An original tool for the Renoise DAW.

Piano Roll Editor - Basic User Guide

Piano Roll Editor v1.0 build 117. Created by ulneiz - Spain, October 2018.

Content Index

1. 1. What is the "Piano Roll Editor"?
2. 2. Top bar. Main controls.
   1. 2.1. On or off button: ON/OFF.
   2. 2.2. Octave selector.
   3. 2.3. Lines Piano Roll Selector (LPR).
   4. 2.4. Lines per Block Selector (LPB).
   5. 2.5. Advanced editing buttons.
   6. 2.6. Navigation controls of note columns.
   7. 2.7. NC and TR modes, compact modes and access to Preferences.
3. 3. Octave display. Piano mirror top.
4. 4. Simple editing of notes: insert and edit on the roll.
   1. 4.1. Insert or delete a note. Insert notes with line break.
   2. 4.2. Duration of the note. Insert a note off (note-OFF).
   3. 4.3. Change tone a note.
   4. 4.4. Change shooting position one note.
   5. 4.5. Modify volume, panning or delay values. Humanization of notes.
5. 5. Advanced edition: blocks or columns. The joystick.
   1. 5.1. Change the tone in block.
   2. 5.2. Change the tone in column.
   3. 5.3. Change the position in block.
   4. 5.4. Change the position in column.
   5. 5.5. Modify volume, panning or delay values ​​in groups.
   6. 5.6. Cut, copy and paste blocks of tracks.
6. 6. Lower virtual piano. Mapping the MIDI input.
   1. 6.1. MIDI mapping of the lower virtual piano.
   2. 6.2. MIDI Input: Velocity ​​setting (volume).
   3. 6.3. Live recording of the notes with the MIDI input.
7. 7. Keyboard commands. Navigation, control and editing.
8. 8. Preferences: "OSC Server", timers and colors.
1. 8.1. Configuration of the "OSC Server".
2. 8.2. The timers.
3. 8.3. Colors of the tracks.
9. 9. Advanced editing operations.
10. 10. Author's notes. Brief history of the Piano Roll Editor.

1. What is the "Piano Roll Editor"?

The "Piano Roll Editor" or also called "PRE" as an abbreviation is a tool for the representation and advanced editing of notes for the DAW Renoise (current version 3.1.1 of 64 bit), www.renoise.com. It is a piano roll arranged vertically with a top control bar, an intermediate grid for the roll and another bottom panel that represents a horizontal virtual piano, along with another smaller mirror piano on the top of the roll.

The PRE program is distributed in 64-bit XRNX format through a "Demo Version", free, so that anyone can try it and through another "Full Version", which requires a personalized use license. Please, contact the author to get your personal license for use. This additional software demonstrates another of Renoise's not-so-well-known capabilities: programming and the use of advanced editing tools. Expand Renoise's capabilities with the Piano Roll Editor!

Pay attention. Please, before continuing reading this user guide, go to the installation folder of the tool and read the files "Readme.txt" and "License.txt", which include very relevant information about the installation and use of this tool. To open the container folder of the tool go to "Renoise: Tools / Tool Browse...". In the "Installed Tools" list, search for "com.ulneiz.PianoRollEditor (Piano Roll Editor)" and right-click and then "Reveal in Explorer ..." to locate and read these text files.

Piano Roll Editor in one of its compact visualizations (3 octaves and 16 lines), in real size.

PRE distinguishes itself from other piano rolls equipped in other digital audio work stations precisely because of its graphic design, adapted and suitable for Renoise, retaining the same vertical orientation. In this way, the composer can quickly visually compare the notes of the PRE roll with the notes of the Renoise tracker (pattern editor); check your match. In the roll, the horizontal arrangement of the notes represents the tone of the notes, while the vertical distribution of the notes represents their firing position in the sequence. In addition, the lower virtual piano is represented in horizontal distribution, coinciding with the natural form of the physical piano or MIDI controller of the composer. Therefore, the song sequence playback will move from top to bottom.

This notes editor allows to display between 3 octaves (36 notes) and 10 octaves (120 notes) horizontally and between 16 and 64 vertical lines. The roll will show a part of the pattern or its totality, according to the number of lines of this one. The sequence of the pattern is represented in a fixed way, changing when necessary, while the position of the reproduced line moves vertically from top to bottom. You will quickly notice that it is different from the way of move from the Renoise pattern editor.

This tool allows the edition by blocks, through an adapted selector of grouping of lines. It also allows editing by moving the tone in groups of notes and moving the position of groups of notes in the sequence. In addition, it allows you to directly modify the volume, panning and delay values ​​by sliding bars, and easily navigate between the 12 note columns of each track, through a color code. However, PRE does not focus on other types of parameters, such as effects parameters, ignoring this whole section, and concentrating all its potential in the composition and editing of notes.

Window of "Preferences" and "About the Piano Roll Editor".

The Piano Roll Editor is compatible with OSC Server. Thanks to this it allows to reproduce and edit the notes while they are interpreted or modified by the composer. In case of need, it is possible to modify the port (8000 by default) and the IP Server (127.0.0.1 by default), always through the Udp protocol. Please go to the section of the Configuration of the "OSC Server" for more information.

In addition, PRE allows controlling the entire lower virtual piano through the MIDI input and its vertical volume bar (they require a manual pre-mapping), and has a mode for detecting the keystroke velocity, which will modify the value of volume of notes recorded in the pattern editor.

PRE is designed to be minimally invasive and highly integrated. This implies that it includes just and necessary controls (for example, it does not include a play or stop button, or an edit mode button, because they are already arranged in Renoise), but it has its own keyboard commands, many common with Renoise, and several modifiable display settings to be able to use it in screens of more modest resolutions or even in 2 monitors of resolution HD, occupying much more space.

Piano Roll Editor with the scroll and bottom piano unfolded (5 octaves and 16 lines).

