Maybe someone could make a video demonstration about Auto Clone Patterns.
The first post in the discussion about that tool, started by me, doesn’t explain anything. It just describes what the tool does. For people who aren’t trackers that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Needs keywords like overdub,multiple takes, or some other known concepts to better explain what the end result is comparable to.
Hmm… all you need is a basic understanding of the Pattern Sequencer and how it typically behaves. You know how you can use the gray boxes to select a range of patterns and then renoise will loop the selected group of patterns? Ok, good, so:
Imagine you want to record a lead synth solo. You’re not sure how long it’s going to go on for. You’re feeling limber and you just want to plaaaaay for a while, and capture the whole recording of you playing. You already have a couple patterns that contain your backing tracks: a drum beat and a bass-line. The lead you want to jam out is going to play over these two patterns containing your drum and bass. But if you hit record, jam for two patterns, what happens? It loops back to the beginning of the first pattern, and your “jam” is already over: any further playing of your lead will start overdubbing into the first pattern again.
The ‘standard’ solution to this, not requiring the AutoClone tool, is that you ‘guess’ how many patterns you want to jam for, and manually copy the patterns with your drums and bass. Now you have X patterns to record into for your jam – but it’s still a fixed amount, and it still will loop when you hit the end of that fixed amount.
What if you just want to freely solo with the lead, while recording, and not worry about how many patterns of the drum+bass you currently have, and not have to guess how many copies of them you will need? ENTER: AUTO CLONE!
It’s based on whatever is selected in the Pattern Sequencer (those gray boxes I mentioned at the beginning). So you could select just one existing pattern, or multiple consecutive patterns. Pretty much exactly the same as the “normal” recording so far. But now, you turn ON the AutoClone tool.
Here’s what it does: When the end of the last selected pattern is reached, it duplicates all the selected patterns automatically, as you play / record. So, you’re jamming out that awesome lead solo synth, the sequencer hit the end of the selection, and who cares, you can keep playing, keep recording! It will just keep duplicating (‘cloning’) new copies of the drum + bass backing patterns so that you never run out, and they are generated for as long as your jam goes. When you stop, it stops. Now you have as many patterns as you need of those backing tracks to fit the total length of your solo recording, and you didn’t have to guess how much time you would want or need.
Also note there is a handy extra feature in the context menu for the tool, which would automatically delete any patterns that were duplicated but not actually used during the recording. These keeps things tidier!
Try it out for yourself. For me, it seriously suits my playing / recording / writing style – I can’t believe I didn’t know about it until just today! I’ve been playing with it all evening and it’s incredibly useful for me.
Between AutoClone and VoiceRunner, I think Renoise can meet all my particular idiosyncratic needs for sequencing / organization now… very psyched!