Being a fan of mesaelechtele’s Max/MSP projects, I found one that does a method of pattern rotation that I just cannot figure out how to do in Renoise. The bass-line in the video is what I’m looking to do (see example video below).
I can do this manually per pattern, by rotating/wrapping the pattern down by 1 or more steps using the tool called “Pattern Rotate”. In one way, that is really excellent for making sure the patterns in the song sound random, but are truly controlled in the end.
what I’m looking for is a pattern rotator that can do this automatically, as an effect, versus a tool. Is there such a method to do this in Renoise, for version 3.1?
I’ve got the sounds down, now I’d just love to get the patterns to react in a similar manner.
I’ve never used MaYbe but maybe use MaYbe on lines with a “jump to x line” or “skip x line” command. I haven’t used any of those commands, though, so I’m not sure.
Turns out the MaYbe command works wonders - I put it up at something like 0Y97 and 0Y95 and just spread 'em out along the pattern. Works great. Maintains the majority of the pattern, but cuts the notes out in a nice, subtle way, here and there.
I had tried it before, but I hadn’t used the right values. I was being heavy handed with 0Y25, 0Y50, and 0Y75. Those values will just plain wreck a pattern when trying to be subtle. The volume will pretty much be “off” using it that way. The higher range gives the randomness a bit more of a gentle touch with the on/off command.
I then mix that with the 0C00 thru 0C05 values to provide extremely short note length. This can also be done by just drawing a 1 to 10 sample-length waveform and making it look like a transient.
It took me a couple of weeks to “get it”, but micro-sound music really is very MICRO. I mean, even with waveforms, it pays to see how short you can make it before you lose the character of the waveform’s “sound”. Go for sine waves with low sample-count. Go for clicks and pops, and have fun making them yourself.
Another thing I found is that except for granular/spectral/FM sounds, you pretty much don’t need any plugins at all to get this sound. And the effects listed above, you only need them for cake icing. On top of that, you can pretty much master the whole sound in Renoise, so save your money for food instead of plugins. It’s a great way to learn some tight EQing and mastering techniques.
Another neat thing about working this way is that Renoise is going to take hummingbird sips of your CPU. Most of my tracks are far under 15%. Most are around 5 - 7%.
To share examples, I posted a few videos online on the r/renoise forum yesterday, but I’ll share them here too. Outside of a few special sounds (spectral padding, mainly), the entirety of these tracks is made directly IN Renoise. Drew the samples by hand or formed them using the Renoise tools for generating waveforms.
