For someone (eh, yeah ME specifically) starting completely new, having never used any of the equipment/programs used with renoise, and only a vague understanding of trackers and sampling e.t.c., what is the best way to start with renoise?
I have the demo installed, but I quite literally can not do anything, and the tutorials aren’t incredibly helpful.
Where should I start, and how do I?
HALP! 
the tutorial pages contain extensive information regarding Renoise usage, and the complete manual.
here there also are tutorial videos by other users which can help you understanding concepts and tricks.
moreover, 'there are lots of available songs in RNS or XRNS format to be downloaded at BeatBattle sites:
BeatBattle 5
BeatBattle 4
BeatBattle 3
BeatBattle 2
BeatBattle 1
(in each site, search for “entries” or “song pack” links)
also, LongTrack Project is an interesting extended song (more than 70 minutes long!) which covers lots of styles and tracking techniques.
finally, on my music page (see my signature below) there are some XRNS files to download; most of Renoise users think that the best way to learn to use such programs is to look at other people´s songs, so you should have enough material to play with…
have a nice time tracking!
only been using it a few weeks myself, but i found the video tutorials incredibly helpfull, and i was up and running in about an 5 minutes after and i’ve never used a tracker before.
just chill and watch the tutorials a couple of times and you’ll get it.
I also just started using - I have to say i’ve found it all pretty logical(ish), but I’ve been using other non-tracker music programs for years (and I doubt I’ve scratched the surface just yet 
. There are many websites totally devoted to dsp, computer music and music theory (check out KVR Audio as a starter for ten)- then spend all your free time googling/wiki’ing the words you’ve never heard of. Best of all, hang out on forums like this and try to find like minded people who don’t mind inexperience who will help you through whatever you don’t get - we all start somewhere but some people just love btiching at noobs (not seen any of that here though, top notch community from what I’'ve seen). Hope thats helpful!
Mart
I just started a few days ago, i had the same trouble as you, the June issue of Computer Music has a cover article on trackers and it explains some basic things to help get you started – it helped me.
When I first used trackers, I was literally spent hours upon hours trying to figure out Impulse Tracker for DOS…I know what you guys are going through…all I can really say, without any specific questions from any to answer, is persistence…willpower is your best friend. I had opened up Impulse Tracker several times and closed it in hostility due to not being able how to do simple things like make an instrument…Finally, I buckled down, grabbed me a full pack of smokes and a 12 pack of Mountain Dew and said, “I’m not getting up until I’ve made 30 seoncds of audio in this damn prog!”
13 hours later, I had 20 seconds of halfway decent sounding music and that was good enough for me.
yeah … i remember my first song in scream tracker… i didn’t know you could change the songspeed and the pattern length, so i had to make my drumloop really fast to get it to loop evenly in the pattern. 
just start trying stuff and it will slowly make sense to you
I started back in 1993 with Amiga Startrekker, no musical knowledge, no manual, no internet, no helpful friends, and a couple of 1.44MB sample floppy-disks.
I’m no smarter, so you can do it as well.
ok, I’m smarter, but still… 
maybe smarter, but not better looking 
so you’ve been saving a lot of hard disk space ;]
haha laff lot of good replies here
i myself first installed and run a tracker when i was 13. that’s 10 years ago. i can’t quite remember what the tracker was named. anyway, i quit tracking the very same week 'cause i didn’t get around to make a new pattern :S
so, in 2002 i started with some friends of mine to play with sounds again. and i found renoise about a year ago, and started just lurking around. i’ve only read the basic tutorials. most of the program i’ve figured out myself by just trying out different effectnumbers and so on. for example, learning how to trigger and alter the native vst effects, i learned from the guys at the #renoise irc channel
i just gotta say one thing to y’noobies:
making a tune isn’t done in 30 minutes, not 1 hour.
learning to fully understand all possibilities in renoise isn’t done in a day. i’ve used renoise on and off for about a year now, and i’m still learning new stuff!
so, be patient. you’ve not gonna be a pro tracker this year 
good luck to ya!
roger