited” devices support is expected to be added in future reelases.

yes, we do read your mind ;)

13

Awesome.

I grabbed the release candidate and will install that this evening. :yeah:

You might not want to read too much of my mind, I am rather disturbed you know. :lol:

14

One thing I should mention, depending on your needs, you may not want to read the guides cover to cover. It may make sense to jump around and study topics as they relate to your work methods and needs.