Finally, the Piano Roll Editor can be used as a mere visual aid to the distribution of the notes, especially to observe the tone of each of them and their firing position in the sequence. It is very easy to observe the lines that are more saturated with notes and those that are not. The composer has the option to choose between one or two tracks (one master and another slave or secondary) to display 12 or 24 columns of specific color notes (NC Mode) or centralize a track to display up to 16 + 16 tracks arranged to its around, with all its note columns colored with the color of each track (TR Mode). In addition, PRE offers the possibility to hide the roll and use only the lower virtual piano to play and record notes with the mouse directly in the Renoise pattern editor, or use the specific map of the MIDI input.

Please read this user guide carefully to learn how to use this tool in a basic way. Also keep in mind that PRE has many combinations of controls to achieve certain compositions that, given their complexity, are not explained in this guide. Also keep in mind that understanding this tool requires basic Renoise notions, such as what a clue is, what a note column or line is, or what it means to modify a particular parameter...

Use this piano roll editor together with the Renoise pattern editor and get a new dimension when interpreting and editing your compositions!

2. Top bar. Main controls.

The top bar shows several controls arranged from left to right. This bar is autoadaptable according to the width of the window, so you can show more controls if you show more octaves or even invade the lower area of ​​the window to compact it. The layout is simple, starting with the ON/OFF button, octave selectors, lines and blocks, advanced note editing controls, navigation of note columns and additional navigation between tracks and instruments.

Top control bar, autoadaptable

In addition, this upper bar always shows on the right a grouping of 3 buttons, to change the NC or TR modes, display modes and invoke the Preferences window. Finally, on the right of this bar the index of the song sequence always appears.

2.1. On or off button: ON/OFF. ▲

The ON/OFF button on or off is always located at the top left. This button activates the tool to read specific data from the pattern editor. If it is not activated, the roll will not update (it will not work) and a lot of the controls and keyboard commands will not work either. You can use the [º] key to control it.

Button ON/OFF, in different states

This button will show different states when it is "ON". If the cursor in the pattern editor is over a note column, the button will show a colored frame. You can display up to 12 different frame colors, depending on the selected note column. However, if this cursor is on any effect column, regardless of the type of track, this colored frame will not appear. Remember that PRE ignores any effect parameter, and therefore, any effect column. On the other hand, you will see that the central button of the joystick will have a similar visual behavior.

Keep in mind that this button only activates or deactivates the tool. When not in use, keep the tool deactivated (button "OFF") to respect Renoise's performance. In addition, the tool will not edit in the pattern editor if the Renoise "Edit Mode" is not activated. You can use the [ESC] key while the tool is selected to activate or deactivate the edit mode.

2.2. Octave Selector (Oct X-X). ▲

The octave selector allows you to modify the range of octaves to be displayed. It is possible to select the ranges of 3,5,6,8 or 10 octaves in up to 17 combinations. Modifying the range may involve changing the width of the window. Show only 3 octaves is valid for low resolution screens. However, displaying 10 octaves is designed to contain at least one HD screen, approximately 1920 pixels.

Octave Selector (Oct X-X). Change of octaves 2-6 to 3-5.

2.3. Selector of "Lines Piano Roll" (LPR). ▲

As the octave selector can modify the width of the window, the line selector can also play with the height of the window. With the line selector the compositor can establish a range between 16 or 64 lines, keeping in mind the duration of each pattern and the compass employed. For example, if the pattern has 64 lines, it is valid to select a range of 64, 32, or 16 lines. If the pattern is 96 lines, you can use 48 or 24 lines, and so on. PRE will update the range of lines according to the playback progress, so it will keep showing what is playing.

LPR selector. Change from 32 to 16 lines

2.4. Selector of "Lines Per Block" (LPB). ▲

PRE has a special form of selection: the so-called "blocks" of lines. A block contains one or several lines, and all blocks will always contain the same number of lines as long as they agree with the correct division of each pattern. It is controlled similar to the native LPB of Renoise, but referring to these blocks, instead of the "beats". In this way, it is possible to divide the pattern by line blocks to modify as a group everything they contain, the notes and their parameters.

LPB selector change from 4 to 8 lines per block. From 4 blocks it passes to 2 blocks in the 16 lines shown.

The blocks can be from 1 to 32 lines, with increments of one unit. In this way, it is possible to use odd values ​​for more complex measures. To select each block, it is only necessary to select any line contained in it through the perimeter columns of line selection that has the roll, marked with 3 digits in decimal. Although Renoise allows you to change the value of the line in hexadecimal, it is advisable to keep this value in decimal when you use this tool.

2.5. Advanced editing buttons. ▲

Providing the composer with easy-to-use utilities and controls is one of the major difficulties of any programmer. This difficulty increases when it comes to the granular edition; how far to go and what would be more useful as a support tool. Renoise already has most of the selection and granular editing, and quite remarkably, in the pattern editor and in the pattern matrix.

In the PRE the advanced editing buttons are intended to cover in an agile way the edition by blocks of lines or by pattern-tracks. This implies having group control of several notes (several lines) and some of its parameters (volume, panning and delay). Duplicating blocks of lines down or modifying the pitch of notes in horizontal are tremendously simple and direct tasks with this tool.

Advanced editing buttons.

The editing buttons are, from left to right: block copy down (with overwriting), block erasure, copy of note column(s) down (with overwriting), deletion of note column(s) and insertion of new pattern with copy of note column(s).

The central button of the joystick will allow to select between the selected column or all the note columns of the selected track. For more information, go to section 5. Advanced editing: blocks or columns. The joystick. Always keep this button in mind, in addition to the last 2 advanced editing buttons, placed further to the right...

On the one hand, the so-called "Area Type" serves to swap between the selection by blocks (horizontally) or the selection between columns (vertically). Edit between slices of the pattern ("in block") or between the whole pattern ("in column").

On the other hand, for the simple edition of notes (insert or delete a note with the mouse) exist a dedicated control button that allows you to switch between the simple note (from C-0 to B-9) or note off or " note-OFF ". This is useful, for example, if you want to continuously correct notes off with the mouse.

Remember that note switching will always be represented in black in each slot of the roll, always in NC mode, and it will appear in the left column of slots of the roll dedicated to note off. This note type selection button will turn black to record note shutdown. Additionally, PRE has several ways to insert note off (or "note-OFF"), for example, by pressing the [CAPITAL] or [A] key as in Renoise, or by using the named left column of the roll. You can use the [DEL] key to delete a note or click on it. For a matter of cleaning, slots that have note off do not appear in the TR mode, where only the trigger notes are displayed.

2.6. Navigation controls of note columns. ▲

PRE is able to consistently show the notes of the 12 note columns of a track. Note that in PRE a line can only contain a note corresponding to a single note column. In the PRE, representing 12 note columns is equivalent to showing 12 superimposed lines, one on top of the other. One way to explain it is "layer stacking", so that on the line the column of note that is more to the left will always be superimposed on the others. This means that a note that is placed on the same line of the note column number twelve, can never hide a note that is in a lower note column, for example in the first. Therefore, do not confuse what is "a line" in the PRE (which contains 120 note slots and up to 3 sliders) of what is "a line" in Renoise, which is everything that contains the line within of a note column (note parameter, instrument number, volume parameters, panning, delay and effect...). The main understanding of this tool is concentrated here.

Actually, PRE has up to 4 ways to visualize notes, 3 within "NC mode" and a 4th one with "TR mode"...

The first is the simplest: the isolated display of the selected note column. It is possible to press any colored button from 01 to 12 to jump between the notes columns of the selected track, and also press the [PAUSE] key to hide from the right to the left those columns without parameters, both notes and effects. Both the central button of the joystick and the ON/OFF button will be marked with the color of the selected note column. However, if you select an effects column, PRE will not display these colors, since you are not prepared to work with these types of parameters. Under the tool, all effect columns are ignored.

Display and navigation controls of note columns, main track (18 | Air Keys) and slave (05 | Kick).

If the composer wants to see more note columns through the roll, he must use the second display mode, activating the multiple column selector of notes (the switch placed on the left). This selector allows you to display a range between 1 and 12 note columns in the roll, for example, from 1 to 4 or from 1 to 7, but you can not hide the first columns of the note.

View of the PRE in NC mode. In this example only the notes of the selected note column are displayed.

The two previous note display modes are not ready to compare notes between different tracks. To do this, PRE has the ability to show an additional slave or secondary track, at the same time as the selected track, the latter always superimposed. So, the composer can compare two tracks, the track selected by default in Renoise and another additional track selected through the slave track selector, being able to compare one or several note columns of both. For example, the composer may show track number 18 with track number 5, knowing that both tracks are widely separated from each other. To activate the slave track selector, it is necessary to press the vertical chain switch, located on the right side of the navigation buttons of the notes columns.

View of the PRE in TR mode. Displays all the notes of all the tracks in the range set in the preferences window.

The "TR mode" is a "more aggressive" display mode, since it will display more notes from different tracks. This mode allows you to select a track as central, and from 1 to 16 perimeter tracks, through the preferences window. The default range is "-4 TR +4" (it will show 9 tracks) and the maximum range is "-16 TR +16" (a total of 33 tracks), always superimposing the tracks that are further to the left and always superimposing the note columns that are further to the left.

Keep in mind that PRE will have to read all the necessary data to show all the notes through the roll within these ranges. The more notes there are, it is possible that there are overlays of the same notes (they are the same tone in the same line). Take a look in the pattern editor if you have any questions or switch to NC mode and navigate between the tracks. As a general rule, if you use the PRE to compose, you will not have this kind of overlap problems that can be given if you load an already composed song from the Renoise pattern editor. Please, always keep this in mind when you approach the analysis of your composition through this tool.

2.7. NC and TR modes, compact modes and access to Preferences. ▲

To switch between "NC mode" (note column mode) and "TR mode" (track mode) the NC / TR button is used. It is possible to use either of the two modes at any time, but never mix their capabilities. For example, for an overview of the song, you can use the "TR mode", but if you intend to surgically edit each note column, use the "NC mode" and its variants.

Controls NC and TR modes, compact modes and access to Preferences.

On the other hand, the versatile button of compact window allows to hide or show the roll with a simple click of the mouse, or hide or show the lower virtual piano with a click maintained for approximately one second. This allows different combinations of window display. For example, show only the roll, or just the bottom virtual piano or just the top bar, or show it all displayed. Combine this button with the "Oct X-X" and LPR selectors to play with the size of the window.

PRE and its different display modes. Remember that you can display up to 10 octaves and 64 lines.

And there could not be a dedicated button to display the separate preferences window, information about the tool, available keyboard commands and some modules for advanced editing operations. All information and controls are distributed through 4 tabs.

Floating preferences window with the rest of available tabs.

Review the preferences before using the tool and use the advanced operations for a support edition on the Renoise pattern editor. Similarly, take your time to learn the keyboard commands available for the tool.

In addition, in the "About Piano Roll Editor" tab you can directly access this basic user guide in HTML format, which is available in English and Spanish.

3. Octave display. Piano mirror top.

Additionally, PRE includes 3 octave display control buttons, on the second upper bar, on the left. The first is a versatile switch with direct access to several modes. Press it with a simple click to switch between a range of 2-6 to 0-9 octaves and vice versa. Hold it down for approximately 1 second to change 2-6 octaves and 32 lines or 1-8 octaves and 64 lines. In this way, you can maximize or compact the window in a more direct way. The other two left and right buttons will navigate between the 17 octave ranges available in the "Oct X-X" selector. Keep these buttons pressed with the mouse to repeat the operation.

Octave display and the mirror piano. Each octave shows its 12 semitones with white and black keys.

