Hi TSC, this thread has been quite for a bit, but I thought I'd jump in anyways. I don't know much about Renoise and Guru, getting started with it for the GenMDM also. But as I understand from the docs, you can't use the automation with Guru; you can use it to do setup and I think manual changes. It seems geared towards sending the initial setup to sound modules.
As far as in-song changes, I think the only tool is the Instr Midi control Meta device but I think you are right that you would have to embed CC values within the tracks.  With a VSTi you can use the Instr Automaton Meta device to send parameters to a CC#.
  I don't know a lot about it, but it seem to me that Renoise is very sample-centric, and not too MIDI friendly, so I'm feeling that Aly James' VSTi/Midi tool is the best way to handle the GenMDM outside the Ableton world.
Of course Little Scale has  some Max/MSP stand alone patches that you can use with the free Max runtime. I really like what I've seen of Renoise but I'm just starting to dig into it, so hey, I may be all wrong.

It would be possible to build something using the Guru tool.

http://www.renoise.com/tools/guru

I was going to take a shot at this based off the max4live  editor.

But don't wait for me to do it.

Not to be impatient or anything.

Well in all fairness, he did say it would be many months before he could integrate. Part of me doesn't really want to wait that long.

aw man

This is exactly what I was asking about. I'll be sure to purchase whenever this becomes available.

Amazing work!

Hi TSC, I am actually working on a YM2612 FM VST 32BIT WIN (with many additions..) with a nice GUI and it will also be useful to control a GENMDM via MIDI and...store patches. http://youtu.be/nxAKR9f437w
That way you could have many instruments per track/channel and change at will with simple program change events...
I have not yet a GENMDM (wait for second round delivery ^^) and I think I will have to wait many months before I could fully integrate it.
The only thing I need to ask Seb is how many CC parameters I could send at once to the teensy the obvious reason is patch recall.
++ AJ

I've been tinkering with a GenMDM/Renoise combo in the little free time I have and I'm not sure I'm fully understanding the relation of sounds to MIDI channels. I understand *how* the chip is setup and I understand *how* FM synthesis works. In the context of Renoise/patch recall, I'm lost. It doesn't help that things have been pretty Ableton Live specific thus far.

Full disclosure: I may be a newb.

I use the native "Instr. MIDI Control" track function in Renoise to edit my patch, and it's great, but this is where it gets a little confusing. The Instr. MIDI Control function is tied to a Renoise track, but will not work until you have an assigned instrument, which needs to be assigned to a MIDI channel This would be fine if I only wanted as many instruments as channels were available on the GenMDM, but when I'm looking to trigger percussive synth lines/drums at high speeds, I'm left with two tracks and lag.

Can you only realistically have one patch/sound per GenMDM MIDI channel?

Regarding multiple drum sounds on one track: Is this possible only by sending a bunch of split-second, automated CC messages before the notes?

Is there any possible way to just use something like Guru or the Instr. MIDI Control function to create sounds/patches via MIDI and save the data into the standard instrument slots for recall, similar to how any tracker natively handles samples? I know I could sit there for an hour and type out all the MIDI CC commands by hand in the pattern's command line, but that's not very intuitive. Those days are behind me anyway.

I understand this is all beyond the scope of GenMDM, and more of a MIDI CC/sound module question, but it's definitely something I'm stuck with regardless.