Track Notepad

I dont know if this has been discussed, but
i have found a very useful thing to have a separate track independent from edited song for making samples.

You mean with the “Record Selection to Sample” feature?
What do you mean by “separate”?

I usually do such recordings on any of the tracks (depending on the effects on each track) and then erase the notes that created this sample, and move on.

Yes, for ‘Record Selection to sample’

I just don’t want to remember where is that track, deleting notes all the time or muting…

Separate - like independed track, having the same behavior as regular ones, but to be able to edit it you will need to click on that track and from that point when you hit play only ‘notepad track’ will be played by default.

I see, like a sketch pad track.

But since Renoise is designed as a single window, I am assuming that if such a feature would be designed, it will be designed in this spirit, so that in fact this separate track will find itself on the main GUI someplace.

So, if you are using such a functionality a lot - wouldnt it be just as convenient to simply use track 1 as your notepad track, and mute it when done?
I mean after all, you will have to do SOME action to switch from pattern view to your sketch track view, so whats the difference if it is a mute action, or other action?

No?

EDIT:
Ctrl+/ (if I remember correctly) solos and “unsolos” a track and “/” mutes/unmutes a track, so that you can easily go in and out of solo mode, when you are recording that track.

I want it because i would be able to see that track while editing any pattern.
Would be also good to use patterns for that track too…
hmm but in that way we easily go for arranger concept…
It is just i am really demotivated by boundaries renoise still has…

Hey, dont mean to undermine your wishes, but there will always be someone who feels that a lack of feature this or that renders the software useless for him.

I for one do not feel that Renoise has any boundaries for me. I feel free as a bird :)
But I guess that depends on your working style and your older habbits.

My music creation habbits came from Impulse Tracker and FastTracker and not from Cubase, so I feel like a fish in the sea.

(ok, I am out of analogies… :) )

I have been using trackers for 11 years… And it started to be boring…
I don’t know how i was able to finish song… arrange by copy and paste etc…
Maybe because music became more complicated or i am lazy now…
I have so many concepts for songs, but i make like one minute and then when i think i will have to go through all this copy and paste stuff and bla bla i am switching it off, and it is everytime last months…
i still can’t believe things like arranger were not developed yet :(

You’re not alone. I’m having hard times arranging songs in Renoise so I’m starting use Cubase more and more. In Renoise I get stuck with one pattern and I just play around and test different ideas and pollishing the sound to “perfection” but I never feel that I have the energy to increase the song. Whilst in Cubase I feel more enticed to work my way forward since the whole arranging is built the way it is.

I do think this also has to do a lot with all the new possibilities that new Daw’s offer since I’m convinced that creativity needs limitations, but my biggest problem is that I start to “mix” the song long before it is done.

You know, it never bothered me (the lack of arranger)
Let me ask you both - do you consider yourself a heavy keyboard shortcut user?

I do almost everything using keyboard shortcuts in Renoise.

Yes i do

This notepad could be used also as a kind of arpeggiator. You could type a sequence of notes and then trigger them from a regular track like

C-4 XY, where x - spare effect command, y - sequence number

Sequence could be automagicaly transposed based on base note used to trigger

Now this is more like it.

There is a thread someplace here where something like this is discussed, in a more elaborate way.
There are talks about sound clips that you can make and reuse as if they were instruments.

Very nice stuff.

But also, as you mentioned arpeggiator, I must say that the best experience I had with hardware synths, was with a step sequencer (Roland MC-505 groovebox) and I had a blast. Could just sit there for hours making loops.

One thing I miss in Renoise, and is probably the number one item on my wish list, is a decent arpeggiator / trancegate.

I know there are many ways to create arpeggiated sequence, but in fact I am looking for a fewture that will actually create the notes and effects inside renoise (rather than having one note that triggers a sequence “in the background”)

In fact, I was thinking maybe I will do some external tool like this - based on the RPG phrase generator I made earlier.

The sounds I am able to create with decent trancegate and arps is usually much more interesting than if I just put the notes in Renoise, all the cutoff and transition between notes and sub-tick resolution with external arps is nice.

Now whos +1ing me on the arpeggiator thing? :)

+1 external tools! :)

:) guess I had it coming…

you certainly get my +1 :dribble:

Hey - I wanted +1s on the INTERNAL renoise arpeggiator feature, not on me doing more work on that messy RPG code… :) :)
Damn there goes my weekend…

internal renoise arpegiggiator gets +10 :D

Well,

It appears that I cannot develop an RPG Arpeggiator/Trancegate at the present time.

I wanted to include not only an arpeggiator that generates notes, but also a trancegate that generates track volume commands but the latter does not have enough resolution at renoise - meaning, I cannot do volume slicing at the sub tick level.

At least judging by the replies I got at this thread

Thats a shame, could have been really nice to have a tool that generates arpeggiated notes and/or trancegate track commands so that you modify them inside renoise, rather than using an external trancegate filter.