Who are you and where are you from?

My name is Lauri Saine and I’m a musician from Finland. I currently live in the capital, Helsinki.

So your moniker Saine is actually your real name?

Yup it’s my surname, I remember just sticking with it for the simplicity, after figuring some more techy name alternatives might eventually turn out to be cheesy.

A lot of the music on your latest album sounds like it’s played live rather than sequenced – a case in point being the piano piece After What Seemed Like Forever – is that the case?

Yes that theme is 90% improvised live during one misty spring night/morning, although usually it’s a combination of both. Many of my tracks are 90% programmed as well and often the live-sounding things can have quite a bit of different takes and sequencing behind them. Also I don’t have the skills to just press record and spontaneously get to a finished result in one go, so I do edits afterwards. I like combining improvised, experimental things with surgically programmed elements and see how they work together.

Long Time No See by Saine

I think it’d be safe to assume that most Renoise users are not proficient instrumentalists, but rather more technically-minded music producers. How do you find working with live recordings in Renoise, as it’s not traditionally seen as one of its strengths?

A good question. For me personally, working mostly with shorter recorded clips and loads of them, it works well. I don’t end up with a messy audio pool filled with oddly named, often unneeded temporary clips taking up HD-space. Instead I get to keep the project neat and organized while I’m doing recordings and all the relevant files stay within reach. The way I look at it, there’s not a big difference between a live recording and other types of musical elements. Take sampling for instance: it often falls somewhere in-between to begin with, and I like to treat them as equal building blocks for new music.

If we were talking about regular multitrack sessions with a band where the drums alone can have a dozen mics, a traditional piano roll sequencer would surely suit the purpose better. For me as a sample-focused musician though, it’s way faster to work with a tracker interface, allowing me to visually line up all notes next to each other, while having the track commands and built-in audio editor/recorder near at all times. I do lots of spontaneous recording from anywhere I can think of, so it’s good to have these tools close by.

While a traditional piano roll view suits the recording of simultaneous tracks and moving these large chunks of audio around, working with shorter samples, it’s a different story – trying out combinations of different pitches and timings, it’s important to see those building blocks from different tracks constantly in front of you. Using Renoise I don’t have to think about how to overcome limitations such as not being able to put several different audio samples on top of each other on the same track at different pitches, giving each sample individual volume envelopes etc. Of course you can always find alternate routes for this type of thing, but instead of seconds it will take minutes – a lifetime when the inspiration is hitting and you just need to audition several different approaches quickly.

Pretty much any software can do amazing things in the right hands of course, but a comfortable workflow really makes a huge difference in terms of creativity. A lot of people are scared of the matrix-like tracker interface and I bet it can look intimidating at first, but to me it just means less annoying windows and not having to switch back and forth between tracks and views all the time.

How did you find out about Renoise and what attracted you to it in the first place?

I remember stumbling upon a screenshot around 2003 and got interested. I think there was a competition going on for the name of the software. I had used MadTracker for a couple of years. It was fast and stable, but seeing it fade away and become old-fashioned at the time, I started to do things with sequencers such as Logic Audio and Cubase. I was unable to find my comfort-zone though, even though these are powerful pieces of software. Again, these were great for some purposes or working with MIDI, but sessions often required a scary amount of setting up so you could no longer begin making music in an instant, templates or not. Everything was dependent on strict folder structures so projects were no longer easy to move around and every little thing seemed to require quite a bit of zooming views in and out, opening and closing windows.

So eventually I felt like that interface was initially built for different working methods. FastTracker II was my first love around 1995 so Renoise basically felt like going back home. The home was now pimped out with goodies like VST support, so it fit like a glowe.

The album is very organic-sounding, and despite the range of styles on offer, sounds very coherent. Do you have any special tricks in terms of post-processing to achieve that coherency?

