renoise 2.6 with lua scripting

MichaelBenjamin · 6 Nov 2010

heres more information about it from the script readme:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- What can be 'scripted', what can't? What is all this scripting about? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right now (in this Renoise release), you can make use of scripts in the following places:

- Run scripts and commands via a terminal in realtime using the "Scripting Console & Editor". This is what enabling "--scripting-dev" will do and how you will start getting into all this.

- Create tools: Add new and custom functionality to Renoise. Tools are small file bundles with one or more Lua scripts and a description file (manifest.xml) that make use of the Renoise API; described below. Such tools can be distributed and installed via drag and drop (by bundling them and hiding the code). This way not only developers can use them, but also those who don't want to mess around with the technical details. We'll describe those bundles later on in detail.

Some examples of what you can do with Renoise tools:

+ New context menu entries and keyboard shortcuts (think "My Improved Pattern Jump", "My Bypass all DSP Devices in Track", "My Generate Chip Sound Sample" commands and so on). A similar concept to the extensions in Mozilla's Firefox.

+ Custom graphical user interface elements with the look and feel of Renoise itself. Perfectly integrate your tools with Renoise and make them easy to use for others too.

+ Manipulate the Renoise main window or the song (patterns, tracks, instruments, anything that makes up a song). Generate, filter, or process song data in any way you can think of, e.g. for algorithmic composition, instrument creation, automation etc. The sky is the limit.

+ Nibbles 😉

- MIDI controller scripting: create bidirectional MIDI or OSC implementations for any controller hardware:

Make your Launchpad behave and do exactly what you want it to do, and share your settings with others. Such tools can be a simple auto mapping of your MIDI controller, like support for Mackie Control, Behringer MIDI Mixers and so on without having to "map" anything manually in Renoise -> plug and play. Create MIDI mappings or an OSC implementation the way you need it for live sessions or other needs.

To make this easier, Renoise offers you a tool called "Duplex", which already has support for the Launchpad and some other MIDI controllers. Duplex is a very flexible, object-oriented approach to handling MIDI controllers in Renoise, and also offers virtual UIs for the MIDI controllers that are supported by Duplex. This way you can virtually test and use such controllers in Renoise without owning the real ones. 😉

You don't have to use Duplex to write MIDI controller scripts in Renoise, but it already offers a lot of tools that will make this easier.

- Create, configure, or override Renoise's default MIDI, OSC bindings: Renoise has a default set of MIDI mappings that can be assigned manually by the user. This set can be extended and tweaked to fit your needs, then via the MIDI Mapping Dialog in Renoise used and mapped as usual. Renoise also has a default OSC implementation which you can tweak and override to do "your stuff."

What you can *NOT* do with Renoise tools:

+ Change Renoise's existing behavior. Like, you can not make all C-4s in the pattern editor yellow instead of white. You can write your own pattern editor, but not change the existing one.

+ Realtime access. Except the OSC and MIDI IO stuff, you can not write scripts that run in the audio player. So you can not script your own new realtime DSP - yet. But you can, for example, write a tool that creates samples or manipulates existing samples. This limitation might change in the future. For now you can make a VST or AudioUnit or LADSPA/DSSI plugin.