Introduction To Renoise

Main Screen

Welcome to Renoise. This introduction to the Renoise interface will familiarise you with the main components of the Renoise interface and explain their basic function.

Beginners Video Tutorial

If you prefer videos, then you should take a look at the Beginners Tutorial Video. It provides a step by step guide to creating a song and is perfect for those new to Renoise or computer composing in general.

Quickstart Guide

Alternatively, you can check out the Quickstart Tutorial. This PDF guide briefly explains the main concepts of Renoise. This is recommended for those who are already familiar with other music applications.

Main Screen Overview

Renoise is different. If you see Renoise for the first time, it will greet you like this:

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We're now going quickly through the main parts of the interface. Note the links for the different components. If you want to know more about a specific part simply follow them and come back to this guide later.

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Upper Status Bar

At the top of the interface you will see Renoises main status bar.

The main status bar offers a few menu options that you will know for every application (to open song, the preferences and so on). On the right of this a VU meter is shown. You will see your songs master signal here. On the right are some MID controls (a MIDI Mapping button, MIDI I/O LEDs), a Song Timer and Renoises current CPU utilization.

Song Controls

On the left, below the upper status bar bar, are the basic Song Controls.

This is where you start/stop the song and set up some basic song editing features like the edit mode or metronome.

Disk Browser / Scopes

To the right of the Song Controls, you have the Disk Browser / Scopes Pane.

With the Disk Browser, you load your songs, instruments, samples, Dsp chains, and skins / themes. There will also be some demo songs. Double click them and press play to see and hear Renoise in action.

The Scopes help you to navigate quickly in your song or to analyze the song.

Instrument Selector

To the right of the Disk Browser / Scopes, you’ll find the Instrument Selector.

With the Instrument Selector you do select the instrument you currently want to play or record with the computer keyboard or your record what you play on your external MIDI keyboard. Here will also VST/AU or external MIDI instruments show up once they are loaded. Renoise is strongly focused on samples, so below the divider line you will see one or multiple audio samples that the instruments use.

GUI presets/switching

Above the Instrument Selector, you have a set of eight global preset buttons for the whole Renoise GUI.

There is a lot to discover in Renoise, while Renoise avoids cluttering your desktop with windows, so combination of GUI layouts can be stored and recalled with those preset. By default we have set up some presets for you. You can access them by clicking F1 to F8 on your keyboard.

Next to the presets are two buttons to show or hide the upper and lower part of the interface. This way you can make room for whats in the middle. And finally a button to run Renoise in full screen, hiding everything else you have on your desktop to concentrate on composing.

Pattern Sequencer

On the left, you see the Pattern Sequencer.

Renoise uses patterns as the main song structure. The Pattern Sequencer allows you to create / copy and sort your patterns, so you can create a song out of patterns.

Pattern Editor

On the right side of the [Pattern Sequencer, you will find the Pattern Editor. This is Renoises main composing and editing tool.

Here is where you will start writing your songs, adding/recording notes automation, ordering tracks and much more. Basically everything in Renoise is built around this editor. Get customized with it. It will look the more friendlier the more you've used it ;)

Track DSPs

In the lower area of the interface you will find the Track DSPs tab (beside of others):

The Track DSP tab shows and controls all effects that are applied to the current track. The current track is the one which is highlighted in blue in the Pattern Editor. Besides DSP effects and VST/AU or LADSPA effects, you can also assign meta devices (such as LFOs) and routing devices (such as sends) in Renoise. Meta Devices are special effects that do not deal with audio, but with parameters and automation. You can do crazy stuff with this, but lets keep this for later.

Lower Status Bar

Finally, below that, you can find another status bar.

Renoise will print out some info about what its doing here. Clicking on the Renoise logo will bring up the Tip of the Day dialog again.

Guide yourself through the interface: Tooltips

If you prefer exploring things by your own, then watch out for tool tips. Nearly every button in Renoise will provide you a small tip about what its for, what it does. To see those tips, hover a button or a part of the interface and rest the mouse pointer for a short while.

Renoise Workflow: Learning the Keys

While also supporting drag and drop and other mouse based gestures, Renoise is a keyboard based application. There are lots of shortcuts available for everything. Thats what what makes it so fast and at the end so comfortable to use. The more you are getting used to them, the more quickly you will be able to write songs and get in touch with the Renoise workflow.

To get an overview about all shortcuts, you can view and print them by clicking on “Help->List Keyboard Shortcuts...”. If you are interested in specific shortcuts, then try right clicking a component to open up a context menu. There many shortcuts are noted as well. All keyboard shortcuts can of course also be customized in the preferences.

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Happy discovering of Renoise and thanks for reading this manual!