I was trying to expand a pattern to 576 lines (16 bars of 3/4 @ 12 LPB), and noticed that Renoise wouldn’t let the pattern length go beyond 512 lines.
Is there a particular reason why the pattern length needs to be limited so low? If it is due to the need for no more than 3 digits in the edit box, could it at least go up to 999?
Theres’s probably a technical reason, or a legacy reason, but for now it’s a feature request:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/remove-512-pattern-length-limit/23787
For historical posterity, Renoise 1.25 had this change:
+ Maximum number of lines per pattern is now 512 instead of 255 : )
So, 512 is not really “low” when looking back on things.
That is one explanation, another is that you should not want to persue tracks of very large sizes…
There probably is no screen that allows you to see the whole 512 rows but you can configure Renoise to show the previous and next pattern as well when scrolling. So for the viewpoint, there is no excuse.
The only considerable reason some people desire to have large patterns is because the tempo has been put up above 200 or even 300 bpm for finer note resolution that is still controllable with automation (notes in another column split by delay are not separately controllable by automation).
As soon as pattern zoom has been implemented, most likely this problem of not having total control over all notes will then be over as well.
I advice you to avoid too long patterns, as automation curves editing can give you headaches. I know you can usee th automation curves zoom feature, but it’s still annoying
In this case I can avoid a long pattern by using 8 bars per pattern rather than 16, however there are cases when this might not be so avoidable. I already have a track which uses a 7-over-5 rhythm, which at 8 LPB needs a 280 line pattern; maybe next time I want to produce a 9-over-8 rhythm which will repeat after 72 beats, which at 8 LPB would need 576 lines in a pattern (and cannot be subdivided).
However, maybe this is all irrelevant once there is an Arranger, since the fixed-length pattern will no longer be needed and you can produce your 9-over-8 rhythm by arranging a 9-beat and an 8-beat part separately on the timeline.