Recording and Editing Notes

Recording / Editing Notes

There are two ways of recording notes in Renoise:

• Live Recording: Record what you are playing "live", as the song is playing back. This is how most sequencers record notes.
• Step By Step: Enter and edit notes manually with the computer keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, step by step. This can be done while the song is stopped or while it's playing back.

Edit Mode

First, in order to be able to record anything, make sure that Edit Mode is enabled by pressing the "ESC" key on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can click the record button in the Transport Panel:

The red border around the Pattern Editor indicates that Renoise is now in record mode.

File:Vvoois renoise record mode pattern editor.png

Live Recording

To record notes "live":

• Ensure that Pattern Follow is ON (File:Vvoois renoise pc pattern follow active.png) in the Transport Panel
• Start the song playing with Edit Mode enabled
• Play notes with the computer keyboard or your MIDI master keyboard

The played notes will now be recorded into the track at the current playback position in the Pattern Editor.

Tips: To enable Edit Mode and start playing with a single button press, you can also use the "RIGHT SHIFT" key. To just start playing, you can use either the "SPACEBAR" or "RIGHT CTRL". Pressing the "RIGHT ALT" key will start playing, but also with looping of the current pattern enabled.

Entering Notes Step By Step

To record notes step by step while playback is stopped:

• Simply enter notes with Edit Mode enabled

To record notes step by step while the song is playing:

• Ensure Pattern Follow is OFF (File:Vvoois renoise pc pattern follow.png) in the Transport Panel
• Start the song playing with Edit Mode enabled
• Enter notes with the computer keyboard or your MIDI master keyboard

So to clarify, the Pattern Follow button File:Sato lesson-pattern-follow.png allows you to switch between the live recoding and step by step modes.

If you want to change the number of lines that are skipped down per note entered, use the Edit Step controls located at the bottom of the Pattern Editor:

Shortcuts: To quickly switch Pattern Follow ON and OFF you can use the "SCROLL LOCK" key. To quickly change the Edit Step value you can use "CTRL + 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0".

Real-time and Manual Quantization

When live recording notes, Renoise will by default record them with the highest possible precision. This is done by using the Note Delay column in the Pattern Editor. The note delay column allows you to delay notes, in the else fixed pattern line grid by with a precision of a 256th line.

If you don't want to precisely record your notes, you can let Renoise quantize them either in real-time or do this after you've recorded something. This is done with the quantize controls in the Pattern Editors control bar:

The "Q" button en- or disables live quantization. The number next to it specifies the quantization amount in lines. Press the button next to the number to manually quantize a range in the pattern after recording. There are also some useful shortcuts listed.

Polyphonic vs. Monophonic Recording

The chord mode button in the Pattern Editors transport bar allows you to toggle recording chords vs. sequential (File:Vvoois renoise pc keyjazz active.png).

Sequential (monophonic) recording can often be better when recording drums or when recording or monophonic instruments.

Entering Chords with the Computer Keyboard

When entering notes step by step with the computer keyboard, Renoise will by default place all notes sequentially. If you want to quickly insert chords without live recording, you can do this by holding down the LEFT SHIFT KEY while entering the notes. This will automatically switch to and create columns, thus place the hold down notes to create a chord. MIDI keyboards will always record chords when pressing more than one note at once.