New Tool (2.8): Renoam

At first glance, the main difference in L-systems seem to be the different application of rules. In L-systems it’s parallel, applying as many rules as match in one single step, whereas the generator in ReNoam is a classic left-to-right depth-first algorithm. It applies one rule in one step, i.e. searches the symbols from left to right for matching rules, applies one of them, and restarts from the left again.

My wild guess is ReNoam can’t do that L-systems stuff with the simple context-free approach. But maybe I will go for more powerful grammers in the future. Problem is, the more powerful the grammar, the more complex the way to use it…

I think the next step will be a probabilistic context-free grammar (PCFG). Right now, if there are two or more matching rules, the generator picks one of them, all with equal probability. With a PCFG you can adjust those probabilities.

Cool! Maybe it is interesting to take a look at the following master thesis dealing with musical l-systems for inspiration/ideas:

I like the idea of a generative produced song, with tracks branching out in the pattern matrix like a tree B)

Nice!

Thanks, will definitely have a look at that!

Hey there, the new version 0.8 of ReNoam is available from the first post the renoise tools page.

The new version supports probabilistic context free grammars (PCFG)!
This means you are now able to set probabilities for the generator’s choice of rules.

You’d declare alternative rules e.g. like this:

  
Intro -> StructureA <0.8>  
Intro -> StructureB <0.2>  
  

For more info have a look at the example grammars supplied with the tool. There’s also some documentation as PDF etc.

Please note: Grammar checking is not implemented yet. This will be the next thing to do.

FDK This is really awesome

btw the L-Systems table n things remind a bit of Fibonacci’s Numbers (wp) (warning, lots of uninteresting mathematics and only very few references to rabbit population growth)

dear effdeeka,

i have absolutely no idea how to use this. but it doesn’t matter at all. i know instinctively that, although it is a niche-tool, this idea is damn awesome. keep up the good work.

regards,
rhowaldt

LOL rhowaldt! Ok, so shut up and submit your entry to DDRC32 already! ;)

(Actually I think you’d understand this in no time - it just looks a bit weird at first glance. You understood it’s a niche-tool after all :D )

^ sorry, have been a bit inactive around these parts. am in the middle of some personal stuff which switched my priorities for a bit. am going to get more into music again now though, so i’ll definitely make sure i’ll check out your tool when it comes to that. and maybe i’ll join a DDRC again too :)

Hello f+d+k, is there a chance you have a german translation of the manual of ReNoam? Just asking because you said u studied in Tübingen. :)

Greets, Afreakana

Not right now, but I will have a quick go at it ASAP. Maybe this weekend. Actually, I didn’t have time to work on the software lately…
Muss mal schauen ob ich Zeit hab, sonst übersetz ich’s über Ostern.

No need to hurry. I still got so much to explore in Renoise. ;)

I would need more of a ReNoam for dummies approach with lots of examples in the translation though i think. My brain’s a bit rusty. :blush:

Here it is, I tried to avoid Denglisch, but oh well. ;)

Edit: It’s a quick and dirty translation, without additional examples. If you need german help simply PM me.

Holy Cow… you’re faster than allowed. :D

Thank you very very much for your translation!

I want to thank f+d+k again for this tool. I just used it on an actual song for the first time :P and also I can learn a little lua from the coding style. Nice work.

Thanks man! When I saw this thread pop up I guessed someone will kick my ass to make me work on it… ;)

Glad to hear someone actually uses this - to be honest, I haven’t made a single song with it. Is this song you made with it on soundcloud?

No, not yet, it’s still very repetitive on the drums part, so before it’s near sth i like to publish I’ll still have to work on it. But the synth part is rockin it now thanks to this tool.
I immediately had an idea that you might or might not like (besides all the stuff that’s tricky to implement in a few minutes like per line reading and writing, per track stuff, and stuff that’s plain impossible right now since there’s no prefs saving with songs):

  • after generation loop the generated part in the sequencer
  • optionally start playing it immediately (extra button like ‘generate & play’, just adds first sequence pos to schedule)

I’m willing to implement this.

And yeah I think about the same first improvements for Overtune, you know, better ‘spell checking’ for the formula but it’s just annoying to make such stuff:P

PS I’ll let you know if it’s online

Thank you for the ReNoam tool. It has drastically improved my workflow.

I was spending entirely too much time writing code to generate MIDI files that I was then editing in my DAW. With renoise and ReNoam, my life just got a whole lot easier.

I’ve written my first song with my first (very simple) grammar. The Bible is a very popular book in the part of the world where I live, so I thought I’d create a grammar based on a verse from the book of Psalms.

cerkit’s first grammar

Thanks again. Cheers from Montgomery, Alabama, USA.

Hey Michael, what a nice surprise, I haven’t been on here for years!

Great to hear the tool was useful to you, thanks for giving it a try. I just listened to the track on bandcamp and I like it a lot. Will definitely listen to your other work. (Already did for a bit, really enjoying it, e.g. Waning Dilemma.)

Thanks, I wrote much of my recent music using a program that I whipped up one Saturday in Swift on a mac.

cerkit/IntentionalMusic: Intentional Music (algorithmic composition) using Swift (github.com)

I realized that I needed to work more closely to the sequencer, which is when I went in search of a solution. I was led to ReNoam, which convinced me to buy renoise. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out this long. It’s amazing.

I used trackers on my C-64 way back when, and then again with Jeskola Buzz, and I love that they have survived this long. I can’t think of a better way to work.

ReNoam really has improved my life. Thank you again.

1 Like

bump :sunglasses:

This tool ReNoam | Renoise is pretty useful spicing up 4-8 pattern loops where you are stuck in arrangement. Auto-updates and works in the latest Renoise.

1 Like