Renoise is a complete music composition and production environment based on the design principles of the module tracker. The basic tracker design has been modernized to today’s standards and expanded with support for effect and instrument plugins, audio recording, MIDI I/O and parameter automation.

You will find that Renoise reflects the things you love about Linux. The level of control over your music, the way you can enter notes directly with the keyboard instead of having to draw blocks — similar to having a plethora of configuration options at your fingertips and equivalent to the joy of piping commands in the bash shell. It all boils down to potential and workflow.

For an outsider’s impression, read the review and Starters Guide by Linux audio veteran Dave Phillips from Linux Journal.

The Renoise developers want the Linux version of their program to be fully functional and without grievous problems or difficulties. As far as I can tell they haven’t rushed the production of the Linux version of Renoise, and their diligence shows in the overall polish to the package. The program installed easily, configures itself, and runs beautifully on both my 32-bit JAD system and my 64 Studio box.

– Dave Phillips, Linux Journal

Renoise 1.9.1 for Linux contains the following exclusive features:

• ALSA support (for Audio and MIDI)
• JACK Audio support (optional)
• LADSPA support (native Linux audio plugins)
• Native Linux VST support

More Linux specific features, such as Jack Transport, are already in consideration for future updates.

We tried to make the installation process non-existent, and in most cases we have actually succeeded; just a matter of decompressing the archive. Consult the Linux FAQ if you run into problems anyway. You can also visit the Renoise forum to present us your questions, experiences and suggestions.

Another aspect of Renoise that is becoming increasingly important, is that user files and clipboard data have an open file format. This allows for 3rd party tools to interact with that format. A recent addition is the Renoise Track Generator.

Renoise 1.9.1 Download Links

If you like to create on music on the computer and are fed up with endlessly mousing around in most DAWs, give Renoise a try. Available for Windows, Mac and from now on, Linux.

• Renoise 1.9.1 Demo
• Registered users: Renoise 1.9.1 Full

The demo version is fully functional, except for .WAV export on all platforms. Additionally, ASIO support is disabled in the Windows version. Registration costs 49.99 Euro. You will receive updates for a full version cycle (eg. 1.9 to 2.9).

As the number of bug reports diminishes the Final release is not far off. Stability has priority right now. Much wanted features such as Jack Transport support and 64-bit builds have been planned for upcoming major Renoise updates, that is, Renoise 2.0 and onwards. As there are no more minor updates in the pipeline, if you think there are still some bugs to be fixed or things to be changed, now is the time to speak up. Anything that misses the 1.9.1 Final release will have to wait for Renoise 2.0.

There has been some interest in VST technology for Linux. Renoise supports native Linux VSTs out of the box, but unfortunately there are not a lot of them available. Some people have tried to emulate Windows VSTs with WINE. For the adventurous Linux user, here is a guide: How To Use Native Windows VSTs in Linux.

New in Renoise 1.9.1 Release Candidate 1 for Linux:

• A new option in the Misc/VST properties pane to toggle longer names for the LADSPA and VST plugins. This option is enabled by default.
• All bugs labeled [fixed rc1] have been fixed. See Linux Bug Forum.

Note: Renoise might scan some of your installed VST/LADSPA plugins on the first start after installing this update. This happens because the format of the VST/LADSPA cache has changed. The scanning does not cause any trouble and is intended behavior.

To help you get Renoise up and running on your Linux box, there is a Linux FAQ.
You can also visit the Linux forum section for all your questions, experiences and suggestions.

Renoise 1.9.1 Download Links

If you got this far, you might as well download this music production suite and give it a whirl. Comes in three great tastes: Windows, Mac and Linux.

• Renoise 1.9.1 Demo
• Registered users: Renoise 1.9.1 Full

The demo version is fully functional, except for .WAV export on all platforms. Additionally, ASIO support is disabled in the Windows version. Registration costs 49.99 Euro. You will receive updates for a full version cycle (eg. 1.9 to 2.9).

Let’s start at the technical beginning. How did you get into tracking music on computers?
Kind of chance I guess… a boring summer, an internet connection and I knew about modules. I had this friend. Once, I came to play at his home and he made me listen to some modules. I didn’t care back then about composing, I was just listening at them. Then, summer 99, I had nothing to do at home, decided to download a soundtracker.
So we’re talking Impulse Tracker?
Well, for me its been IT2 for some months then FT2 then going back on IT2 :)… IT2 at first looked scary to me, but then, I noticed that it2 > ft2. (anyone can say so… its something well known even if some others wont admit it)

Did making the switch to Renoise open the creative floodgates for you?
Hmm not necessarily. You know the deal - when you’re used to make music in ONE AND ONLY application, it’s getting hard to switch to an other one. I was so much used to IT2 than anything looking differently was a mess to master. I had to figure things out… struggle with it. But then, after that, the possibility to use VSTs opened gates to me. Weirdly, it also gave me headaches
Too many choices?
Yes, that too.

