ReasonTalk.com

Good news for Renoise users wanting to use the RRP and RRP users wanting a new environment to Reason with.

The tracker Renoise has just updated and now supports VST3. It even uses the RRP as its example in the image announcing the update.
http://www.renoise.com

Reason running inside of a tracker. For some reason this blows my old mind.

Well, for now I can't even launch 3.3 because it hangs on indexing f**ing Waves' waveshells...
Reason Studios somehow fixed it in one of the 11.x updates, hope Renoise does too.

tronam wrote: ↑

04 Jan 2021

Reason running inside of a tracker. For some reason this blows my old mind.

You're not the only one! People keep mentioning Renoise to me and, while I'm not in a hurry to switch my environment, I'd love to try it out with Reason at some point. Sounds like a fantastic match.

adfielding wrote: ↑

04 Jan 2021

People keep mentioning Renoise to me and, while I'm not in a hurry to switch my environment, I'd love to try it out with Reason at some point. Sounds like a fantastic match.

It's fantastic man, well worth messing about with even just as a novelty. For a couple of reasons I'm using it as my main DAW at the mo and honestly it's great fun to use and kinda makes you think differently when composing / arranging (if, like me, you've never really bothered with trackers before).

Awesome news!

I was playing around with RRP (probably the AU version as this was before the update) in Renoise a few weeks ago and it was pretty fun. But it was a hassle to do automation, as there's no easy way to assign parameters without knowing the exact value you're after, and because RRP has hundreds of these.... well...

It seems that devices claim those parameter numbers in order so it's not too bad, but it's also kind of an issue, because now Parameter 1010 or whatever could be completely different each time depending on what I have in the rack. Also the Parameters for the most part stay undefined, so you still don't know what parameter does what. The only way to figure it out is to painstakingly move each slider on the Instr. Automation device and see what it affects in RRP, either that are load a separate instance on RRP in a different DAW which does let you more easily work out the parameter number (ensuring also that you have the exact same rack setup).

For me it's just not something you can work with, if somebody else has found a better way of doing this than I could figure out I would love to know cause it would be fun to sequence all those potential control changes in the tracker. It seems to be both of an issue with Reason in how they handle how parameters get listed in the plugin and an issue with Renoise and how limited their automation mapping features are. (something that Reason has definitely spoilt us with compared to other DAW's)

Since the update dropped, I have made two songs with it that use Renoise purely as a sequencer for Reason sound sources, and I have to say I love this process. Huge upgrade over Reason's sequencer for the kind of music I like.

Two things I found useful:

- The main pain point is automating parameters, you have to hunt from a huge list and their numbers won't be consistent. What I've done is make sure that every new instance of a Reason VST starts with a combinator, to ensure I have predictable parameter numbers, and pass through its four knobs and buttons. Then, I programmed a Doofer to map to that combinator, so I can use it on every track.
- Using player devices works well, but you can't toggle them on the same step as you send them notes. You can use delays to fix it.

Here's an image explaining both those concepts, might save someone some time:

Aria Salvatrice wrote: ↑

22 Apr 2021

What I've done is make sure that every new instance of a Reason VST starts with a combinator, to ensure I have predictable parameter numbers, and pass through its four knobs and buttons.

That's a useful little workaround I hadn't considered, thanks for sharing!

What's the main advantages or features that sell Renoise then?

The tracker style work flow of course.

I downloaded it in a fit of enthusiasm. Then I remembered how much I disliked trackers on the Amiga all those years ago lol. If DAWs did not exist and trackers were the only option I think modern music would be very different!

jam-s wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

The tracker style work flow of course.

but for those of us who’ve never used a tracker before, what advantages are there?

the concept seems intriguing, but also like it wouldn’t lend itself to recorded instruments, from what little I know.

jam-s wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

The tracker style work flow of course.

Yeah that's the obvious one but are there some good features too?

The tracker work flow allows to have a pretty fast way of getting patterns done with using mostly your keyboard. Also the samples are really hands-on available to be played with using effects like sample offset or portamento/vibrato etc in addition to their pitch. It's great for fast chops or break beat juggling:

or

But you can also do some crazy stuff like this

Of course it's up to you if this clicks with you, but I'm pretty certain that one will write different kinds of music in a tracker compared to a classic DAW. For projects that use long recorded parts of audio using a daw and maybe redux for beats and phrases would be the better option imho.

guitfnky wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

jam-s wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

The tracker style work flow of course.

but for those of us who’ve never used a tracker before, what advantages are there?

the concept seems intriguing, but also like it wouldn’t lend itself to recorded instruments, from what little I know.