On the other hand, PRE has a slender piano placed on the top of the roll. This piano is nothing more than "a compact mirror" of the lower virtual piano, this one much larger. You can press your keys in the same way. Also, if you press the slots in the roll, the piano keys will light up. This way you can check the concordance of the tone of the note you are playing at all times. This top piano will always appear along with the roll.

In addition, the value of the track index is always shown on the right. You can change this value manually. If you do not know which clue is, you can check the name of the clue by keeping the mouse pointer over the value.

4. Simple editing of notes: insert and edit on the roll.

There are three different ways to insert notes into the roll from the tool: by clicking on the slots of the roll with the mouse, pressing the upper and lower pianos (they are the same) or using the MIDI input mapping of the lower virtual piano, playing from the MIDI keyboard. This last option allows you to configure the PRE by dividing the keyboard to trigger notes from different controls. You can play the same notes from different MIDI devices, for example. Know that any note you modify in the pattern editor will also be reflected in real time on the roll, as long as the tool is activated.

Focusing attention on the roll and the use of the mouse with the NC mode, PRE allows you to insert notes, delete notes, move notes horizontally (modify the tone) or move the notes vertically (change your shooting position), and you can do individually or in groups, thanks to the blocks or the column (s) of note (s). Keep in mind that in most cases it is indifferent to press the right, middle or left mouse button. Usually, the tool will do the same action.

For the edition to work, the pattern editor must be in edit mode ("Edit Mode" activated). You can press [ESC] to change it. Remember that you can use the [º] key also to activate or deactivate the tool. You can also press the two [ESC] and [º] keys at the same time.

Representation of part of the roll, with its grid and the notes insertion slots.

PRE also allows you to manipulate the off notes to specify the duration of the previously placed notes (above). This editing program has a built-in note analyzer per pattern, automatically placing the note off where appropriate on the roll. That is, even if the composer places a note off in a "wrong" slot, PRE will autocorrect it in its correct position on the same line. Keep in mind that note switching does not understand tones. Actually, it does not matter if you put a note shutdown in any slot of the same line, it will always turn off what is playing in the target note column of the pattern editor.

While doing these operations with the notes, it is a good exercise to contemplate what is happening in the Renoise pattern editor. You will quickly understand the match between that editor and the PRE roll.

Pay attention. If you want to sound without editing a specific note placed on the roll, press [ESC] first to deactivate the "Edit Mode" of the pattern editor. Then you can click on the colored slot that represents that note. The note will sound, but it will not be modified.

Remember at all times that for the notes to be inserted or ringing, you must have your OSC Server configured correctly.

4.1. Insert or delete a note. Insert notes with line break. ▲

To insert a note, it is only necessary to click on a slot in the roll. The note should sound. Distribute the LPB value correctly beforehand to have a visual guide according to your compass employed or to have some control over the times. When you insert a note, the slot will be colored in one color and will select the line that contains it. Repeat this same operation to make your composition. You can press and hold the [UP] or [DOWN] keys to raise or lower the selected line or click on the side columns of the roll with the mouse, thus avoiding modifying anything contained in the roll.

The insertion of a note implies the inclusion of the instrument value and the value of the volume. Use the vertical slider to the right of the lower virtual piano to assign the volume value. Similarly, you can set the instrument value below the joystick (Ins: XX). Remember that both values ​​are in hexadecimal notation. You can use the horizontal sliders in the right panel to modify the volume (velocity), panning, and delay of each note.

You can also avoid recording the volume (or velocity) value. Go to Renoise: Edit / Preferences / MIDI and in "Record & Play Filter" disable the "Velocities" option. In this way, it will only record the note value and instrument value.

Insert a note (from the roll or from the piano) or delete a note

To erase a note it is only necessary to click on the slot of the roll where it is located. In this way, this slot will no longer be colored. You can press the [DEL] key to delete the note of the selected line. With a little skill, you can make complex compositions very quickly. It is advisable to have a high-performance mouse with precise control. Do not fight with the touchpad of your laptop!

You can also insert notes with line break. To achieve this, first activate the "Jump Lines to LPB" line break switch. The jump made will be of the LPB value. For example, if the LPB value is 2, inserting a note immediately after will automatically jump 2 lines down. You can repeat the operation to maintain the same shooting distance of the inserted notes. The best way to do all this is using the lower virtual piano.

Insert notes with line break. Line break with LPB = 4 and using the lower virtual piano.

4.2. Duration of the note. Insert a note off (note-OFF). ▲

To insert a note off (note-OFF) from the mouse, press the note change button to note-OFF (black button status). Thus, you can add a note shutdown or simply delete any note already written in a slot.

The duration of the note, if applicable, will be determined from the beginning of the trigger note to the beginning of the note shutdown. You can delay one or both of them with the delay slider bars. Remember that a slot also has a duration, modifiable with the delay parameter (or "delay"). In the following example, the duration of the note D # (D sustained) is extended almost three times its initial duration. The initial duration would be 4 lines, while the final duration would correspond to 11 lines. Of course, the composer should also be guided by his ears.

Off note and duration of the note. Press the [A] key to change the newly inserted note to note off.

There is a trick to doing this much faster by combining the mouse and the keyboard. Without changing the note change button (non-black button status), insert a note with a simple click of the mouse. Then press the [A] or [CAPITAL] key, the uppercase lock key. In this way, the note of the selected line will change to note off. You can also stretch the length of the note "scrolling" and off note down. You can use the column of off notes always located to the left of the roll to insert or erase notes off.

Using these two keyboard commands you can also change any note to note off by first selecting the line that contains it, through the two perimeter columns of the roll.

4.3. Change tone a note. ▲

Changing the tone of a note is the easiest and fastest procedure that this tool can offer. Simply click on the slot of the desired tone and the note of that same line will move to that slot. Remember that the line (horizontally) distributes the tones.

