How to select and copy paste single columns?

Help, Support & Bugs Beginners Questions - Renoise
1

I am almost completely feeling comfortable with renoise, suddenly:

Why is there no “UNSELECT” hotkey? It really would be nice to be able to unmark our selections. I’m surprised if it’s not implemented. Am I missing something?

but then I am troubled in seeing that we can select a TRACK, but not an individual COLUMN.

Say I am working with a polyphonic piano line, first programming the bass keys, and then the higher notes and decided that the entire column of the higher note structure is complete trash? Looks like I could only do this with (home, ctrl-b, end, ctrl-e ctrl-x). That’s 5 keypresses, yet if i wanted to do it on a monophonic track, it would be ALT-T (or ALT-L, which I set mine to)!

I am not sure if I am missing something completely, or maybe i’m old fashioned?!

Could anyone help me figuring this out?

2

Why would you ever need an unselect hotkey when it’s just one click with the mouse button? Why do you need to unselect at all?
To select just one column you can start a selection at the top/bottom of the column with your mouse and press end/home.

3

One click with the mouse button? How about with the pc keyboard. This is all about keyboard behaviour. We all know how to do this with mice. Now how to do this with the pckeyboard. How?

4

+1, Renoise seems to be lacking an unselect hotkey.

I was just checking if it would be possible to script, but the lua API doesn’t support setting a selection yet.

5

i don’t know if it’s feasible for you guys, but i always use shift+arrowkeyup/down in a void area to unselect whatever i selected in the pattern editor.
it’s a workaround i got used to.

6

Renoise isn’t about compromises.

7

I still don’t understand why you need to deselct, but i see the point with the selection of 1 column part. Selecting with shift key should only select one column at the time instead of all the columns in a track at once.

8

better selection of individual columns has been suggested before, and is probably somewhere on the todo-list:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/improve-pattern-editor-selections/28619
https://forum.renoise.com/t/sub-track-arrowkey-selection/27299
as you can read in those threads, the current way of doing this is through the Advanced Edit menu on the right. this is, afaik, only accessible through using the mouse, so not ideal in your case, but at least its something.

the ‘unselect’ option i have not yet read about before. you might want to either start a new thread for that in the Ideas/Suggestions subforum, or kindly ask a moderator to move this thread to that subforum. until then, i’d suggest you make use of keith303’s workaround.

9

That topic by dBlue is pure win!! :)

vV once stated:

So I suppose it’s just a question of finding out how to find out Adv Edit functionality names, and how to make shortcuts for them :) - if such things really do exist! (wow!)

10

Perhaps Taktik is willing to translate the Advanced functions C code to Lua scripts.
He did a few of these kind of tools already, it would be the next logical step.
I’m sure he could natively code keyshortcuts for for these routines (which is far more easy i guess), but having the functionality as Lua code allows us to expand on it or fork it for other processes which unleashes far more power than simply having shortcuts for the existing advanced edit.
And as far as i concern, if all these Advanced edit functionality is translated to Lua scripts, the old Advanced Edit panel can simpy be removed from the native code.
This is one of the things i frankly don’t mind at all as having that as a script.

11

while i agree personally, it would mean stripping certain functionality from ‘native Renoise’, and you can just wait for discussions arising about the whole ‘native implementation is better than scripting’ thing. on the other hand, it is probably a good question whether anyone should care about this discussion. :)

12

a bunch of LUA scripts for Advanced Edit functions would be stupendous! :) No need to remove the visual panel, tho.

13

I doubt this particular discussion will be really worth it, i can understand the fear of native functionality being stripped and cut to scripts that aren’t desired to be contained in scripts.
I also really don’t expect that native functionalities will be removed that quickly as the third party license on the tools page waives responsibility for third party tools whereas the advanced edit functions require the status of being 100% functional and bug free so removing any native function to replace it by a script will always be a rip-off.
I just personally am not concerned if this would happen so for the advanced edit.

14

Try Ctrl+Shift+F3 (clear and copy column IE Cut) +F4 (copy column) +F5 (paste column.)

Other things that may of if interest in Keyboard Shortcuts → Pattern Editor → Column Operations. ;) (I didn’t know about Flip and Randomise being in there until I just searched the [preferences to find these for you as I was sure the existed. Also work for Pattern Effect Columns as well as Note Columns.

I know it doesn’t direct solve the Selection issue but hopefully help you at least in part…

15

no i appreciate everything, i am new to renoise and it does help, every response!

16

Ctrl+Shift+F4 / F5 copy and pastes a single column of a track, but the whole column. Is there also an option to only copy and paste a selected section of a column?