When I first started sketching how this album ought to sound and feel like, I laid down certain guidelines for myself regarding processing. I was aiming for a dusty, nostalgic feel without ending up too retro/gimmicky and also maintain a sort of sparkling/fresh vibe in between. The album doesn’t have featuring artists or vocalists so I wanted to have enough “room” to maneuver between these realms soundwise – to make sure I’d get enough variation between tracks.

For some elements throughout the whole album, I used similar processing chains and techniques. Like with transients and exciters for drums, I used pretty much the same tools throughout the album – the sample material I used varies quite a lot between tracks so I figured this might glue it all together a bit. The album was mastered by Fabien Schivre, which also plays a part in the coherent end result. He really “got” the idea I was after very quickly and helped create a dynamic, creamy tone for it. We both agreed on dynamics before loudness.

I believe these subtleties of sound are an important thing, not mere nitpicking – and also a part of the actual creative process. A good dish wouldn’t work with the wrong seasoning. It’s all a “work in progress” for me of course when it comes to sound/mixing, and there are always so many things to improve on, but that’s what makes it so much fun.

Do you use any hardware or outboard gear or is everything done on the computer? And in more general terms, do you prefer working with software or hardware?

I use some hardware yes, but mostly I work in a small, budget homestudio with not that much gear. The reason is purely financial. I use a tube stereo compressor/eq frequently, some effect pedals here and there, running VSTi’s through c-cassette and such. Sometimes I like to record samples with a mic through vintage speakers, small things like that. But these depend on the situation and sometimes the simple approaches work best. Overall I believe people often focus too much on the gear used and specifically whether it’s expensive, street credible gear or not.

Of course it can be important to work with proper equipment and to have good AD/DA converters, good speakers etc – but in the end it’s still a relatively small fraction of the whole picture so one should at least not spend more time on that than on the actual music! It’s possible to get incredibly nice sound from just software alone, with a bit of enthusiasm – just like it is possible to make amazing things with say, nothing but a worn-out guitar.

I think it’s generally a good idea to embrace both side-by-side and just use what feels good – at least it would seem very silly to leave the other out completely, as both have their unique plus sides. An increasing amount of albums are being made completely in-the-box and the results can be incredibly good, even warm/analogue sounding. But I am a fan of the 60′s/70′s sound and it is still quite rare to hear that level of dynamics/warmth in electronic music. So if it wasn’t so expensive, I would definitely get some hardware gear around here, no doubt. Plugins are also getting better and better at an incredibly fast rate, though. Whatever suits your music best, I say.

I keep finding myself back in the 90′s when listening to your album, both April and Jetpack have a definite St. Germain or mid-90′s French deep house flavour to them, and in other places there’s quite a Mo Wax feel. Are these conscious influences and is this a period you feel some affinity with?

It’s nice you picked that out! The mentioned were some the most powerful sources of inspiration when I was first starting out, as well as mid-90′s hiphop. That era is when I got into this thing, so I guess it’s unavoidable that fractions of it remain. With basses especially, I wanted to get that fluffy roundness, especially on those beat-focused tracks. I like to keep a little bit of distance to the very trendiest and freshest things that are going on, they seem to fade out as quickly as they appeared.

Yes, you definitely nailed that bassy, murky, thuddy roundness that’s so characteristic of those records. How do you feel about the current climate for the type of music you produce?

Apparently these more “mellow” styles which I guess my music more or less represents, haven’t been very trendy the recent years, compared to more aggressive/masculine styles of electronic music. Perhaps due to the overload of triphop/nu-jazz after the turn of the millennium, they are often associated with cheesy elevator music. Which is funny if you think about it – a lot of that “powerful” stuff is cheesy as hell just the same, but you get away with it: it’s loud and impressive for a while. Long enough to move on to the next. This might be changing as we speak, though. I might be wrong but this whole techno/dubstep/grime cocktail does seem to have similarities to the drum and bass scene a little more than a decade ago: burning the candle at both ends leaves few surprises to expect. Still, let all flowers bloom, of course!

