Renoise for Mac 3.1.0

Overview

Renoise is a powerful and affordable Digital Audio Workstation (DAW for short) that gives you the ability to create, edit and render audio tracks with its countless tools. It has plugin support, a sampler editor for editing your samples, a pattern matrix for easier viewing of your audio patterns, many audio effects, mixer, spectrum analyzer and many, many other features and tools that place it in the top ranks of DAW software.

Installation

Run the installer and follow the instructions to start installing the program. At some point you will be asked if you want to associate certain file types with Renoise (.RNS, .XRNS, .XRNI, .XRNT and .XRNX). After selecting the ones you want associated, the main installation will begin.

No malware or any other kinds of software are included in the package.

Supported operating systems are Windows XP (SP2), Vista and 7. There are two versions of Renoise, one for 32 and one for 64-bit systems.

Interface

It has a dark interface with small fonts to save valuable space in the window, since there are a lot of options and panels in there. The window is split into 3 main parts, the upper frame, the middle frame and the lower frame. The upper frame consists of the Main Menu, Player Control Panel, Disk Browser & Scopes, Buttons for Screen Layout Operation and Instrument Selector. Middle frame has the Pattern Sequencer, Pattern Matrix, Pattern Editor, Mixer, Sample Keyzones and Sample Editor, whilst the low frame has Track DSPs, Automation, Instrument Settings and Song Settings windows. These are the main features of the program displayed in the window.

Pros

There is VST, AU, LADSPA and DSSI plugin support, which of course couldn’t be missing.

With the sampler editor you can edit your samples without having to use external software. In addition, there are more than 26 native effects included (reverb, delay, filters, compressors, EQ, distortion, flanger, phaser etc.). The automation feature will allow you to graphically handle parameters for more efficient results.

All you need to control the program is a keyboard. Everything can be controlled via keyboard commands, which can also be re-assigned to better suit your needs.

Renoise makes full use of your computer’s power since it has multi-core support. This way the program will work smoother and you’ll be able to perform actions that require more system resources.

The spectrum analyzer displays the frequencies in your music tracks so that you can compare them and come to useful conclusions.

Cons

Nothing came up during our tests.

Alternatives

Many other DAWs exist, and it’s mainly up to the user’s personal preference to decide which one to use. In fact, no rule forbids the use of multiple software at the same time. So here are a few other alternatives to consider getting: Cubase (paid), Ableton Live (paid), Reason (paid) and FL Studio (paid).

Conclusion

It’s an exceptional program really, with no cons and an unlimited amount of features and tools. It is highly recommended, however a test-drive is the best thing to do before approving/rejecting it for your own needs.