Newb questions about tools

I’m aware that there is a dedicated tool section, but since this is a newb question, I thought I’d start here.

I’m brand new to Renoise (downloaded it a few days ago, but today’s the first day I’ve jumped in with the tutorial).

The thing I noticed right away in the video tutorial is that the guy uses a flanger (i.e., wanderer) that I don’t have which prompted me to look for it here (if anybody knows where to find it, please let me know).

Of course, this got me into the whole tool issue. As a person who’s been using pro tools and has had enough experience with a DAW that gives you problems, I really have two questions:

  1. How reliable are these user-made tools? Have any of them been known to create big problems? If so, which should I avoid? …(I am aware of the rating system).

  2. What are the essentials? The tools that pretty much all the veterans use?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Welcome!

From my limited experience (started using renoise last year)…

  1. Most tools should have a discussion link (linking to a thread about said tool) which not only allows you to find out a little more about the tool itself or even suggest/request more options with said tool, it gives you the opportunity to report any errors you may receive and for the developer a chance to rectify the problem. This system in my opinion makes it pretty reliable.

I have not had any problems with any tools so far and as best I can tell, people seem pretty good at responding to errors, I can safely say that the renoise community is the best related to a Daw i have ever come across.

  1. Maybe someone else may suggest some go to tools? I browsed the tools initially and added the ones I thought i may use, however, what I found was the more i dove into renoise, the more I began to have questions, the more i needed solutions to things i wanted to achieve. I posted my queries here and have been recommended tools that helped me to do what I wanted to do.

Having said that, here are some tools I am using that I find of great value:

Rubberband (Time stretch & Pitch shift):

http://www.renoise.com/tools/rubberband-timestretch-pitch-shift

Pattern editor find and replace (A tool for finding & replacing raw pattern data - notes, instruments, fx etc):

http://www.renoise.com/tools/patterneditor-find-and-replace

Slide to next note (Inserts slide effects that will slide to the next note in column from the current cursor position):

https://forum.renoise.com/t/new-tool-2-7-2-8-slide-to-next-note/34026

Batch adjust bit depth (Adjust the bit depth of all samples in the current instrument to 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits):

https://www.renoise.com/tools/batch-adjust-bit-depth

Note properties (gives you extra controls to manipulate the currently selected note and its properties):

http://www.renoise.com/tools/note-properties

Multi volumes (lets you control multiple track (pre&post) volumes and maintain their relative level):

http://www.renoise.com/tools/multi-volumes

Also of note which I am just getting into is The Cdp tool (Sound design tool):

https://forum.renoise.com/t/new-tool-3-0-cdp-lua-tool/41466

Some others may have a few more suggestions, I feel as though I am just scratching the surface.

Not sure about the flanger. Maybe someone else could weigh in on this?

I am also using PT11.

The support by the Renoise team and community is in my opinion and experience, better than any other I have come across :wink:

Happy renoising!

  1. How reliable are these user-made tools?

Most tools have been made to solve one problem and one problem only - they tend to “just work”. But like abissus points out, the forum is your most valuable way to judge how stable a tool might be, and whether it’s actively developed (potential bugs being fixed, and so on).

  1. What are the essentials? The tools that pretty much all the veterans use?

Good question, and worthy of a separate thread - any answer would depend on personal preference, really.
For example, I always install bystrano’s AutoClonePatternsand joule’s AliasIdenticalTracks.