Renoise 3.5

[El°HYM]

Props to taktik for still working on this love project. Excellent Update!

[tumface]

Yes, if a simple feature hasn't been implemented over the last 20 years, there must be a reason for that, including limited knowledge/thinking of the developers, or simply their unwillingness to do it, for whatever reason.

For me, such a missing feature, and showstopper, is that patterns in the pattern sequencer have to be of the same length, those that sit on the same 'line' in the pattern sequencer. E.g., all 16 steps, or all 4 steps, etc. You can't have most be 16 steps, then make one 4 steps and paste it e.g. on the 8-th step in that pattern sequencer line. Like e.g. Jeskola Buzz or any non-tracker DAW can do. That is extremely counterintuitive and cumbersome to work with, etc.

I would like to at least know WHY it has been made like that, that would be interesting to read, from the developers.

Yes, it is annoying. I think the reason it's like that is its Ultimate Soundtracker/Pro Tracker/FastTracker style heritage. You can alias patterns of different lengths together, but they're all "top aligned" as you can see in this screenshot.

Screen Shot 2025-07-13 at 22.14.08.png

Phrases can sort of break this rule, but phrases have restrictions on the FX commands they can use, like not being able to control macros or automation, as far as I can tell.

[oscillik]

Yes, if a simple feature hasn't been implemented over the last 20 years, there must be a reason for that, including limited knowledge/thinking of the developers, or simply their unwillingness to do it, for whatever reason.

For me, such a missing feature, and showstopper, is that patterns in the pattern sequencer have to be of the same length, those that sit on the same 'line' in the pattern sequencer. E.g., all 16 steps, or all 4 steps, etc. You can't have most be 16 steps, then make one 4 steps and paste it e.g. on the 8-th step in that pattern sequencer line. Like e.g. Jeskola Buzz or any non-tracker DAW can do. That is extremely counterintuitive and cumbersome to work with, etc.

I would like to at least know WHY it has been made like that, that would be interesting to read, from the developers.

Yes, it is annoying. I think the reason it's like that is its Ultimate Soundtracker/Pro Tracker/FastTracker style heritage. You can alias patterns of different lengths together, but they're all "top aligned" as you can see in this screenshot.

Screen Shot 2025-07-13 at 22.14.08.png

Phrases can sort of break this rule, but phrases have restrictions on the FX commands they can use, like not being able to control macros or automation, as far as I can tell.

As a fellow PragmataPro user, could you advise how you've got that font in your Renoise? Specifically with the close kerning? I've managed to get it showing up but it's too spaced out.

[ThomasHelzle]

There are new options now for Fonts:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/renoise-3-5 ... d/76590/96

[oscillik]

There are new options now for Fonts:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/renoise-3-5 ... d/76590/96

Thanks. I've tried that, and the kerning is still too spaced out.

[tumface]

There are new options now for Fonts:
https://forum.renoise.com/t/renoise-3-5 ... d/76590/96

Thanks. I've tried that, and the kerning is still too spaced out.

I adjusted the H and V text spacing options in the Renoise preferences.

[Hanz Meyzer]

You can adjust the text spacing options also to negative -2.

Settings font normal, h- and v-spacing -2 give me pretty much the same impression as in Renoise 3.4, but much more crisp and dense. Font now is so sharp it can cut your eyes.

[Jonas78]

For me, such a missing feature, and showstopper, is that patterns in the pattern sequencer have to be of the same length

Renoise has had a phrase system for a while now, where phrases can be of a different length (a different LPB & be able to loop) then the main pattern they are triggered in. Now with the new phrase scripting system sky is the limit regarding polymetric beats or different lengths.

Also this trick might be of interest on how to play long samples in a short pattern;
https://forum.renoise.com/t/the-0g01-tr ... t-pattern/

[koalaboy]

For me, such a missing feature, and showstopper, is that patterns in the pattern sequencer have to be of the same length

Renoise has had a phrase system for a while now, where phrases can be of a different length (a different LPB & be able to loop) then the main pattern they are triggered in. Now with the new phrase scripting system sky is the limit regarding polymetric beats or different lengths.

Also this trick might be of interest on how to play long samples in a short pattern;
https://forum.renoise.com/t/the-0g01-tr ... t-pattern/

Whilst this is true (and very cool), I would also love to see Renoise have each track be 'independent' of the others from a length perspective. But I understand that's a big change, and apart from Jeskola Buzz, hasn't really been approached in the Tracker world.

[TheMaestro]

Why are you comparing DAW's with a tracker.

[koalaboy]

Why are you comparing DAW's with a tracker.

Why do you think a tracker is not a Digital Audio Workstation ?

[TheMaestro]

Why are you comparing DAW's with a tracker.

Why do you think a tracker is not a Digital Audio Workstation ?

Semantics. It's not a traditional DAW. It's a tracker. So use it as one.

[Logickin]

For me, such a missing feature, and showstopper, is that patterns in the pattern sequencer have to be of the same length, those that sit on the same 'line' in the pattern sequencer. E.g., all 16 steps, or all 4 steps, etc. You can't have most be 16 steps, then make one 4 steps and paste it e.g. on the 8-th step in that pattern sequencer line. Like e.g. Jeskola Buzz or any non-tracker DAW can do. That is extremely counterintuitive and cumbersome to work with, etc.

This might caused by a chain of reasons:

Originally, tracker were made of in Amgia when the computer were much less powerful, and tracker only has 4 tracks initially, so perhaps the simplicity of trackers at that era and the hardware limitations didn’t drive the developers implementing independent dynamic sizing tracks, but a simple list of pattern lengths works well.

Computer gets more advanced over time, and we see more tracker getting more advanced, but most of them were still based on the original mod format, so the convention stays.

For some of the modern trackers, they are still based on their legacy code, like Renoise is based on NoiseTrekker, so there are not much room to redo the pattern system but to improve on top of the original design.

However, these are just the assumptions of what I have seen and know so far, so I might be wrong.

[ThomasHelzle]

For me the attraction actually IS that it's different.

Different people get inspired by different things and restrictions usually make people more creative, not less.
Things like this: https://forum.renoise.com/t/the-0g01-tr ... tern/76359 are actually quite interesting.

So for me, it's a bit like criticising a cello for not having keys.
DAW only means "Digital Audio Workstation". And that definition to me embraces Renoise quite nicely.

Would I use it to record an orchestra? No.
But I'm not sure I would use Bitwig or Live for that either. Although one could.
Would I use Reaper for playing live? Not really. But it can be done.
And now I can use Renoise for live coding - yay!

Having started with an Amiga 500 and "Bars and Pipes", all of this feels crazy powerful, each in it's own way - and I choose whatever fit's the project.

Cheers,

Tom

[koalaboy]

Having started with an Amiga 500 and "Bars and Pipes", all of this feels crazy powerful, each in it's own way - and I choose whatever fit's the project.

Exactly this !

For many of us, the modern choices are utterly mind-blowing and so empowering. Things we could only have dreamed of back in the day. So use whatever is best at the time.

It truly is an amazing time.