Seeing a tracker interface for the first time can be intimidating. But dive in a bit deeper, and you’ll discover what’s actually a very efficient interface for programming in musical sequences and working with samples. With just ten days left in the Renoise – Indamixx music production contest, there’s still time to get up and running using even the demo version of Renoise (into which you can import samples). And this could be a great excuse to learn a new tool.
Dac, who’s a big part of support and community for Renoise, has put together a nice tutorial showing off the workflow in the tool. It’s nothing all that unusual: bring in samples, assemble patterns, make music. Some of the voice over is hard to hear, but this is a good start. Now, I still like reading and writing better than video just in terms of how I learn, so I may try to work on a written version for the end of the week; feel free to shout encouragement.
For more Renoise inspiration, forum regular djnick sends along a PsyTrance video made in Renoise – so, yes, you can make PsyTrance with a tracker, too, if you like. He samples Peter Jennings talking about ecstasy. Yeah, whatever – as if you can make Peter Jennings any more trippy. Watching Jennings is the ultimate natural high.
And here’s the original jerk beat tutorial. (Hey, who are you calling a jerk beat? Sorry, that just can’t sound not strange when I hear that phrase…)
Enjoy. Got specific requests for how-to’s, other tips or tutorials you’ve found useful, or questions you’d like answered? Do let us know.
"you can make PsyTrance with a tracker, too"
you can make any kind of music with a tracker (if you're good enough)
@corticyte: Yes, indeed. Actually, you can make any kind of music even if you're *not* good enough. 😉
I, like many, started doing music with trackers. First with Octamed, in an Commodore Amiga 500 computer, back in 95. Then I got a PC and started using Fasttracker II, used it for a cuple years, before I switched to Cakewalk. I still remember with love those times, editing samples in SoundForge, switching to DOS and arranging them in FTII…crafty!!!
nice one, but it would be even nicer another tutorial on more obscure/advanced functionalities…
@cooptrol: ah FastTrackerII, that's where I started (well, after having done basic and assembly language stuff with the SID registers on a Commodore 64 😉 ) crafty was the word indeed 🙂 but very handy for drum tracking
@pierlo: A lot of users out there have made a lot of DIY tutorials. They are one keyword search away.
I'm particularly fond of SDEK Renoise Blog, for example.
@see: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=884D6E969…
Yeah, I think Dac was actually trying to make one for complete beginners!
I agree, this video is all about basic tracker workflow. I think it's great how Dac mention that a track can contain any sample/instrument. Apart from the vertical layout, this is probably what differentiates a tracker like Renoise from traditional DAWs more than anything else.
i wish there was a tracker interface to all modern MIDI DAWs, you know. Logic has this crappy event list instead.. I know it's a tough challenge, but I'm sure with some ingenuity it could be done… to this day there's still something special about the tracker that sequencers can't quite match. (disclaimer: obviously i'm an old ST3/IT2 junkie 🙂
I am with George (and most others)
Started elektronik Music with a tracker.
I worked with about any Tracker in Existence in the old Amiga Days. Was a bit too young to do that with C64 too.
This obsession of "collecting Trackers" is still with me today, since the A500. For me it´s the same sacred think as Woodstock is for the 68 Hippies.
I also still have my Amiga 😀
George, try reVisit for a tracker interface that works in a bunch of DAWs.
http://www.nashnet.co.uk/english/revisit/
reVisit's cool, but Renoise now also supports ReWire *and* JACK on Linux. And generally, I think the point here is that trackers continue to evolve – they haven't stood still while DAWs took over.
I've always liked the idea of using something like Renoise as a sort-of supercharged sampler for my stuff, but it seems to be built for something different than that. I also started out as a tracker, but unlike others, didn't really stick with it. I understand the basic idea, though.
Next question…what's this about new Macbooks etc with "significant audio improvements"?
I really still can't understand why anyone would want to use something like a piano roll to make music. The tracker interface has always felt more intuitive to me. But, as always, to each his own.
@rohka Yes, that's what I mean! Trackers used to be easy to learn and horizontal sequencers were much harder to dig through.
But now it's like the world is upside-down. Trackers are said to have a steep learning curve, compared to for example Cubase. We'll conveniently forget the "Fast Guide to Cubase SX" has 469 pages.
I've been using Renoise for quite some time now… but I watched this video and it demystified one very important part of Renoise that I have been having trouble figuring out through the docs… The pattern arranger window… can't believe its that easy to use. I've been working on one pattern at a time and have had very little idea how to select and work with different patterns, I'd been just changing the pattern number of the current one until I watched this. Now I see you can actually edit one pattern while another is playing, awesome! Thanks DAC.
Now if somebody could point us all in a direction that makes HEX easier to understand it would be appreciated. I keep a chart next to me at all times b/c I just can't seem to wrap my brain around a non base 10 system. I always kind of wished Renoise would integrate a dumbed down number system that maybe has less resolution than HEX but is workable. This has been a problem for me back in the Fast Tracker 2 days, just had to fumble my way through it.
shamburglar, check out this renoise beginners thread: http://www.renoise.com/board/index.php?showtopic=… it talks about HEX including why its used.
Is it just me, or are the renoise web servers under a bit of strain? I've been checking back and first the blog went, now I can't get to the main site. I want to have a flashback to my shitty appartment of yesteryear where I first came in contact with an 8-bit tracker.
🙂
m1…
@beatniks3, thank you… there are a couple posts there that represent all i need to know right now.
@Bantai I think the reason for that is that the now "mainstream" MIDI sequencers are quite visual while trackers are just a grid of numbers. This might work for some people, but many others, including me, are more at ease in a spatial environment. (I spent my entire childhood with Legos)
I've never done the tracker thing, but have always been curious. This still seems a little confusing to me. I mean, I get the concept, but the workflow throws me off a little.
Probably because I've been doing the horizontal (or spacial, as Simon so eloquently put it) sequencing thing since the days of Opcode Vision… I guess I'm just set in my ways at this point.
Ears aren't visual?