Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A transmitter may transmit a payload in transmission to the base station in a wireless communications system. The transmitter may identify a payload to include in the transmission to the base station. The transmitter may determine to transmit the transmission using an orthogonal sequence codebook or a non-orthogonal sequence codebook, based on a size of the payload, a control message from the base station to the transmitter, or a combination of these. The transmitter may then transmit the transmission to the base station based on whether the transmission is to use the orthogonal sequence codebook or the non-orthogonal sequence codebook. The transmission may be a noncoherent transmission. The transmission may be an uplink control information transmission, an uplink data transmission, a downlink control information transmission, or a downlink data transmission.