Disk Browser

Disk Browser

The Disk browser in Renoise allows you to load and save files quickly, preview samples or instruments and store your favorite locations for quick access without having to leave Renoise.

The Disk Browser consist out of a File Types Selector on the left, a Folder Panel, and a File Panel.

File Type Selector

With the File Types panel you set up what you want to load or save. Each file type section will have its own set of favorites. Further, the Save button in the File Panel on the right will use the currently set type to decide what to export: If you've selected „Song“, then Renoise song files will be saved. If you select „Sample“ WAV files will be saved and so on...

Please note that you will always see, in every file type location you've selected, all files that Renoise can read. Regardless of the selected file type. But the selected formats files will then be shown on top of the file list, other types will follow slightly grayed out after that in the list.

• 1,2,3,4 Buttons - The four numbered buttons are user-configurable presets, that can be assigned to your favorite file locations. Right-clicking them will store the currently selected folder you see in the browser as preset. Left-click will recall the previously stored location. Each file type selection (Song, DSP Chain, Instrument, Sample and Theme) has its own preset-locations. Hovering a preset button with the mouse will show its location on the disk.

• Song – Load and save Renoise Song (XRNS) files, or load other song formats that Renoise can import.
• Dsp Chain – Load and save complete DSP chains (XRNT files, DSP sets for a track)
• Instrument - Load and save Renoise Instruments (XRNI files)
• Sample - Load and save common audio sample formats like WAVs, AIFF, FLAC and so on. Saving will always save in WAV format.
• Theme – Load and save Renoise Theme presets (XML files) / color settings for the Renoise interface

Depending on the file type options on the left, Renoise may also show some additional options & buttons.

Song: a Render button will appear, which allows you to bounce a Song into a sample format (WAV) for example to publish your song, burn it or upload it to the internet, share it with others.

Sample/Instrument: a small slider will appear. This slider controls the volume samples are preheared with. How loud samples you are selecting in the disk browser will be played back. If you click on the small arrow next to the slider, you can also select whether the sample will be played back on the master channel or on the currently selected track. This allows you to prehear the sample file with the current tracks DSP effects (selected track) or not (master track).

Folder Panel

The folder panel gives you an overview of the directory structure. To see a folders content, select it by clicking it with the mouse. To only see a folders sub structure, double click on it.

• File:Vvoois renoise folder up.png - Go up one level in the directory hierarchy
• File:Vvoois renoise folder root.png - Set current folder as new root folder (only show folders below that folder)
• File:Vvoois renoise folder drive.png - Opens a set of default locations every computer has, like your home folder, a list of all available disks currently installed, or Renoises default library contents (Demo Song, a sets of default samples, instruments Renoise comes with)

Right clicking on any folders there, will also give you some more options for the selected file:

File panel

The file panel is where the selected directories content is shown. By default only files that Renoise can read are shown.

• File:Vvoois renoise file search.png - Type a search-phrase to filter the file-list to quickly find files
• File:Vvoois renoise file wildcard.png - Toggle the „show all files“ option (when enabled, all file types are shown, not only the ones that Renoise can read)
• File:Vvoois renoise sample prehear.png - Toggle the „sample-prehearing“ option (when enabled, selecting sample files in the browser will automatically play them back)
• File:Vvoois renoise file show folder.png - Show or hide sub folders also in the file-panel
• File:Vvoois renoise file newfolder.png - Create new directory in the currently selected directory
• File:Vvoois renoise file delete.png - Delete the selected file (move it to the systems trash bin)
• File:Vvoois renoise file save.png - Save a file as named in the text-box next to this button.

Right clicking on any file will again bring on some more options:

File-Context menu

The “Load file with options” is related to loading import files and will bring up a dialog to offer you to change the file-type import-options on-the-fly. Such import options are available for:

WAV Files Import Options

RAW Audio Files Import Options

MIDI Files Import Options

DSP Chain Files Import Options

Usage

Expanding the Disk Browser

When clicking on the More button, you can expand the disk browser. The whole disk browser will expose itself across the center frame and also rescales the instrument area to give you a lot better overview of your instruments. The More button changes into a highlighted Less button which you can click again to collapse the diskbrowser. Pressing [Esc] shall also collapse the brower to its original size.

File:Vvoois renoise file dialog more.png

Loading Multiple Entries at Once

You can load multiple sample entries and multiple instrument entries into the instrument table. This is done by either shift-clicking a range or ctrl-clicking selective files. You can load them using the context menu or you can drag them right into the designated spot you desire. For samples you can drag them into the instrument list and have an instrument created for each sample in the selection or drag the selection into the sample-list area and have them loaded into one instrument.

Drag and Drop files from the Browser

You can also load multiple sample files or other entries, by simply dragging them from the file list view to its destination. This is especially usefull to quickly create multi sample instrument. To do so, drag them into the sample section, the lower part of the instrument box, below the divider line.

Navigating the Disk Browser with the Keyboard

By default Renoises keyboard focus is set up to control the pattern editor, Renoises main editing area. But you can also activate other parts of the interface for keyboard navigation. To do so you can either:

• Right click on the files or folders list to show the context menu, select (Set Keyboard Focus here)
• Navigate the keyboard focus through Renoises GUI areas with the Control/Command + Tab, Control/Command + Shift Tab shortcuts
• Click with the middle mouse button on the file or directory list. This will change the focus as well.

Importing Raw Audio Files (any Files as Audio Samples)

Renoise will allow you to load anything (yes any file type) as audio sample file. To do so:

• Select „Sample“ as the main category/file type in the Disk Browser
• Make sure the „Show All Files“ option is enabled
• Double click a file which normally is not recognized as a sample file (a TXT file, JPEG, whatver)
• Right click on the file and select „Load File with Options“ allows you to tell how Renoise should load this sample (at which sample rate, bit depth and so on)