Libraries & Presets

A library acts as a container for presets, stored in the file format .xrnl, which is easily installed via drag and drop. Once installed, the Library’s contents will be available to use through the preset menus, effect devices and Themes. Since a library’s contents can be many different things, the installer will helpfully tell you what was installed – whether it was a bunch of new instruments, some multi-sample presets, or perhaps a collection of effect chains.

You may find it useful to watch our video on this subject.

If you save one of your own presets, it’s stored in a special location – the User Library, which is found in the same folder as any installed Libraries. Since this is shared for Renoise and Redux, any preset from one can also be used in the other:

Windows: HOME/[My ]Documents/Renoise
macOS: HOME/Documents/Renoise
Linux: HOME/Renoise

Specific Preset Types

Instruments are constructed from a variety of parts: Phrases, Keyzones, Waveform, Modulation and Effects. Specific preset types for each of these sections are available from a drop-down menu at the top-right corner, where you can load, save, import and export. This allows an existing instrument to load the various presets into their specific sections without overwriting the whole instrument. A library can contain any of the file types associated with these sections:

Phrases - The Phrase Editor uses two different presets, depending on whether the selected phrase’s type is a Pattern or a Script:
- Phrase Pattern (.xrnz) - A ‘Pattern’ phrase is an .xml file describing the number of lines, columns and other settings – such as loop, tempo etc. – that make up a single phrase.
- Phrase Script (.lua) - A phrase 'Script' preset is simply a .lua file of the script itself.
Keyzones (.sfz) - This preset uses the open-source format of .sfz to store both the Keyzones data and all of an instrument’s samples. This provides access to a huge resource, since .sfz files created in external sources can be imported, and the popular Sound Font format .sf2 can be easily converted into .sfz – watch the ‘Keyzones’ video for more details.
Waveform (.flac) - Waveform presets are just individual samples stored as .flac files.
Modulation (.xrno) - A Modulation Set preset is an .xml file of the modulation envelopes built within the various sample domains: volume, panning, etc.
Effects (.xrnt) - An Effect Chain preset is an .xml file of the effect devices and parameter values that make up an effect chain. Note that although the preset menu is for Instruments, the effect chains are compatible with track effects.

A library can also contain two other file types:

Effect-Devices (.xrdp) - An Effect Device preset is an .xml file that defines the parameters of a single effect device. This can be any of the singular devices or particular combinations contained within a Doofer or Splitter.
Themes (.xrnc) - Themes are alternative visual styles for the interface and are stored as simple .xml files. New Themes can be created, or existing ones edited, in the Themes tab of the preferences menu.

XRNL Library Creation

The easiest way to build your own library is to create a copy of an existing user library, save presets to it from inside Renoise and then do the file/folder organisation externally.

Build The Collection

Libraries are laid out in the same way as the user library. For example, it might have the following structure:

+ Samples

+ Multi-Samples

+ Instruments

Note that these folders are created automatically as you save a preset. It's possible to move presets around or reorganise them into sub-folders, but this needs to be done from within your OS explorer/finder window. Any changes performed there will automatically be reflected in the Renoise user interface.

So, after a bit of customization your file structure might now look like this (with folders expanded):

+ Samples

- Ambience

- Channel

- Field Recordings

+ Multi-Samples

+ Instruments

- Synth

- Bass

+ FX

- Scifi

Add A Manifest

Once you feel the content is ready to be exported, add a manifest to the root folder (use a basic text editor such as Notepad and copy the following text as a starting point).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<RenoiseContentLibrary doc_version="0">
  <Id>org.username.examplepack</Id>
  <Name>Example Pack</Name>
  <Author>Username (plus email, link, whatever)</Author>
  <Version>1.0</Version>
  <Description>Amazing pack by username for Renoise+Redux</Description>
</RenoiseContentLibrary>

The only thing that is important to get right is the name - it needs to follow a certain naming convention, in the form `abc.def.ghi`. For example `com.renoise.elements` for one of our Renoise-published libraries, but you can use whatever name you like as long as it has those three parts.

By now the file structure might look like this:

+ Samples

+ Multi-Samples

+ Instruments

manifest.xml

You can even add additional files if you wish to - perhaps a PDF document or a 'readme'. These files will not be useful to Renoise, but will still be installed on the user's machine as part of the library.

Creating The Library File

Using a zip archive utility (on Windows, 7Zzip is recommended), you first compress the inside of the root folder, and then assign it the name provided in the manifest plus the Renoise library file extension .xrnl. So, in the case of our example pack, the file name would become `org.username.examplepack.xrnl`

Test Install

You can now install the library to check that everything has worked by simply dragging the file on top of the Renoise window. To install in Redux either drag the file on top of the plugin window or click the load button of the Preset Selector.

A successful install should result in a message like this:

Library 'xxx' was successfully installed.

It contains Instrument presets.

If the installer encountered a problem you will be provided with an error message containing information that will be useful in tracking down the problem.