Cells!

Cells! is an add-on for Renoise 2.8 that turns the cross-platform audio tracker into an real-time performance tool. It supports the triggering of audio loops and samples, complete with per track ‘DJ-style’ effects (bass kill, filter etc.) all quantized in time to the current tempo. It supports multiple outputs to separate the main playback output and cue output. Emphasis is strongly upon the live performance aspects.

Main Features

Realtime 'Granular' Timestretch

Cells! 2.0 allows realtime timestretch in a 'granular style'. This allows full independant control of both tempo and pitch while still keeping playback syncronised to the beat. Granular timestretch applies to samples which have both a beat sync value and autoseek enabled but beat sync is disabled.

Realtime 'Slice Based' Timestretch

Similar to the 'granular' timestretch, Cells! 2.0 adds support for sliced loops with independant tempo and pitch control. Each slice will be played back at the correct time to maintain the overall tempo of the entire loop. Slice-stretch applies to samples which are sliced. The length of the cell is assigned through the beat-sync value.

Pattern 'Riff' Storage and Playback

Cells! 2.0 allows you to quickly save individual pattern tracks as riffs for use live in Cells!. The riffs are stored in compressed format within the instrument itself, so you can quickly and easily save all samples, sample mappings and riffs self-contained within a single XRNI file. Note that any Renoise instrument is be supported. This means you should be able to send note riffs to external instruments or VSTi's.

Live Jamming Mode

For specific types of samples, Cells! 2.0 allows real-time 'live jamming' playback mode. Play your samples directly with either the mouse or a physical controller for improvising over your mixes to add that extra sparkle. Individual slices from sliced loops and plain one-shot samples can be played in 'live jamming' mode.

Bidirectional Controller Support

Cells! 2.0 now has it's own native controller framework. This allows full bidirectional support for supported hardware controllers. Livid Instruments Ohm64 and Novation Launchpad are available with the inital release.

MultiFX

Cells! 2.0 incorporates a simple 'DJ style' effects processor into the main UI. Effects supported are a low-pass filter, beat repeat, delay and phaser. All effects are controlled through simple common amount and rate controls. All time based effects are syncronised to the beat.

Sample Preparation Tools

Cells! 2.0 incorporates simple methods to quickly create and prepare samples for use. Both the sample editor and the sample list box contain a 'Cells! menu' from which the sample can easily assigned to a specific playback mode and length. A 'sample report' feature is also available which allows you to quickly identify how the selected sample will play within Cells! 2.0.

Additionally, Cells! 2.0 allows quick rendering of either entire patterns or specific tracks within patterns from your existing songs. Only the instrument of the first note within the pattern track will be saved. It will automatically assign the correct beat sync values even if the original song is not written at 4 LPB. All rendered samples will be contained within an 'Unsorted Cells! Renders' instrument within the song to easily allow saving of all samples to disk. This menu is present in the pattern editor context menu.

Multiplayer Networking (beta)

Cells! 2.0 has built in support for up to four machines to link together over a lan (via OSC) and keep in sync. Make huge mixes across multiple machines or get some friends around and all play together. Setup network connections on the master and ensure Renoise OSC servers are running on all machines.

Minor Features

• Variable channels from 4 to 16.
• Variable cells per channel from 4 to 16.
• Variable cell height and width (for touch screen usage).
• Automatic sample selection option (for waveform view in the sample editor).
• Safe cueing option to automatically mute cue output if set to the same as the main audio output.
• Single output mode (splits the audio so master output on one channel and cue output on the other).
• Slightly tweaked user interface to cater for the additional features.
• Better audio routing (A/B crossfader or crossfader bypass (M))
• Various other optimisations (too many to list)

There are many people I wish to thank who have assisted or supported Cells! during it's development. In no particular order: taktik, dblue, danoise, void pointer, miron_man, Peter Kirn, Livid Instruments and everyone on #renoise. Sorry if I have missed anyone.