On the one hand we’re living in great times now, virtually anyone can get their music heard and have access to the tools and there’s always a very colourful spectrum of new music appearing in some corner of the world, it’s unbelievable really. On the other hand there’s so much of it now – the rate of new releases appearing is evergrowing while the attention span of the average, overworked person is that of a hummingbird, I sometimes feel like people don’t have the energy to really focus on things anymore. In my case I sometimes feel it leads to all the “bright” things that shout for attention getting noticed in an instant, while things that might require a bit more settling into, often end up being completely lost at sea. Like you observe a traffic sign each day on your way to work, but never once stop to look at the beautiful tree behind it.

Ah well, making music for the sake of music is more and more exciting by the year, I don’t seem to get bored of it, but in terms of really getting it out there or ever earning a dime for it, things are looking gloomy as ever. Overall I try not to think about that too much now hehe…

A good attitude to have. To finish off with, who would you say have been your biggest musical influences? Those artists that you keep coming back to over the years and that have meant a lot to you.

Such a tough question each time, from among a whole lot of different acts I’ll just say A Tribe Called Quest. I remember being really impressed by the way they used samples, back when I was 15 or something, and I still find myself going back to their records every now and then. Certainly an influence.

For more info on Saine, check out his website at www.sainemusic.com. The vinyl edition of Long Time No See can be ordered from cymbidium.highwire.com, and the digital edition is available from all the usual outlets.

Where does the name Hitori Tori come from?

Well, it’s a long story but I’ll try and keep it brief. In the late 1990′s my friend and I formed a tracker-based electronic band called finch. After producing numerous albums together, which we never released, we abandoned the project and I moved to Japan. I was producing a lot of music alone at the time and really needed an artist name for my solo stuff. Maybe something in Japanese? Maybe another bird reference? So, I chose hitori (which means alone) and tori (which means bird). Hitori Tori. This name just made sense to me at the time.

Can you tell us a bit about the Ohm Controller that you’re using?

The Ohm64 is made by a small company in Texas called Livid Instruments. I discovered it online while looking for something tactile to control multiple instances of Renoise. I had been using a smaller controller made by another company, but I couldn’t take myself very seriously when playing a live show with it – especially since its components kept breaking. From what I could tell, the Ohm64 looked pretty reliable and sturdy. I also wanted potentiometers that were not infinity knobs – because those can be problematic in certain situations. The Ohm64 is an easily programmable blank slate, and I guess that’s what attracted me to it.

What exactly do you assign the grid buttons to? Are they always set to trigger different patterns in Renoise?

In my current set-up the grid buttons are assigned to do either of 2 things. 1) To select patterns in the Renoise song sequence (usually containing offset sample elements), or 2) to juggle short vocal samples in the background while Renoise is playing, using a Max MSP application called mlr. In the latter case I typically assign all the samples to the same group; allowing for more random style cut-ups.

How do you handle multiple Renoise instances and how do you separate the MIDI messages going to the different instances?

Once assigned, the mappings stay locked to the songs. MIDI communicates with all Renoise instances simultaneously and there aren’t any issues of conflict that I’m aware of. Incidentally yesterday I had seven instances of the Renoise application open at once and everything was just fine.

Once you’ve made a new track, how much preparation do you need to do before being able to perform a live set like the ones in your videos? In other words, how big is the step from finished Renoise track to live-performable Renoise track?

Actually, the funny thing is, it feels like less work is needed. I needn’t even finish the songs before performing these live sets. I usually play unfinished songs and just blend them into each other. If you’re like me, you’ve got hundreds of these ‘almost complete’ songs just sitting on your hard-drive that you don’t know what the hell to do with. Well, why not mix them into other unfinished songs and give them a better life, you know – instead of just letting them gather dust. Most of the tracks in my videos are incomplete sketches of songs mixed together to make complete songs. I just spend about five minutes before hand mapping out some faders and effect parameters, hit record on a video camera and then try to do everything in one take.

You seem to use different skins to colour code your Renoise instances. Do specific colours correspond to specific musical elements?

