Renoise and Roland TR-08 TR-09 Midi Automation (TUTORIAL)

Tips & Tricks
1

Hello :wave:
Ok so i had such a hard time figuring this out so im now posting this in the hope it will help someone else :slight_smile:

Knowing how popular the Roland Boutique range are, im sure many will find this helpful!!!

So I wanted to be able to connect, trigger and automate many controls of the Roland TR-08.
I tried a program (VST) I found online but it was sooooo complicated and the support was just RIP lol so I kept trying with Renoise.

Now I have figured it out so hopfully you wont get the same headache I have, PLUS it WILL save you money on 3rd part VSTs or add-on.

What do you need?
Well you need a Roland TR-08 and Renoise

Whats the end goal?
To be able to connect to your TR-08 via MIDI
Trigger the TR-08 via MIDI from Renoise
Change and Automate the values of your TR-08 via MIDI from Renoise (Example Levels, Decays, Tones, Tunes)

Here is a little step guide to get you started:

Setting Up The TR-08 with Renoise

  1. Connect your TR-08 to your computers USB port then launch Renoise
  2. Select “Instrument Settings” Tab
  3. Click “Ext. MIDI”
  4. Select “Device” as “TR-08”
  5. Change “Channel” to “10”
  6. Check “Mode” is set to “ext.MIDI”

Pattern and Automation

  1. Use the keyboard to find each instrument (example: Bass Drum, Snare…)
  2. Choose an empty Track
  3. Just make a quick beat / loop using those keys in step 1.
  4. Select “Track DSPs” tab
  5. Scroll to the “Meta” category
  6. Double click “*Instr. MIDI Control” - add 2 instances of this in your selected track (one for each preset part)
  7. Check “Linked Instruments” in “*Instr. MIDI Control” is set to “MIDI: TR-08 (Ch10)”
  8. Click the presets menu in “*Instr. MIDI Control” and select “Import Preset…”
  9. Select the “Roland TR-08 (Part 1).xrdp” and “Roland TR-08 (Part 2).xrdp” files (Download Link)

You are now set to start automating the controls of the TR-08 :+1:

The reason for the 2 part presets is to ensure all CCs are included :grinning:
They will not all fit in one instance of “*Instr. MIDI Control” which is why you need to load 2 instances for each part.

Hint:
If you have a different boutique then the TR-08 you can use the same process as I did with “*Instr. MIDI Control”
All you need is the Midi Implementation Chart from the Roland website for the boutique in question.
When you have it, look for the Control Change sections to see a full list of the Instruments and the CC Numbers

To some, this may have been very obvious but to me I searched everywhere for this and found nothing!
I even purchased a VST plugin to try and help but it just made things even more complicated lol

Hope you find it useful!

:wave:

2 Likes
2

I have made a few changes to the download presets to ensure all CCs are included

Here are the instructions for the TR-09 too :+1:

Setting Up The TR-09 with Renoise

  1. Connect your TR-09 to your computers USB port then launch Renoise
  2. Select “Instrument Settings” Tab
  3. Click “Ext. MIDI”
  4. Select “Device” as “TR-09”
  5. Change “Channel” to “16”
  6. Check “Mode” is set to “ext.MIDI”

Pattern and Automation

  1. Use the keyboard to find each instrument (example: Bass Drum, Snare…)
  2. Choose an empty Track
  3. Just make a quick beat / loop using those keys in step 1.
  4. Select “Track DSPs” tab
  5. Scroll to the “Meta” category
  6. Double click “*Instr. MIDI Control” - add 2 instances of this in your selected track (one for each preset part)
  7. Check “Linked Instruments” in “*Instr. MIDI Control” is set to “MIDI: TR-09 (Ch16)”
  8. Click the presets menu in “*Instr. MIDI Control” and select “Import Preset…”
  9. Select the “Roland TR-09 (Part 1).xrdp” and “Roland TR-09 (Part 2).xrdp” files (Download Link)

The reason for the 2 part presets is to ensure all CCs are included :grinning:
They will not all fit in one instance of “*Instr. MIDI Control” which is why you need to load 2 instances for each part.

Default Midi Channels:
TR-08 - Midi Channel is 10
TR-09 - Midi Channel is 16

Hope this helps!
:wave: