I’m curious about this as I’m totally in the box at the moment (guitar excepted) but thinking about a Minitaur for bass and maybe something else to mess around with on the couch and to double up if I want to use some MIDI keys.
Do you have a MIDI controller? Using hardware as pure sample fodder? Things synced up with Renoise and feeding their audio into the program? Renoise purely as a hardware sequencer?
I’d also like to hear if you’re pure PC keyboard and mouse only 
Mouse & keyboard, as for video games!!
And more seriously, I think I make my tracks using 80% keyboard and 20% mouse.
I have a mini hardware USB midi keyboard, but I don’t use it with Renoise.
I have a tr909, x0xb0x, some modular modules and a Roland MKS50. and some hardware eq’s, distortions and other effect units to feed the sounds from the machines thru. Then I sample it in Renoise and make instruments from them, this helps me to keep the feel of the analog boxes and the freedom to sequence how I want it.
I could use the internal sequencers from the x0xb0x and the tr909 and sync them to renoise, but what then? I would need to sample the same repeating sequence for minutes and after that I can’t edit anything anymore. If you want to work that way, I would advice Ableton and use it as a multitracker in combination with a multi input sound device.
I use the keyboard to tap my sounds in. Most of the time the tunes are not that sophisticated, so I don’t need to play chords or so. If I want to, I’ll just layer some sounds and hear how it sounds. I don’t mind not having a midi keyboard.
Set up (CC’s) and used midi instrument controls for these so far:
Still need to try to set up these:
The only thing that has ended up in any modules
so far though are notes from the controller:
Basically using hardware to jam with friends or to
take a break and pass some time, although the
controller is really good for adding sequences
to a module.
As for keyboard and mouse, mostly keyboard but
with notes columns being new to me; i’m now finding
it quite useful to use the mouse for selecting within
sections of those spaces (as opposed to shift+alt+arrow).
Same here , pc and keyboard only for Renoise.I have one midi controller an Alesis vi61 but use it mostly for learning to play songs but i have an Arturia Keystep coming which is smaller so maybe i will use that with Renoise
I really like the Akai MPK Mini mkII.
Velocity-sensitive keys (but not weighted, sadly), some pads, some knobs, programable options.
Good size for my limited workspace.
Launchpad x . First controller of many that i have that is so sensitive that can be played like you would play synth keyboard without need to attack hard like rest of pad controllers. So small form factor and can work as both drum pads and as four octave keyboard (or more octaves when in scale modes)
I have some synths as well. Korg Volca FM; Behringer Neutron, Volca Kick, MakeNoise 0-Coast. A few other things.
I have each (mostly) set to listen on different channels and a MIDI router thingy as well.
I set up songs to use these different channels then record back into Renoise the different synth outputs.
The Volcas can be controlled via CC commands, so I can automate parameters.
I’ve been slowly working on MIDI-to-CV hardware so I can do the same for the 0-Coast and Neutron.
Thanks for the replies!
Launchpad X sounds interesting as a controller since I’m used to the guitar-esque chromatic mode on Push 2 and not much of a keyboard player.
@James_Britt, when you say you’re feeding the audio back in are you recording stuff as samples or does the real-time render work well enough for this kind of thing? Googling about this mainly brings up problems but I suppose the people who don’t have problems aren’t generally posting about it online! I’m trying to get a sense of whether a Minitaur and its partner VST would integrate smoothly or if that’s going to be a headache and I’m better off just spending a boring day sampling the life out of it at various settings.
Also thinking about a Monologue as a ‘messing around on the couch’ mono and intrigued by the Wavestate as something which would throw up very different results to any software I can think of (even the Wavestation VST). The AFX mode on the Bass Station II looks like a pretty fun ‘happy accident’ machine too. I think any of those would be more a separate thing I’d sample in rather than MIDI’d up though.
I have just bought a Polyend Tracker so I am hoping this can be set up as the ultimate Renoise controller!