Change tone a note. From B-4 to C-4 and then to D-3.

4.4. Change the shooting position of a note. ▲

Changing the shooting position of a random note on the roll requires at least two steps, inserting a new note of the same tone in the target slot and deleting the previous note. PRE does not allow drag and drop with the mouse. How to erase a note is very fast and direct, change your position is also.

The following example shows the change of the firing position of 2 notes. The first is a simple note, while the second is accompanied by a note off three lines below. Remember that you can press the [A] key to change a note to note off (black slot).

Change the shooting position of a note. Scrolls one note and another with note off.

Remember that you can also use the [UP] or [DOWN] keys to change the selected line and use the lower virtual keyboard with the mouse to insert the notes of the desired tone.

4.5. Modify volume, panning or delay values. Humanization of notes. ▲

You will have seen that, when inserting several notes, several horizontal sliders will appear in the right panel. Obviously, you must have the VOL, PAN and DLY panels activated beforehand. You can activate one or several when appropriate. These bars will only appear if there are associated notes or at least the corresponding parameter exists in the pattern editor. That line that is empty in the note column will not show these bars. If you want a more advanced edition, you must use the pattern editor.

Use these sliders to correct their volume, panning and delay parameters. Slide the bar to change the value or double click on the bar to eliminate the value (the bar will disappear).

Volume sliding bars, panning and delay.

Having these bars can visually help to understand the behavior of the notes, their punch, their position in space and their alteration over time. This is much harder to appreciate if you can only see hexadecimal parameter values. You can quickly vary the values ​​manually to emulate a deeper humanization, preventing the result from sounding too flat, too artificial or too humanized. Remember that you can press the [CTRL] key while sliding a slide bar to achieve a slower and more accurate scrolling.

5. Advanced edition: blocks or columns. The joystick.

PRE has several selection combinations for the advanced edition, with its virtues and limitations. Unlike other programs, it is not necessary to select an area with the mouse, it is enough to select a line within a block. Remember that you can change the number of lines per block from the LPB selector of the tool. Next, you can configure the following controls...

"Area Type" button. Edition "in block" or "in column".

The "Type of Area" switch button allows changing the selection area between a block or between an entire column. If it is "in block" (horizontal rectangle), it means that the joystick can modify all the lines contained in the block. Being "in block" implies having the pattern divided into equal slices, as many slices as blocks. You can jump between blocks simply by selecting any line within them.

If it is "in column" (vertical rectangle), it means that all the lines of the pattern will be modified, even if the whole pattern does not appear on the roll. Always keep this situation in mind.

This switch also serves as an area selector for the lower controls of the right panel VOL-PAN-DLY.

Center button of the joystick. Editing by a note column or all the note columns.

Observe the color of the joystick's central button. Combining with the previous control of the "Area Type", it is possible to select only the selected note column, or all the note columns, 12, of the selected track. To select a note column, use the colored buttons from 01 to 12. To set all the note columns, press the center joystick button so that no color appears. That is when it will be modified in all the note columns.

Once you have control of this entire selection system for this tool, you will find that it has certain limitations. To modify parameters more precisely, go to the pattern editor. Remember that the Piano Roll Editor is not designed to replace the Renoise pattern editor, but works as an editing and visualization support.

On the other hand, if you want to just modify lines, set the value of the LPB selector to 1. At all times it is a good exercise to observe what is happening in the pattern editor during these editing tasks with the tool.

5.1. Change the tone in block. ▲

First set the "Area Type" button to "in block" position. Afterwards, use the right or left arrows of the joystick to move the notes as a group. You can use the middle button to scroll only the selected note column or all the note columns. Note that editing will only affect the contained lines of the selected block. In the following example you will see that it is very easy to modify certain chords.

Change the tone in block. Move the block of a note column or the block of all note columns.

5.2. Change the tone in column. ▲

First set the "Area Type" button to the "in column" position. Afterwards, use the right or left arrows of the joystick to move the notes as a group. You can use the middle button to scroll only the selected note column or all the note columns. Note that the edit will affect the entire note column of the pattern (all its lines).

Change the tone in column. Move a note column or all note columns (even if they do not look whole).

5.3. Change the position in block. ▲

Changing the position of certain group notes can be a somewhat tricky edition, but it can be useful in certain cases. For example, if you play with the roll to insert some initial notes when beginning to compose in a pattern, it will be very easy to correct the shooting position in height of the notes to fit them better. You can also play with the delay parameter or "delay" if the resolution used is small (the playback of the pattern sequence is slow).

Since you have several blocks, that is, the pattern divided into slices you can move the notes within each block using the arrows above and below the joystick. If the block has few lines, it will be common to leave the block. If this is the case, the notes will be deleted. To recover them you can press the command [CTRL + Z].

Change the position in block.

5.4. Change the position in column. ▲

You can do the same procedure from the previous point, but changed "in column" instead of "in block". You can even duplicate a block if you wish. The result is that the joystick will modify the position of all the notes of the selected note column, or all the notes of all the note columns, depending on the state of the central button of the joystick. You can directly change this middle button with the [1] key.

Change the position in column. Move a note column or all note columns (even if they do not look whole)

Pay attention to the total number of lines of the pattern. The roll only shows 16 lines while the pattern has 4 times more. When you scroll down, you will see that no notes are deleted. The opposite happens if it exceeds the first line of the pattern, which is when the notes will be erased. At all times you must know what you are manipulating.

5.5 Modify volume, panning or delay values ​​in groups. ▲

Following the steps of the previous points again, it is possible to change the values ​​of the sliding bars "in block" or "in column", thanks to the "Type of Area" button. Look at the lower controls of the right panel VOL-PAN-DLY. Click or hold the "-" or "+" buttons with the mouse to decrease or increase the group values, whether the area selection mode is "in block" or "in column". You can press any of the "CLR" buttons to reset the values ​​of the sliders to 0.