The different colours are used to help emphasize the different instances. That’s all – they’re purely aesthetic. For me those colours do not have any real relevance to song syntax. Perhaps for someone with visual synesthesia there are some deeper connotations.

All your projects seem to scroll by at a furious speed. What’s wrong with a nice and steady 4 LPB?

Well, I do like to be quite close to the canvas when I’m working on a track. After I get a basic workflow going, I’ll speed the song up drastically. It’s sort of like increasing the resolution of the track so that you can fit lots of tight edits into your patterns.

I’m finding myself less and less conscious of the speed I’m working at these days, but one thing’s for sure – my tracks keep getting faster. Speed! It’s like some weird addiction spiraling out of control. Maybe seeing those little numbers traveling upwards on the screen at that speed stimulates a part of the brain associated with visual processing and pleasure? I don’t know. Well, whatever the reason, the dizzying tempo helps me to stay on task and complete songs faster.

How did you first find out about Renoise?

For quite a few years I was running a sound tracker called Player Pro 5.9 on my Mac. This tracker was good, but had very limited tech support and eventually died a horrible death in 2002. Then I remembered my friend Dac telling me about a fast tracker type clone that was under development. He said that it would soon to be ported to Mac. I kept my eyes on the Renoise website and when the first version became available I downloaded it. I’ve been using it ever since.

What are your thoughts in general about using Renoise as a live tool?

Using Renoise as a live tool is getting easier by the day. I use it to DJ my tracker files. I like being able to drop out the drums in one track and mix in the drums of another. It’s certainly a step up from just mixing one stereo track into another one. Of course I’m personally waiting for the day that a proper XRNS file mixing app or console gets invented. I mean it’s not exactly practical having 10 instances of Renoise open simultaneously for your live set, but it’s definitely manageable.

While some creative thinking is involved, creative tweaking in Renoise is usually implemented pretty easily. The developers have made everything so intuitive and simple. I’ve never felt frustrated with mapping anything. I just push command ‘m’ and assign. By comparison, I was using the latest version of a popular DJ mixing program the other day and was totally put off by how outrageously annoying the MIDI configuration set-up screen was. I felt totally restricted. I couldn’t even use some features of this DJ program because only ‘sponsored’ controllers were allowed to use those MIDI assignments. Sponsored controllers only?! Ha. Ridiculous. Makes me proud to support companies like Renoise that are not exclusive to particular brands.

Did the 2.6 release with the new scripting support influence the way you use Renoise with the Ohm?

No. But, I think I’m heading in a different direction right now. We’ll see.

I like the Bird of the week feature of your blog. So, as a final question: what’s your favourite bird?

The Tawny Owl. Because it lurks ominously.

Lately we’ve been spoiled with elaborate plugins, unlimited channels and an ever more powerful growing CPU. At the cost of the true ninja tracker spirit.

So here’s a competition in honor of the tracker legacy. We’d like you to create a kick-ass song, using computer resources as efficiently as possible. In fact, you will need to optimize the hell out of your song if you want to win the grand prize: an Indamixx Netbook

To enter this competition, go to Create Digital Music.

Deadline: October 15

We’ll launch a public upload, comment and voting system soon.

Michael W Dean and Chris Caulder have put together useful free resource that beginner Renoise-users should have a browse through. Although there no references specifically to Renoise, many of the general production approaches apply. In particular, there are helpful sections explaining the ins and outs of computer hardware, as well as useful tips on establishing a web-presence to promote your newly created works.

So if you’re starting to get the knack of Renoise, but want to know what else you need to be looking at, this is a good place to start.

What do writers, gamers and trackers have in common?

You type so fast that you hold the keys before they appear on screen. The word “the” is so common, you simply press all three keys are pressed at once. But what happens with lenghtier words? BEEP!

Or imagine, your rocket launcher refuses to fire because you are doing a diagonal doublejump in a First Person Shooter. It could mean the end of your virtual life.

