i produce with renoise for now about 3/4 years (style darkstep/breakcore/techno-dnb)
i’ve some ideas to submit and discuss to improve renoise
Sampler
the sampler is quite good but some improvement could be better
pitch and vol amp are sometime not snappy enough. i know you could increase the resolution but it’s not that good to have 512 step pattern for 1 bar. so it would be great if you can determine yourself the grid resolution (ex 4 point for one step or 8 point for one step)
the filter of the sampler are not that good and the digit (100Hz ) are just wrong. i know that if you want to keep the compatibility you got to keep them but why not have a enhanced mode for the sampler
some brainstorming about the enhancement mode
possibility of layering (multiple sample trigger in the same time by the same note) like in most sampler
round robin (random sample triggered by the same note ) to make realistic rythm (when needed)
2 filter with a pot to choose between serial/parralel. lots of different filter type and curve (double notch, double bandpass )
Possilibity to script filter so the community could help the dev in this part
Effect
most of the daw have now some kind of modular effect (effect rack in ableton , spider in reason …). take a look a revalver as it use this kind of thing with a colon effect system that is much like renoise. basically you have a effect that split the signal in two band A & B( three would kicks ass)you put the A stuff. it ends when you put the B and a final effect sum the two signals
VST enhancement
it could be also cool to have some kind of vst rack where you can have multiple vst on the same instrument (in layer or splitted).
Agree with you on the envelopes, and this fits in with other discussions about the envelopes that have been going on lately. i suggest you read up on those, and you will probably find a lot of similar ideas.
I kinda agree with you on the layering, but i know that is because i was very used to Reason, where you can do that stuff easily with the NNXT. however, this being Renoise, i accept the option to do layering in the pattern editor, by just adding another track and playing a note at the same time. Yes, it may be a bit more work, but the functionality exists.
i like the ‘round robin’ idea, simply because i like things being randomized. however, this can also be done in Renoise, but not randomly. it follows from the layering, and you have to program the notes/samples in yourself. i think the two follow from each other, and again, the functionality exists (ie. you can achieve the effect in Renoise)
more filters: yes. scripting filters: yes please. however, i wonder how realistic this is. but yes, i’d absolutely love it.
Effects
yes, i miss Reason’s spider, but i am not quite sure if the same functionality does not exist in Renoise already with the Hydra and stuff like that. i haven’t used those device(s) often enough to say they cannot do the splits like the Reason Spider does. I’m fairly sure the Hydra does ‘CV’ splits, but i think it does not do Audio splits. i think the reason it does not do this is because if you want to split audio, you just use the send track. however, a splitter might be easier, but still, not sure.
VST’s
you could just copy your notes and add an aditional VST to the instrument rack. don’t really see the point in this.
summing it up, i believe you are giving a lot of valid suggestions, but also for things that are already possible in Renoise. you are just suggesting setting them up in an alternative way. i think you would need a large following of people to actually get this stuff done by the developers, as it is not new features and certainly not priority features. my (short) experience here thought me that if it is possible in Renoise, people will often suggest you use the options you have instead of opting for another way to achieve the same.
My feeling is you’re mistaken here. Everybody knows that the instrument is the single part of Renoise that’s really lacking behind.
Just open the instrument editor, and what you see is mostly identical to Renoise 1.x…
Good and sensible suggestions, thanatos. Keep’em coming!
Definitely, right? Velocity layers would help a great deal too, and controlling filter values, envelopes, etc. by velocity. I guess one could go on and on until xrni becomes imagined into being a full fledged sampler/wavetable synth or something. Yeah, similar results can be achieved by using multiple instruments and hand tweaking values in the pattern and it is great to have those capabilities available. But this still leaves folks sometimes using the same 10+ year old workarounds from back in the impulse and fasttracker days.
A more capable version of xrni could be beneficial to renoise as a company as well, allowing them to expand their product line into professionally designed instruments. As long as they didn’t get too fruity with that, i would think that could be great too.
and of course, on every occasion, i might be wrong.
…point taken!