Pay attention. In the following example, if the area selection mode is "in block", these lower controls will only change a slide bar, since the selected block contains only one bar (LPB = 2). You will realize that it would be a bit absurd to use the value of LPB = 1. If necessary, increase this value to increase the number of lines in block. For example, a pattern of 64 lines could divide it into 2 slices of 32 lines (LPB = 32).

Note that all the value boxes, including those of the sliding bars, accept the change of value manually. All these values ​​are in hexadecimal notation.

Modify volume, panning or delay values ​​in groups.

On the other hand, you can use the lower boxes to change the values ​​of the sliding bars equally. These boxes of values ​​show the value in hexadecimal, as well as its equivalent in percentage. At the moment, there is no way of advanced editing to create ramps or apply some kind of automatic humanization. You can use the Renoise controls for these purposes. Remember that anything related that changes in Renoise, will appear updated in real time in this tool if it is activated (power button "ON").

5.6. Cut, copy and paste blocks of tracks. ▲

PRE also has its own internal clipboard to cut, copy or paste blocks of tracks. You can use the 4 Renoise clipboards for this kind of operations at the same time from the pattern editor. The 3 control buttons are located above the lower virtual piano. Remember to select the block you want to edit first, selecting any of the lines contained in it inside the selected track.

Buttons to cut, copy and paste blocks.

You can use the usual commands to cut [CTRL + X], copy [CTRL + C] and paste [CTRL + V]. If you cut by mistake and want to recover a previous step, you can use the [CTRL + Z] command. You can also use [CTRL + Y] to advance a step if it exists. Keep in mind that all the parameters within each block will be copied, including the effect parameters. The composer will be able to use the virtues of the Renoise pattern matrix to copy, clone or erase entire patterns, and be more surgical using the PRE with its available blocks.

6. Lower virtual piano. Mapping the MIDI input.

6.1. MIDI mapping of the lower virtual piano. ▲

Unlike the upper mirror piano, the lower virtual piano allows MIDI input mapping on all its keys, the 120, plus the vertical volume slide bar on the right. To map it, you need to access Renoise and press the "MIDI MAP" button on the top bar, or press [CTRL + M]. Then navigate to the following address: "Tools / Piano Roll Editor". There you can modify all the keys and the volume slider one by one.

Access to the Renoise MIDI input configuration. Press [CTRL + M] with Renoise in the foreground.

The final look after the MIDI mapping is finished is like the following example. Keep in mind that Renoise's default skin is displayed. If you use another custom-looking theme, the colors shown will probably be different.

This example links each key tone exactly to its corresponding MIDI physical keyboard. Since the composer is most likely to use a keyboard with less than 10 octaves, you should be able to change the octave range of your keyboard to map the 10 octaves. Keep in mind that it is possible to map some keys and not others, or use different MIDI devices (for example, several physical MIDI keyboards) to map all the keys.

View of the mapping of the MIDI input of the virtual piano already mapped.

In addition to mapping the lower virtual piano, it is possible to map with the same MIDI controller device other controls available in Renoise, combining them both. After completing the mapping, be sure to save your XRNM mapping file in a secure folder. So, later you can load that mapping into another song when necessary. Also know that if you save a song with that mapping, the data from this mapping will also be saved in the XRNS song. That is, if he loads that song again days later, the mapping he used will continue in it.

Go to the Preferences window of the tool and press the button with a folder that contains the letter "M". A folder containing an example MIDI input mapping file XRNM, valid for the MIDI MIDI keyboard Launchkey 61 of Novation, will be invoked. Actually, this is an XML file. You can change the extension of this file to XML to view the saved data. Make a copy if necessary each time you handle these files.

6.2. MIDI Input: Velocity ​​setting (volume). ▲

PRE has 2 ways to control the volume of the notes for live recording or simple editing. For simple editing with the mouse, you can use the volume vertical scroll bar to the right of the lower virtual piano to set the volume value of the note.

Volume bar with switch for the sensitivity of the pulsation velocity.

You will see that the bar is accompanied by a switch with a plug. If this switch is on, it means that the velocity sensitivity of the linked MIDI device is activated, and therefore the volume slider will be ignored. Thus, when you press a key on your physical piano or a pad on your MIDI pad that is sensitive to the beat rate, PRE will interpret velocity-sensitive volume values. Please make sure that your connected MIDI device is sensitive to velocity. Use the mouse or the MIDI controller to control the volume values ​​of the notes to be inserted or edited.

To assign a MIDI device, go to the PRE Preferences panel and in the "MIDI In Velocity Control" section assign a velocity-sensitive MIDI device: a USB MIDI controller with a piano or a USB MIDI pad.

Preferences in PRE. MIDI device configuration for sensitivity to the velocity of pulsation.

Remember that, if there is no MIDI device assigned, PRE will take the last velocity value that remembers the last device used to set the volume. You can reuse the volume slide bar by turning off the power switch. Similarly, remember that once the notes are inserted, you can edit the volume value with precision of each note through the horizontal sliders in the right panel.

If you do not want to record the volume value, be sure to turn off the "Velocities" function in "Record & Play Filter" in the MIDI settings of the Renoise preferences. Then each note will take the maximum volume, equivalent to the value 7F.

Preferences in Renoise. Deactivation of the option "Velocities".

PRE is not compatible with polyphonic aftertouch. Any aftertouch shipment will be ignored. You can see all velocity activity or even aftertouch in the "MIDI" tab and "Monitor" of Renoise. You may even notice if your device is highly sensitive or not at the velocity of pulsation. The "Velocities" option affects all MIDI devices linked in slots A through D.

6.3. Live recording of the notes with the MIDI input. ▲

Thanks to having already established the mapping of the MIDI input, you can use the live recording with your USB MIDI keyboard or PAD MIDI, using PRE as "bridge link", sending messages in real time through the OSC protocol.

Live recording with the playback of the active sequence. Insertion of a chord.