No full n-key rollover == anger

And you probably have noticed chord playing does not always go smoothly with the pc keyboard: when you play some chords, some notes are missing. This specific example was brought up in the forum topic Playing Chords.

In summary: certain combinations of keys are blocked. Specific groups of people experience that same problem. But is the software to blame, or the hardware?

Hold e-r-x-c

If you have no idea what I am talking about, imagine being able to press at most one key at a time. That is what it means for a keyboard to have no “rollover”.

Try entering different combinations of alphanumeric keys in the textbox, like r-y-u and e-r-x-c. All keys have to be pressed at the exact same moment.

Keys accepted:

A good keyboard with a so-called full n-key rollover should allow you to enter all keys simultaneously.

What is causing keys to be blocked?

In the days of old (the digital world is moving fast), each key press was interpreted independently. Regardless of the number of keys pressed, all keys would have been accepted in the correct order. This property is called full n-key rollover.

Key rollovers come in various types. Full n-key rollover is the least restrictive type: each key has dedicated electronics. Alpha n-key rollover refers to alphanumeric, which includes all letters and numbers. The “n-key” part means that any number of keys can be pressed simultaneously.

Full n-key rollover keyboards are nowadays hard to find. Over the course of years, keyboard manufacturers have sought to simplify the keyboard design. They save $0.07 per key by replacing the individual diodes of each key with a matrix of key switches. The simplified design allows only the most frequently used key combos.

Modern keyboard, including those expensive multimedia keyboards, are typically 3-key rollovers. Some manufacturers advertise the shortcoming as a feature, eg. “Phantom Key Surpression”.

Where can I get a full n-key rollover keyboard?

Relatively few people need more than a 3-key rollover keyboard, so we can skip all mainstream keyboards. We will have to move on to niche markets.

Gaming keyboards cost more than $100. Usually too big and bloated for tracking. On the other hand, manufacturers will think twice selling crap to (semi-)pro gamers. They risk upsetting the complete gaming community.

• Razer Tarantula10-key “anti-ghosting”
• Logitech G15/G11 Full n-key (Update: 6-key + modifier)(Update 2: no rollover at all?!)

Office keyboards. Really, I expected more from this category. Aren’t professional writers annoyed with 3-key rollovers? And what about braillists, who need at least a 6-key rollover?

• Fujitsu-Siemens KBPC PX
  Stopped being full-n key in 2004.
• IBM Model M (Update: rollover may vary per series)
  This rarity is the cream of the crops, because/but it clicks very loudly.
• Cherry G81-8308
  Alpha n-key. Expensive, about $140!
• Das Keyboard
  A modern reincarnation of the IBM Model M, $129. The Ultimate version has blank keys
• Majestouch Tactile Touch NKRO
  USB keyboard with 6-key rolloever; full n-key rollover when connected through PS/2
• Happy Hacking Keyboard
  Minimalistic 60 key layout. Sexy. Built-in USB hub. And a maximalistic price.

All keyboards listed are supposed to have full n-key rollover. Do not take my word for it and do your own research. Having experienced myself, “should” does not equal “is”. When purchasing a keyboard, make sure you can return it.

If you can suggest me any interesting keyboards, I will list them here.

Pitfalls

• A PS/2 to USB converter may not be able to handle the required data throughput.
• The type number does not guarantee that every product bearing it is the same. Specifications change occasionally and may very per region.
• Data sheets do not necessarily match the actual specifications.
• Customer support people do not know, nor care. They will sell you a 3-key for a full n-key. Yes, I am still bitter.

In the end, we are still looking for a cheap full n-key rollover keyboard with a USB connector. Perhaps a business opportunity?

Update

The USB protocol limits the n-key rollover to a maximum of 6. There are now some USB keyboards that are capable of full n-key rollover, but only when the PS/2 adapter is used. Check out EliteKeyboards, they sell the Majestouch Tactile Touch NKRO, and Happy Hacking Keyboards.