Was most of this album made on Renoise?
All composed in renoise 1.2 (no, not kidding, 1.2).
So that’s a while back now, 2004?
Indeed.

Renoise was somewhat ‘young’ back then, still morphing into the stable machinery we have now. Did you find any limitations working to your favor?
At that very moment, not at all… how could I’ve been finding them? I mean… I had new things to discover: synthesis, “mastering”…

Was the music heavily produced, or was it something that flowed out easy for you?
Well, I have to explain the situation back then. I was living far from my girlfriend, far from my family… Well.. Not so far. But, far enough not to be able to see them when I wanted too. And I had this job, working as an architectural modeler… With heavy hours… So each moments I was feeling “okay”, I was making music. Some beers helped me a bit. I can’t really remember if it flowed that easily. I remember I was in front of my keyboard, making the bleeps
So it was more of a slower sporadic cathartic process?
Indeed. Completly cathartic. Thats when I started to express my sadness through a “fake joy”, if I can put it that way…

Musically speaking the speaking the album has a lot of delicate ’small’ sounds on it, was this a conscious choice in honoring the tracking heritage?
Actually, no. An old habit To make everything out of small pieces. Of course - it comes from the tracking heritage! But it’s not made to honor it.
More of an efficiency thing?
Just an old habit

Stylistically your music has had the tag ‘naive’ put to it, and it certainly seems to be the case here on this album. What’s this whole ‘naive’ thing about for you?
It’s about a different way to compose music, just not formatted to be “mainstreamly accepted”. Working on progressive ideas…

Why pink?
Because it’s the best color to express the “naive feeling” ? Because it’s cute… Because I like pink …and why not afterall?

I’ve heard people refer to your music using that troublesome genre name of IDM. Most artists who get this description tend to be dismissive of it. Is this something you’ve had to deal with in sharing this music?
Everyday. I just somehow hate it to be considered as IDM.

There’s a tasteful sprinkling of glitched percussion throughout the album. Unfortunately, many of the enthusiasts who collect non-mainstream music move in collective taste fads. Glitch as a sonic element seemed to be very fresh and prevalent around the turn of the century, but now people are moving back into nostalgic revisions and mutations, for example breakcore and dubstep. Is this a concern for you?
Well, the glitch comes from the tiny pieces of sounds. (explain more your question plz :D)
Well I’m trying to imagine people listening to this for the first time, and it would be a shame if I saw people going ‘ah this is glitchy, I’m so over glitch’.
AH yeah, these people. If they enjoy following whats “fresh” and “not fresh”.
Does that bother you?
Of course it does. I can’t understand people who are just not considering a moment - it’s MUSIC AFTERALL. A music is not GOOD because its ACTUAL. Its GOOD because IT IS. For example, breakcore is old as hell. So what? They should be over it as well. But NO, someone said its fresh so now, it’s fresh again. And maybe glitch will be fresh again in 2 years. To be said - it’s not really important.

Why has it taken so long to get this work out there?
You mean, to get this album released?
Yeah.
Ho well, regarding the name of the album - it wasn’t making sense if it had been released right after I finished it - it had to get older… Ok. I’m lying The label is having trouble to see its path through this hard world that is the music scene. The label owner, Vincent, is a great guy… He’s believing in any of the artists of Apegenine, but it doesn’t mean people will follow. And thats great, he wants to release the music he likes and not the music that will be liked! But so what? You have to find money, make choices… Some releases had to be released before mine… It’s like that
So you were OK with waiting?
I was.

Would you change the album at all now if given the chance? Or does it hold up for you still?
This album is about my life at this very moment. If my life had been happier during the making of it, it wouldn’t have sound the same. I caught a moment, expressed it. Somehow, my music changed, but its still “about myself”.

In recent years the industry has been undergoing challenges to the old established system of making money. Do you think going with a Label still has good opportunities for an artist starting out?
Many people are confounding labels and majors. A label is a label is a label. I see it as a family. You make the opportunities… The problem is more on the audience side.

Do you think people are still interested in CDs?
Are people still interested in vinyls? NES? Old computers It’s fetishism. I know many people who still are enjoying buying an object.