The previous example shows the action of inserting a chord of 3 notes with the live recording and with the NC mode activated and with the switch showing multiple note columns activated. You will see that all the notes of the chord are recorded with the delay value at the moment of being pressed with the keys of the MIDI piano, as well as the note offings when the keys are released. You can record any melody, however complex it may be, even during the whole tour of the song.

If you do not want to capture the shutdown of each note (the note-OFF), go to "Preferences" of Renoise and in "MIDI / Record & Play Filter" deactivate the option of "Note Offs".

7. Keyboard commands. Navigation, control and editing.

PRE also has its own keyboard commands, more than 40 available. Most of them replace a mouse click on a specific control, such as a button, or a switch. To use these keyboard commands it is necessary to have the PRE window or its Preferences window in the foreground. If you want to use the Renoise keyboard commands, you must put it in the foreground.

Key commands. Go to the "Preferences" window of the PRE and click on the "Keyboard Commands" tab.

As you will see, most of the necessary controls are available. In this way, the composer can combine the USB keyboard commands with the power of the mouse. For example, use the F1 to F12 keys to switch between note columns of the selected track or press [PAUSE] to close the note columns or columns of unused (empty) effects. Use [TAB] or [SHIFT + TAB] to switch between tracks or [CTRL UP] and [CTRL DOWN] to switch between patterns. Read keyboard commands carefully and learn them with practice.

Pay attention. Know that all functions that are invoked from these keyboard commands are in the tool, not in Renoise. For example, if something went wrong, something that should never happen, it would usually be the tool's fault, not Renoise's.

On the other hand, to close the window of the tool, the key [<], not modifiable, is assigned. However, to invoke the PRE window it is necessary for the composer to manually enable a specific keyboard command not used for anything else. Please go to "Renoise: Preferences / Keys: Global / Tools / Piano Roll Editor". If you wish, you can assign the suggested [<] key again, which is usually free. In this way, you can press this key to open or close the tool window as many times as you want. Remember that the act of "opening the window" implies putting it in the foreground, and "closing the window" implies putting the Renoise window in the foreground.

At this point, reflect a little. Take care to understand all the control capabilities with the mouse, those of the keyboard commands, as well as all the control possibilities of the MIDI input. With all this, you will be able to control this tool skillfully.

8. Preferences: 'OSC Server', timers and colors.

8.1. Configuration of the "OSC Server". ▲

Although this section should probably be in the first place in the guide, it is worth extending a bit about it, since it is usually a sea of ​​initial doubts.

You can refer to the Renoise User Manual where it describes what the OSC protocol is and how to configure it. Please inform yourself and understand what it means to use the OSC in Renoise.

Open Sound Control uses the Renoise OSC server that receives data and an OSC client, responsible for sending data. To configure it you must do 2 steps:

1. Go to "Renoise: Preferences / OSC" and activate "Enable Server". Use the "Udp" protocol and a port, for example "8000". In this way Renoise acts as an OSC receiver server, as a listener, ready to receive incoming data, messages.



Preferences in Renoise. OSC configuration.

2. Go to "PRE: Preferences / OSC" and enter a value of "IP Server", by default "127.0.0.1" and the same port "8000". Thus, PRE can send messages through OSC for Renoise to interpret them.



Preferences in PRE. OSC configuration.

It is possible to use an IP between "127.0.0.1" and "127.255.255.255" and a port between "1" and "9999", generally a port higher than "1024" is used, by default "8000". In this way, PRE will send data to the Renoise OSC server through the selected port. If you have problems with the port, change it in both steps to "8001" for example. The "Udp" protocol is always used because of its high transfer rate and stability.

Pay attention. If OSC is not configured correctly, PRE can not send messages through this protocol and, consequently, Renoise will not be able to interpret them. This means that PRE can not record or edit notes or make them sound, giving the feeling that something does not work, when what happens is that it is not properly configured. Please be sure to perform both steps correctly.

With correctly configured OSC, PRE will use real-time note triggering and shutdown messages, such as "renoise / trigger / note_on" or "renoise / trigger / note_off", among other messages. These messages will edit the notes in the Renoise pattern editor and cause them to sound if they have a loaded instrument associated with those notes.

8.2. The timers. ▲

PRE has a couple of configurable settings from the preferences window. On the one hand, you can adjust the update or refresh time of the roll, "Refresh the roll panel", between a range of 10 to 500 milliseconds (50 ms by default). This is controlled from an internal timer. The lower this value is, the faster the information displayed by the roll will be updated (its colored slots and those that do not). To get an idea, PRE is optimized to work at all times with 120 slots per line and up to 512 lines per pattern, which is a total of 61440 slots of notes.

Preferences in PRE. Setting the roll update time and the scroll speed of the joystick.

PRE also allows you to configure the repetition time of the joystick movement, through the "Repeat time joystick". By default it is in 80 milliseconds, which is a reasonable rate. You can change it between a range of 20 to 200 milliseconds.

Finally, remember that you can configure the value of the "Range scope TR", when using the TR mode. This configuration is recommended to set it to a fixed value and not to modify it repeatedly. This way you will remember at all times how many tracks you want to show. Remember that the selection of the center track is "the guide" that commands over all the others.

These three value settings are stored internally in the tool, even if you close your Renoise session. When reopening Renoise, these configuration values ​​will be remembered.

8.3. Colors of the tracks. ▲

It is possible to load a previously song composed with Renoise whose RGB colors of the tracks are too dark. This means that the note slots are not well appreciated when using the TR mode. With the following panel it is possible to correct the brightness of these colors...

Rectification panel of the RGB color of the tracks.

With this panel it is possible to correct the dark color in several ways, either by changing the color of all the tracks, in group or in the selected track. Press or press and hold the - or + buttons to decrease or increase the RGB color values. On the other hand, if there is a track that has a color too similar to another, you can rectify one of them directly. It is designed so that the essence of the original color is not lost. For more specific cases, you can modify the entire color of each track from Renoise. Remember that for the PRE it is advisable to use distinguishable and vivid colors on the tracks, since with the TR mode the note slots depend on these colors.

