is pattern-input-from-keyboard-while-patternplayback[ON]-whilehearingwhatyouplay possible in renoise?
i.e., i’ve noticed that if i have pattern-playback on, pattern-follow on, and record on, the pckeyboard input is played. when i have pattern-playback on, pattern-follow on and record off, the pckeyboard input is played. when i have pattern-playback on, pattern-follow off and record off, the pckeyboard input is played.
when i have pattern-playback on, pattern-follow off and record on, however… the pckeyboard input is not played (vst / sample)
what am i missing? is there a switch that allows for followoff/recordon -mode to play? this is the main reason why impulsetracker always enthralled me the most. is there a way to do this in renoise??
That is the most sensible behaviour. It allows you to edit parts while Renoise is playing, ready for the section to be play. You are not playing in time with Renoise, as you would be with Pattern Follow On, and not editing current play position, so most likely you wont be playing perfectly in time as have to navigate the pattern as well as enter notes.
I’m not adverse to having it as an option though, don’t think I would ever use it myself and don’t think many people would, but I do think you’re the second person to bring it up so there must be a few people who at least think it would help them.
A variation I would prefer is the possibility to set a Preview Output if you have a multi-output audio interface. With this notes played in this mode would be played through a different output, giving you an idea of if you played the right notes and reassuring you that you have the right Instrument selected. Even a quick way to switch any channel between Master and Preview (rather than having to go to the channel and select Output.) Something like a button in the Mixer view or maybe/hopefully something at the top of the Pattern Editor as well.
the idea isn’t to “play in time”, but to “hear what you play”. “hear what you play” can be utilized (useful) even if the pattern is being played back from any portion of the looping pattern. otherwise you/i are working in the blind, when non-pattern-follow-record is on. i really appreciate that renoise already allows for “hear-what-you-play” to be OFF re: “non-pattern-follow-record-on”, would just like to have the choice to activate hear-what-you-play-ON and de-activate it at will, or specify it in the preferences.
it’s not a small thing for workflow, but hopefully is a small thing for code.
i know it would help me. i’ve been using st3/it2 from 1995 onwards to 2002 and from 2002 onwards to 2010 (schismtracker, revisit), and this is a really big lack that renoise has, and such a small thing, too. i value renoise beyond any tracker i’ve ever come across, and thus have been sending in requests for additional keybindings and for other things that are glaringly missing from renoise, key things that most people don’t normally even use or aware of their need for… i’m glad i’m not the first one who has requested pattern-follow-off-record-on-hear-what-you-play, and i for one, would be using both modes (the non-hearing-record-input is crucial for live gigs and when you already know what you’re doing, the hear-what-you-play is excellent for jamming and quickly inputting notes and effects at a specific rate, independent of the pattern playing, but within the context of the audio being output by the looping pattern.
your variation probably makes sense in another context, and could be there too, but sounds to me like it would just make it more complex for this to be implemented in short-term, and might even discourage developers from looking into it, if there’s too many facets of a feature that they don’t (necessarily) perceive as being wanted by many but instead pleaded for by the few. i would find it obvious for the sample i play in non-follow-record-mode to play on the channel i play it on (which would quickly allow for trawling through oodles of channels and maybe just finding one that “doesn’t make any sense” but “sounds damn good” to feed a hihat through, for that one tick. your variation has a point tho. i just need it to be keybindable, or switchable.