Renoise DAW integrates lua engine w/ Tidal notation

"Renoise is back with features like a phrase scripting engine powered by the new open-source pattrns (with Tidal notation support)" via https://cdm.link/renoise-3-5-phrase-scripting/

https://github.com/renoise/pattrns

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Fyi there is an online playground as well for trying out scripts;

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I got so pumped when I saw this, Tidal and Renoise (/ MilkyTracker) are prob the two pieces of software that changed the way I make music :')

I rly hope they develop more bridging between the two... Imagine live coding in hex format, or controlling Renoise w OSC / MIDI from Tidal? (The later may be possible already)

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Yeah, it's pretty cool.
With Tidal I felt always a bit disconnected with my DAW, and even though the current script implementation in Renoise is rather limited, the direct integration and the Lua support makes it quite interesting still.
Here is a link to the cycles mini notation implementation: Cycles - pattrns
Although I currently tend a bit more towards the verbose Lua notation, since it's easier to read and a bit more flexible - not quite as well suited to live coding though.

But I totally love to see live coding and direct scripting implemented in a DAW and hope this will become a trend.
Would be amazing in Bitwig for instance... :slight_smile:

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Honestly, congratulations to Alex for making something so awesome that others are finding ways to incorporate it in their own software.

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Despite the headline this isn't Tidal, it just implements some aspects of the mini-notation with some reference to strudel.

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Which headline?

I've not used Renoise in the past. I purchased. Slight learning curve in general to make sure anything I'd need is available.

I have one question, I see the reference to it's Lua scripting for Tools. I'm more curious about what various parameters are. Going through examples in phrases does show interesting different values you can change, but I can't find an existing list of props available. I don't need a Lua lesson, just what makes sense to control from a Phrase Script.

Also, another promising huge chunk of work is the VST plugin from @tristanC at Pluguzu TristanCacqueray/pluguzu: A CLever Audio Plug-in to run TidalCycles inside a Digital Audio Workstation. - Codeberg.org.

However, I only barely got it compiled for Mac and will try and make a more sanitized branch for the public in his repo. But it doesn't seem to work in Renoise (the editor does but doesn't drive anything for me), Ableton (recognizes the plugin but has an internal error), or even REAPER on mac for me. Bitwig works if you are recording a clip or track while using.

But this likely could be immense. Tidal in any daw track as a VST? Depends upon what you want to do I guess.

EDIT: Sorry, I was being an idiot about PATTRNS - the docs explain everything. I was thinking this was all in the Renoise API. My bad!

Thank you for giving pluguzu a try! I also think it's promising because it is a standalone plugin that should work on most platform/DAW, and it's free! Though you are right, I only use it on Linux with Carla/Ardour/REAPER, and it might need some minor tweaks to run elsewhere.

Pluguzu presently only uses MIDI output, and that might cause issues if the host expects audio in/out, so we might just need to add an audio pass through. The other issue might be related to handling text input: the host must allow forwarding all the keyboard inputs to the plugin. If that's not an option, we could read the Tidal code from the filesystem, and support editing through an external text editor.

Pluguzu uses the DPF - DISTRHO Plugin Framework which enables building CLAP/LV2/Jack standalone/VST/... though I'd be happy to consider another framework like JUICE if that works better. The integration code between the DAW and Tidal is rather small.

At some point, I'd like to figure out how to distribute the binary directly, so that one can simply download a pre-built pluguzu into their DAW.

Cheers,
-Tristan

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Unfortunately, Renoise lacks the elegance of Tidal. One of the main problems is that in some places there is a programmer's logic and not a musician's. a large number of brackets of different types and additional symbols is very confusing for any beginner

We should probably put this into the other thread you created originally. But I think you right about how each DAW treats the plugin. MIDI or Audio. I likely also don't know my renoise well enough yet, but inserting it where I can do it probably treating like an audio effect, not a midi trigger. Under the area of Renoise where I think you'd normally add the plugin, it isn't in the list - so must be some sort of 'type' involved. Still, it does load, you can type it seems to work for that portion, it's just not generating any events.

I can agree (to a degree). It sort of depends upon what you are doing. I have Tidal and Supercollider ability to route to a DAW for both MIDI and Audio. I also have it able to record multi-track wavs for stemming purposes. All of that works, but sometimes a DAW is just easier if you are actually producing or collaborating. I find Tidal (and Supercollider) difficult to compose in - at least to get the same results twice with different takes. I think having the ability to use the best of both in a DAW has some great potential. I don't mind Lua as I'm not 'live-coding' exactly.

But still nothing better than just raw text files either, so not disagreeing with you at all.

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I'm not trying to convince you of anything, this is just my experience. I love tidal cycles and the experience I get, it's quite possible that in the future these things will stop bothering me and will become part of the process.

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I hear you - I love Tidal just by itself and even after years haven't mastered it by any stretch. I always just want to make sure I can do more with post production and things as well. Composition is something I could get better at (meaning sequencing sections). I like live variance but need it tamed a bit.