NOt a popular opinion , but
With all these new add-ons , scripts , fseq .I can’t shake the feeling that renoise is heading in a direction that I don’t really like .
You can’t please everybody but how many different ways of sequencing does one need ?
Why not tackle the core bussiness , and improve the things that need improvement ( midi routng , faster envelopes , better filters … etc )?
I just hope the new fseq-scripting won’t become the main focus .
3 Likes
Gen AI Breakcore datascraping is the next big thing, just ask Zuckerberg. Live code my bank balance baby!
2 Likes
Do you mean by that tools? You don’t have to install these… I actually found the 3.5 update very solid, adding a lot of good “core” stuff, too. Regarding fseq, I don’t have an opinion about that so far, but it doesn’t hurt either?
Actually, AI might be good for not so 100% exact purposes (aka exact code). I would imagine integrated tools, like composition assistance (“create a random abberation of this harmonic structure”, “generate chords”, “generate melody in selection”, “compose number 1 hit”). Maybe that doesn’t even need AI though.
Fseq is the basis of the script phrase sequencer
1 Like
“I want to use obscure, complicated tracker software to autogenerate all the musical parts for me” said nobody, ever.
5 Likes
This is obviously highly subjective. Your priorities are not on my wishlist at all.
So, it’s a good thing that the main focuses on improvements seem to vary from version to version, with maybe one main focus and then a little bit of all. With 3.5 I felt that the main focus in terms of cost and value was the Lua additions, with phrase scripts being more of a fun side thingy.
4 Likes
I think they’re doing a great job with the core business. Better multicore support, multichannel in the phrases, API update, EQ update, Signal splitter, sounds pretty modern to me lol. And thats all native.
The new scripting is very interesting and has influenced me to dive into lua lol. And when you think about it Renoise as a software is already ahead of lot of DAWs (32bit vst bridging), and even though its a Tracker it has a VERY modular feel, especially the sampler fx and mod section.
In my opinion Renoise IS the modern tracker and that seems to be the direction its headed.
5 Likes
I have to disagree. Two weeks ago I (yet again) thought Renoise was slowly but surely heading nowhere but towards its inevitable deprecation.
But now we got the biggest update in years out of the blue - one that most people probably weren’t expecting at this point and I’m assured again that Renoise is very much alive.
I think the new features and improvements are substantial and quite useful. Sure, I personally would have preferred some other new features over e.g. phrase scripting but I still think it is a very cool and fitting thing to add that I might even have some use for in the future. The new “Splitter” device was a highly requested feature that was added.
So, no matter which direction Renoise is heading towards, as long as it’s “somewhere”, I’m fine with it.
1 Like
Sure they are doing an (allround ) great job , never stated otherwise .
Singling out phrase scripting in particular seems unfair. I mean, I’m just an outsider looking in but that was implemented by @unless and I don’t think he’s a core developer. So, kind of apples and oranges.
Edit: Not actually true. Oops.
FYI I only worked on one aspect of Phrase Scripting, the cycle notation parsing.
To respond to the topic in general, I was glad to see many people welcome the scripting aspect, and it’s a very inspiring addition to me personally. Yet, I understand that it might be uninteresting for some. When you have a project of this complexity and something as subjective as making music, it is inevitable that not every feature will be useful for everyone.
4 Likes
As long as Renoise keeps its performance, its Pattern Editor editing style (Tracker rulez) and VST compatibility (including all future types of VST at best, just like CLAP), it’s all good. Personally I don’t care about all the other stuff (MIDI, scripting, phrases and so on, you name it) and toys at all and I could still use older versions without any restrictions. Renoise was, is and will be something that’s good. So bring whatever you like, but keep the basics at all costs!
7 Likes
Ah, thanks for clearing that up!
Its good to have options as long as they don t get in the way.Many times trying something new will lead you to unknown but beautiful music territories creating something you would have never done if you sticked to the same way you made music in the past.Anyway we can use Renoise and ignore the new features,nobody is forcing us
True to that, I am well acquitend with that kind of sequencing from my supercollider days .
I am not interested at all in random generative music and could live without phrase scripting just fine. ( access to phrase parameter automation sold it to me 
) I am just so happy to get a hearty feature update after all these years. I was afraid Renoise developmenbt would just be in this eternal limbo. To me it feels like future proofing with some neat additions + hope.
5 Likes
They really have addressed some of the UX issues. I remembered I had a list of “short by one features” about Renoise, focusing on the UX problem, but considering they are adding midi channel I to phrase editor, managed to split signal in the effect panel, and all other workflow updates, they are making some good progress. At least, this update changed my situation from “I have no way to comfortably write orchestral music” to “There are some good workarounds for me to do so”
With all these new add-ons , scripts , fseq .I can’t shake the feeling that renoise is heading in a direction that I don’t really like.
Renoise is actually one of the tamer side of the DAWs development.
Let’s see FL Studio: Although they have added that dynamic sizing mixer, they have wasted resources on things like building more plugins I am (or perhaps many other people) not necessarily needed, and putting some LLM and cloud bloat into their already cluttered environment for the sake of chasing the hype where their decisions give me a huge headache just like their old hero image on their website:
FL studio’s clutteredness is giving millions, every day, a huge aheadache
At least in Renoise, I do know that the devs know the direction: We want a music tracker that support professional tools, while most of the people who found music tracker usually be more technical due to the demoscene culture and working in a more technical industries, so I find it is okay to have some scripting environment to let us have fun while making some useful tools.
1 Like
Exactly. I’ve only been using Redux and Renoise for about 3 years now but since then I haven’t used another DAW. And have been learning more about Trackers since. Older and newer ones. And IMO Tracker>DAW(Horizontal)
I know the sentiment of a lot of older tracker users is for Renoise to not lose itself becoming bloatware(like almost every other mainstream DAW) with excessive stock features and additions that are FORCED upon the user. Or in some arbitrary way remove a core feature for the sake of some “new” method or add on.
Ultimately becoming a different program altogether.
However, this program has been out for over twenty years. I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon. I don’t think Renoise will become anything other than what it is. It’s a hybrid or at least has the potential to be of not just a Tracker and a Horizontal DAW but a Tracker and something else I can only describe as what’s happening now within the music production scene in general. AI assistance musically, actual scripting of music, most DAWs being all encompassing and covering a vast array of features. Why shouldn’t Renoise follow suit? Why not have a DAW that can do everything but doesn’t encourage or force you to do anything? For instance, FL has python scripting and its pretty neat but you don’t hear about it because IL isn’t solely targeting python scripters who make beats. But it’s there.
As far as direction they literally added features that have been requested here in the forums…
Just my two cents, what sold me on Renoise in the first place was that it is very fundamental, and flexible. No weird special file formats or proprietary scripting language(Native Instruments), extra windows or some forced way of handling samples, plugins, etc. But beneath all of that could be whatever you want.
For me, thats loads of keyboard shortcuts for the most specific of tasks, two piano rolls, groovebox style pattern sequence triggering, groovebox style phrase triggering, sample chopping, mangling and timestretching, searching youtube and scraping samples all from the sampler creating granular phrases from any sample. And the list goes on. Yeah they’re headed in the right direction
2 Likes
Wat
1 Like