A lot of your music is freely available online, including newer music that has an ‘updated sound’ to it compared to your album. Is this part of the marketing of Kaneel, or an unavoidable necessity that every artist faces these days?
Yes, it’s marketing. I’m releasing my music for free because it makes me look cool and generous. Because people nowadays tend to think that musicians doing glitch are not GENEROUS. Because they make their music weird so only esthet are listening and understanding it. (:DDDDDDDD°

Speaking of self promotion, it seems you’ve either actively or inadvertently made a minor celebrity of yourself in the Renoise community via some rather entertaining YouTube videos. Additionally you’ve been sporting an alter-ego named Monsieur Baguette who has a tongue-in-cheek breakcore comedic mission with a string of free releases. Has this all been a ‘bit of fun’ or part of a larger artistic plan?
“Bit of fun.” …Related to the Renoise irc channel. I had to do it

Where do you see yourself headed with your music now?
Completly nowhere of course. That’s frustrating. But it also opens a door. I’m free to do whatever I want with my music and whatever moves I want to promote it, make it evolve. So at the moment, I don’t have any label commitments, I AM FREE… (whoohooo)

Speaking of Labels, I see you have started your own - Petite & Jolie. This seems to be continuing the ‘naive’ theme but with other people’s music. What’s going on here?
That I want to make evolve as half-a-label/half-a-netlabel… Petite&Jolie is born in my head years ago. At first I wanted to make a compilation only about cute music, naive music. Pink? Kindergarten even… Anything that could be “CUTE”. But eventually it was aborted. And years after, it has relaunched as a netlabel, just because I think it was somehow “lacking”.
Is it going as planned?
It is. We got supporters, some reviews - we even made it on phlow (the official netlabel magazine) while it was our first release. So yeah, it’s going as planned, even better

What’s your message to the world?
Hmmm, there is this message on my website: “Make it happen, make it last, make it work and appreciate this moment because it’s already time to go back to real life work…” I want to remain young, as us all. But real life is trying to get me back to it. So I have to remain a kid inside my head and still, accept the real life how it is, be mature.
Duality.
Yap. You know I suffer from that

Anything I missed?
A beer.
* mr_mark_dollin slings kaneel a Fosters.
Ho and the veggie bbq.
Absolutely!

—

Get your copy of “I’ve Sketched It A While Ago” here.

As a Linux user you may come to appreciate Renoise’s hands-on and fundamental approach to music production. For those on other platforms, now is the chance to experience Renoise on the operating system that has become famous for its flexibility and stability.

The Linux version includes the following features:

• ALSA support (for Audio and MIDI)
• JACK Audio support (optional)
• LADSPA support (native Linux audio plugins)
• Native Linux VST support

To help you get Renoise up and running on your Linux box, there is a Linux FAQ.
You can also visit the Linux forum section for all your questions, experiences and suggestions.

Highlights of 1.9.1

Besides being a maintenance release, this update contains the following new features for all platforms:

Freeform waveform drawing in the Sample Editor

Doodling has never been this much fun before. With the drawing feature you can edit out pops and clicks from existing samples and even create completely new samples from scratch.

Enhanced undo functionality in the Sample Editor

The drawing feature made it necessary to implement a faster and smarter kind of undo. The improved undo tracks changes in a way that allows for better performance.

Info tool for VST and LADSPA effects

The info tool shows detailed information from the plugin. The reported value of the processing latency can be used to manually apply corrections in a sample editor or in combination with PDC plugins.

For the remaining list of features and changes, please refer to:

• Release Info
• Changelog

Renoise 1.9.1 Download Links

If you got this far, you might as well download this music production suite and give it a whirl. Comes in three great tastes: Windows, Mac and Linux.

• Renoise 1.9.1 Demo
• Registered users: Renoise 1.9.1 Full

The demo version is fully functional, except for .WAV export on all platforms. Additionally, ASIO support is disabled in the Windows version. Registration costs 49.99 Euro. You will receive updates for a full version cycle (eg. 1.9 to 2.9).

Linux’s official mascotte wearing a Renoise tattoo can mean only one thing. Hm. Yes indeed, Renoise has been ported to Linux!

To help you get up and running with Renoise for Linux, we have prepared a FAQ. We also have set up a forum section for all your questions, experiences and suggestions.

But that’s not all. This update also contains a number of new features and fixes for the Windows and Mac versions.

New in 1.9.1 Beta 1

(Release Info)

• New feature: freeform waveform drawing in the Sample Editor
• Enhanced undo functionality in the Sample Editor
• Faster drag ‘n’ drop behavior in the Pattern Editor
• Added a “Record dry” switch to the Sample Editor Recording dialog
• Added “Clear Muted Tracks/Columns” actions
• Faster rescanning in the Disk Browser
• Added an info tool for VST / LADSPA effects
• Fixed all bugs reported in the Bug Report forum

Download

If you are a registered user you can download Renoise 1.9.1 Beta 1, including the Linux port, from Renoise Backstage.