9. Advanced editing operations.

PRE also includes a small battery of functions for advanced editing operations for the pattern editor and for the automation editor. These functions are accessible by means of modules or small panels separated from each other. Invoke the preferences window and click on the "Advanced Operations" tab to access it. In this way, the composer can use the piano roll to edit through it or use in parallel all these editing controls, most of them destined to modify parameters in groups.

"Advanced Operations" window. For the pattern editor and the automation editor...

In the following list are named the capabilities of this battery of functions:

• Copy of pattern-track to left or right. Remember that a "pattern-track" is equivalent to a slot in the pattern matrix. It implies the overwriting of the parameters.
• Track cloning to the right, with or without parameters included.
• Copy of note column left or right. It implies the overwriting of the parameters.
• "Instrument" button to substitute the value of the instrument. Pre-select a slot in the instrument box and a selection area in the lower selector (line, note column, pattern-track or selection area with the mouse).
• Transposition of notes with a range of ± 24 semitones (± 2 octaves). Pre-select a selection area (line, note column, pattern-track or selection area with the mouse).
• Modification of parameters, for volume, panning or delay. Pre-select a selection area (line, note column, pattern-track or selection area with the mouse).
• Autosequence capability ("Auto" button). While activated, it will automatically insert a new empty pattern always at the end of the sequence. The new pattern inserted will take the number of lines from its previous pattern.
• Cloning of the sequence in a range between 1 and 32.
• Automation slopes for each pattern. It allows to generate slopes and curves of 2 points per pattern-track for a selectable range of up to 64 pattern-tracks, or else the entire track. This module is experimental. You can try to generate curves with it for very specific cases that encompass many contiguous track patterns at the same time.

10. Author's notes. Brief history of the Piano Roll Editor.

Perhaps this section is the most curious of this guide, and it leaves a bit of this theme, but will help to understand why or the purpose of this program of editing and viewing notes...

My stage name is "ulneiz", music composer and programmer. You can see part of my activity in the Renoise forums. Look for me there. I always like to know how software programs are born, so for that reason I added this section. I have been experimenting with the Renoise API for over two years and at the same time learning more and more about the LUA programming language. Although Renoise, and its API, do not have the necessary updates that I would like, it is true that it has a whole sea of ​​capabilities, perhaps not very well known. Anybody with specific programming knowledge will be able to expand the capabilities of this DAW with the use of well-developed tools, a great feature denied in most digital audio work stations, very closed and purely commercial programs, and that make Renoise a DAW very special and valuable, even now that we are about to enter 2020. Decades are happening, guys!

Getting to decide to invest time and effort in the creation of a tool of this caliber has been something very thoughtful and certainly conditioned to a previous process of self-learning and study, continuous trial and error and much, much patience and effort. I am very aware of how difficult it is to get to this point. Very few do.

PRE is the result of an "always present lack of information" at the time of "understanding" and visualizing the notes with Renoise. And encouraging yourself to work on it is very frustrating and exhausting when you notice that Renoise has hardly any support. Fortunately, at least there are Renoise forums for, let's say, work as a corner of consultations.

The great advantage of a piano roll is not its "editing ability", which can be more or less hard, flexible or advanced, but its "extensive monitoring of the notes". Please, make an effort and forget for a moment "the edition of notes" and only attend to the graphic aspect. Being able to see in two dimensions the shooting position and tone of the notes is fundamental for those melodic composers who need to imagine the notes not only in a plane, but also in space, inside their head. As much as we intend to defend trackers as musical composition programs, they are all "a little chaos" in the order of the tone of the notes. A simple "roll", more than a complete "piano roll", allows to arrange the notes so that the composer does not use only the ear, but also the view. This provides the ability to compose without hearing anything, being a clear example of something that can "be substitute" for a musical score, very valid for composers with strong multitasking capabilities.

In the Renoise forums there is an exclusive forum dedicated to the "Piano Roll". This forum has been set since the end of 2002, almost since Renoise was born. Since then, I have not really seen any creation, or anything similar that can be proven or felt that was born there, beyond the will of some colleagues, the desire of many others and the complaints of others who are not able to see beyond.

However, it was not until I finished the first version of this tool that I decided to read a large part of that forum dedicated to the "Piano Roll". I did not want to have any kind of influence on the programming process, so I could start the canvas completely blank. Indeed, the intelligent human being usually thinks similar things, and many of my efforts agree with part of what in this forum was discussed many years ago. However, the focus of my own creation of a Piano Roll is slightly different, partly due to certain limitations of the Renoise API, certain limitations inherent to it as a programmer and for pure design. For that reason, I have chosen "to use the vertical distribution" and not the horizontal one, and at the same time I have chosen "not to invade the roll slots more than necessary".

You will see that, with the PRE, it is not possible to lengthen the notes to mark their duration with a rectangle, but you can only mark their firing position and, if applicable, their stop position with note off. This seems not to make much sense in other DAWs that have a piano roll, it is very important if the base, that is, where you get the information from the notes, is a tracker, and more if it is a complex tracker like Renoise. This theme was the concrete trigger for which I decided to commit myself to create this practical tool. In this way, the roll will be able to show much more information, when the notes of many tracks are visualized, and also of many note columns. It is not about copying what already exists in other places, but to find a solution that helps in the continuous tasks that make up the whole process of musical composition. Has it been worth it to invest so much time and effort to create this tool? Well, I've done it for fun and passion. Use it as you wish, dear composers.

Finally, I can only leave the door ajar to future updates of the Renoise software for possible improvements or adaptations of the PRE and hope that all those composers and music fans who want a Piano Roll for Renoise will find a new program in PRE with which to have fun...