Mechanical keyboard
On a more serious note, I do have some hardware (Neutron, DM12d, MC-707, Wavedrum, Keystep 37 and some other midi controllers), but I have quite a hard time properly integrating it with Renoise (or any other DAW). It’s pretty clumsy to work with compared to using plugins or samples and I also had various sync issues. So I mostly use hardware as a standalone setup (centered around MC-707), and when I want some of it’s sounds in Renoise, I just sample single sound from it and continue the work in the box.
Currently I only use Komplete Kontrol A61 with Renoise, and even that mostly for getting ideas, which I then sequence with keyboard. Would be great though, if I could map more parameters in Renoise, mostly instrument/sampler, but also sequencer related, so I could use midi controllers more creatively from performance standpoint.
I record patterns as samples to be used in place of the live MIDI.
I’ve never tried real-time render.
As for happy accidents, I got the Volca Kick for kick sounds but I seem to use it more often for bass lines. : )
Keyboard and mouse only right here!
Of course I also got an audio interface and a microphone (Audio Technica AT2020).
But I’m not a fan of hardware, it takes too much space and in my eyes it’s cumbersome working with it. I even rejected getting an original Roland TB-303 for free. 
Novation super bass station,Yamaha fs1r,platinum penta,Waldorf pulse 1,nord lead a1,effectrix filter factory,tc electronic fireworx,ales is quadraverb,k1 Kawaii,k4 kawaii,monologue,behringer TD-3,boss space echo,tascam dat machine,jv2080,various sound cards,Amiga 600 and 1200,microgranny,maCkie vlz pro mixer,boss gt6b,electribe esx,access virus c,Aphex exciter,jomox t-resonator,boss flanger,phaser,compressor.zoom recorder,tascam 4 track.
Not saying you’re lying , but rejecting a 303 ??
Even if it doesn’t fit your workflow , you could have cashed it in for a couple of thousands euro’s
Yes, but I’m not that kind of guy (Why should I sell it if the one who’s willing to give it away for free could receive the money for it?) and I don’t need money. I still can get it if I want so, but I simply don’t need it. It’s the 303 of a friend of mine, and if I don’t want it he’ll keep it even if he’s in the same situation like me, time is short. So even if he would like to sell it, which isn’t the case, he wouldn’t have enough time for selling it. Too much effort. And if he would have more time then he probably would use it by himself. 
I wouldn’t deny a flagship analog synth with tight DAW (A/D usb audio 8x 48khz) integration, but this does not exist. 16x polyphony minimum. And not huge like a tank, but nicely designed for hipster’s desktop. But I keep it like TNT usually, software only. If there was a very nice all-in-one compact aftertouch MPE controller I would buy that. But this doesn’t exist. It’s like hardware vendors repeat the same over and over and over again. I really would spend a 1000 euro on THE controller.
I’m glad this topic has come up again. I love Renoise, and I love hardware synths, but I haven’t quite found my way with marrying the two together yet. I can’t shake the feeling that they could be a perfect combination, if I could perfect the recipe.
I find that sampling short phrases doesn’t always make the most of the variations you naturally come up with by tweaking hardware. I’m more likely to repeat the same samples again, rather than say recording a longer audio take while twiddling some knobs.
Perhaps I need to get used to the idea of using longer samples.
I haven’t really tried making sampler instruments out of hardware derived patches yet. I get put off by the things like the speed of a LFO modulation or length of an envelope changing with pitch. Sometimes that could be cool perhaps, but not always what I want. Do people sometimes sample every note? Must take a while, and that puts me off as well.
But I think the power of the sampler is one of the best things about Renoise, so probably ought to give this way of working a try.
Perhaps for me, a traditional DAW might just be best for working with sequenced phrases played on hardware synths, and Renoise maybe better for building sampled instruments from single notes. I quite like sequencing MIDI in Renoise though.
I’m sure there’s a way for me to find satisfaction with hardware and Renoise though, if I could just find it. I think I’m probably limited by my mindset.
Renoise is a great sequencer for synths and even better when you use a controller to switch patterns.
As for sampling, there is a new tool worth mentioning here: hack.dpp.hwsampler.xrnx.
It may just help with the process of getting those single notes, strings, hits, etc… in.
Thanks for the tool suggestion. Looks really helpful, I’ll definitely give it a try.