Tracker Interface

Time runs vertically in a tracker, moving down line-by-line from the top of a phrase to the bottom. So during playback of a phrase, the notes or commands found in each line are triggered in sequence. With the Phrase Editor you can compose musical phrases that will be activated when specific notes are played. Phrases are created using a scaled-down version of the Renoise Pattern Editor, consisting of just a single pattern.

Columns

There are two different types of column in a phrase: note and effect. There can be up to twelve note-columns, which are used to record instruments by entering notes. They also have three extra sub-columns, which are used to control the volume, panning and delay parameters on a per-note basis. The panning and delay sub-columns are not visible by default. To show/hide them you can use the keyboard shortcuts, "Left Control/Command + Left Shift + V (Volume), P (Panning), D (Delay)", or you can press the corresponding buttons in the Phrase Editor Controls.

Effect columns are used to apply Effect Commands that can affect the behaviour of Instruments. They are set up in the format: xxyy, where xx defines the effect type (e.g. pitch glide) and yy defines the effect's value (e.g. the rate of the pitch glide). There can be up to eight master effect-columns and an optional local effect-column for each note-column.

The image below illustrates the typical layout of a phrase:

File:3.1 trackerinterface-columns.png

Note: e.g. C-4, A#3. The first two characters represent the musical note, while the third character is the octave number. The notes are not entered letter by letter like a text editor, but like a piano, using the computer keyboard or a MIDI master keyboard.
Sample Number: The sample that will play the note. This is automatically entered when the note is recorded, but it can be changed by hand.
Volume: (00-80) - The note velocity/volume, where 00=minimum and 80=maximum. Additional effects can also be triggered from here.
Panning: (00-80) - The panning of the note, where 00=full left, 40=center and 80=full right. In Renoise, this will only be applied to samples (MIDI and VST plugins will be unaffected by values in this sub-column). Additional effects can also be triggered from here.
Delay: (00-FF) - A time delay added to the note, where 00 is no delay and FF will result in the note being delayed until immediately before the next line.
Local FX: Effect Commands entered into this column will only affect the samples being played in this particular note column.
Master FX: Effect Commands entered into this column will affect the entire phrase.

Adding / Removing Columns

To add/remove Note or FX columns, you can use the buttons at the top of the phrase. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut, "Left Control/Command + Left Shift + left/right arrow key" to either add/remove a Note or Effect column, depending on where the cursor is (place it where you would like that column type to be duplicated).