Since I have only about 5 tracker songs to my name in total, and like 20 times that with traditional sequencers, here's my thoughts so far as a beginner:

• Computer keyboard input. I am not much of a piano player. For anything more complex than a monophonic melody that's mostly 8th notes, I'll need so much manual clean-up, I might as well input it manually from the start. I'll try to use step input to my MIDI keyboard next to get the best of both worlds for expressive instruments where velocity matters.
• Seeing all harmony and rhythm at once is the core feature for me. I'm coming up with much more adventurous material when I don't have to cross-reference tracks individually.
• I make the grid fit my song rather than the other way around. No automating dozens of tempo and time signature changes to get something off the grid, the tracker has no more concept of time signatures than you want it to have.
• People love it for slicing beats, I have not tried it in depth yet, so I don't know if the process inspires different results than using Dr. Rex.

I don't know if it's gauche to post your own stuff outside the song threads (sorry if it is), but the last song I did with Renoise illustrates very well the 2nd and 3rd point, and how I integrate it to Reason:



I've been trying to get into tracking for a while (I got a thread about renoise on those forums 2 years ago I just remembered haha). Adding VST3 was the tipping point for me to start learning it seriously. Not trying to sell anyone on it, but it's very quickly growing to be one my favorite sequencers.

Recording audio with it definitely isn't it's strong point. When I'll next do a song with vocals I'll definitely reach for Reason.

Aria Salvatrice wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

guitfnky wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

but for those of us who’ve never used a tracker before, what advantages are there?

the concept seems intriguing, but also like it wouldn’t lend itself to recorded instruments, from what little I know.

Since I have only about 5 tracker songs to my name in total, and like 20 times that with traditional sequencers, here's my thoughts so far as a beginner:

• Computer keyboard input. I am not much of a piano player. For anything more complex than a monophonic melody that's mostly 8th notes, I'll need so much manual clean-up, I might as well input it manually from the start. I'll try to use step input to my MIDI keyboard next to get the best of both worlds for expressive instruments where velocity matters.
• Seeing all harmony and rhythm at once is the core feature for me. I'm coming up with much more adventurous material when I don't have to cross-reference tracks individually.
• I make the grid fit my song rather than the other way around. No automating dozens of tempo and time signature changes to get something off the grid, the tracker has no more concept of time signatures than you want it to have.
• People love it for slicing beats, I have not tried it in depth yet, so I don't know if the process inspires different results than using Dr. Rex.

I don't know if it's gauche to post your own stuff outside the song threads (sorry if it is), but the last song I did with Renoise illustrates very well the 2nd and 3rd point, and how I integrate it to Reason:

I've been trying to get into tracking for a while (I got a thread about renoise on those forums 2 years ago I just remembered haha). Adding VST3 was the tipping point for me to start learning it seriously. Not trying to sell anyone on it, but it's very quickly growing to be one my favorite sequencers.

Recording audio with it definitely isn't it's strong point. When I'll next do a song with vocals I'll definitely reach for Reason.

wow, that’s impressive work! love the playfulness—I can see what you mean about it sort of liberating you from the grid or more traditional approaches. got some Sega Genesis vibes from that (that’s a good thing, in case there was any question). kinda makes me want to try it out.

Creativemind wrote: ↑

25 Apr 2021

What's the main advantages or features that sell Renoise then?

If, like me, you have no time to have full blown music seshes, you can just find an old laptop -> slap a lightweight Linux OS on it -> quickly make noise super efficiently anywhere without an interface etc.

I can only steal 30 mins here and there for music so I wiped an old laptop and slapped Debian with LXDE on it. The thing flies, performance is unbelievable. Renoise is so powerful but so light on resources it's insane. I started using it out of necessity and now it's my fave DAW ever. Grown to love the sampler, the FX, the meta devices, the workflow, etc etc.

For what it's worth, I am not a 'producer' and I don't make House or EDM or anything - I'm primarily a musician and mostly make noisy guitar-driven industrial stuff, including singing.

I added KX Studio repos and installed a bunch of Airwindows VSTs so the wee laptop has everything I need to write, record and mix.

Can't believe I missed this thread. Yip, I'm a fully-fledged Reason in Renoise devotee, the sequencing and ability to manipulate samples on a per-note basis is a playground, reason as a sound source and its other effects/utilities in Renoise is heaven for me, loving it.