Squarp Instruments Hapax Polychronic Performance Sequencer

[Vague_versatile]

I think by exporting midi sequences to your daw. Or directly sequencing Vst

[thetechnobear]

@pzoot

Looks like Hapax doesn’t have per track time signatures at this time, but it does have per track % elasticity, which in theory is more flexible if you have your percentages straight! Any experience with that to share with respect to the ease in creating polyrhythmic sequences?

Edit: also is track elastisticty currently a modulatable parameter?

yes, time sigs are on the project.

however, tracks can be different lengths, and zooms, and has a triplet editing mode…
so theres quite a bit of flexibility there too…and as you say, track elasticity (*)

honestly, I think squarp may have avoided this a bit… it caused no end of confusion on the Pyramid.
it was central to the pyramid, and for (made up stat) 90% of users it just got in the way.
(there are endless topics on this on the Squarp forum .!)

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(*) id have to double check, but as far as I remember, neither BPM not elasticity is modulatable.
Im not sure this would be practical … as the pattern sequencer can sync starting patterns (to beats/bars etc) … not sure how it would do that if the timing was (potentially) constantly changing…

[pzoot]

Sounds great! Thanks … triplet editing mode sounds very convenient too.

[thetechnobear]

@Maru

Hi all! So I used to do some hardware sequencing, but since I switched to doing a lot of stuff ITB I have pretty much done all sequencing on my laptop. But this sequencer looks soooo nice I am thinking about getting back into hardware sequencing lol.

A question for all of you though: how do you integrate your hardware sequencer into your setup if you also use a daw for the majority of your production? What is your workflow like?

honestly, what I tend to do is use the DAW as

• as an instrument (host)
• a tape recorder

so first thing is, I still use a lot of software instruments,
particular in the field of expressive controllers… since there are not many hardware synths supporting MPE, and frankly there are some awesome soft synths.
but also, because its just so convenient, cheaper than lots of synths!

so thats how I start off… I use Hapax for all sequencing , and generation ideas and patterns.
(I used to do this with the Pyramid as well, so thats not changed really)

I do this, as I just enjoy that process on hardware…

from there, when I want to actually record a performance I go one of two ways (both similar) , so ‘real time’

a) record audio stems
I used to just record audio stems in the DAW from the soft instruments and hardware I might be using
b) record midi (plus audio from hardware) stems
I’ve started to do this more, as I ‘trust’ the MPE recording more on daws these days.

frankly both approaches are similar, since I don’t start editing the midi at this stage.
really the only advantage of the midi approach, is I can alter instrument parameters in the DAW.

I guess overall the idea is to spend less time at the computer developing the idea, and just finish/polishing it.

[Zijnvelt]

Love the multiple projects, but it’s power depends on the gear you sequence. With Rytm it would be nice, but because the sample memory is so little I’m afraid I would run out of memory before I run out of projects. And loading a new project on Rytm defeats the purpose.

[blakewalt]

@thetechnobear

and zooms, and has a triplet editing mode…

is it like in the Hermod? triplet are really easy to do with this method.
The only thing that trips me up is that zooming changes the focus on the screen (and consequently, the highlighted pads move too) so when I edit a beat, I don’t know where I am anymore and need to move around to go back to where I was before zooming.

[Zijnvelt]

Also if you want to use a different drum on Rytm kit the project switching could be a pain cause loading project b will switch sounds on project a. Sorry not meant as a complaint towards Squarp, just thinking out loud how effective the feature is in a live setting with Elektron gear.

[thetechnobear]

@Zijnvelt Indeed, sometimes these things will just move the ‘problem’ area.
eg you can do program changes per pattern - but is your synth fast enough to really do this?

lol just need more gear

I will say having two projects has a few uses, you can also use it as a way to have 32 tracks, since both projects run simultaneously… and given multiple tracks can output to the same device, you can also use it to (kind of) more patterns.

I think this an exciting area… I think it won’t be long before we see musicians getting quite creative in this area.

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@blakewalt ,
yeah basically you activate triplet mode, and now the zooms are in base 3.
so iirc same as Hermod though, honestly, I don’t do much sequencing on Hermod, due to screen size, and it being in the rack … I tended to use the Pyramid, more comfortable being on the desk.

I know what you mean about loosing context for editing, Id say its easier on the Hapax, as the pads are showing more, and the right screen is showing notes and a box/window which shows you where the pads are focused.
also they have new viewing options … so it can do things like (optionally) page horizontally in ‘bars’ and scale views pages (vertically) in octaves.

of course, never going to be like editing on a large monitor/piano roll in daw, but given hardware etc, seems good to me.

[sir-vector]

Great, thanks for the opportunity!

Here’s my question:
The Hapax looks amazing and does a lot of things right in my book (eg different patterns per track, MPE, up to 32 bars). However, I’m pretty set on the Elektron-Style way of sequencing where you have the steps laid out in front of you and you press and hold a step and play a note on your midi keyboard to add that note incl. it’s velocity to the sequence. Do you know if Squarp is thinking about adding that functionality to the Hapax (as an alternative to the Piano-roll style sequencer layout)? Also would love to have Ableton Link support via USB cable but that’s not a deal-breaker.

Thanks!

[dokev]

Looks like I waited too long: sold out till June now At least there’ll be some good videos to watch soon

[badbass]

This is exactly how I use the Metropolix.

[Zijnvelt]

@thetechnobear

eg you can do program changes per pattern - but is your synth fast enough to really do this?

This is actually something I’ve had issues with in the past. I can’t remember it exactly and don’t know the exact definition of the thing that’s causing it, but iirc Elektron gear has a very specific way of wanting to receive program pattern changes. In my case this meant that my sequencer (Nerdseq) would have to play a pattern once before the Elektron device would switch.

[NickD]

I do enjoy using the Pyramid - the MIDI FX in particular are powerful and fun, and it looks like they’re expanding on those here (it’d be nice if some of the effort fed back into the Pyramid OS). I’m not sure I have a place for the Hapax myself - in this world of Cirklon shortages, and given the depth of the Pyramid, I’d be more tempted if they’d sacrificed a few buttons for a row of 16 encoders… But I think we can trust Squarp to have a consistent and well-designed interface that’s all their own, which is a valuable thing.

[blakewalt]

I’m fine with the small screen to enter beats in conjunction with the pads but the Hapax will indeed ease the editing process by a large margin! tempting, tempting…

[thetechnobear]

@sir-vector

However, I’m pretty set on the Elektron-Style way of sequencing where you have the steps laid out in front of you and you press and hold a step and play a note on your midi keyboard to add that note incl. it’s velocity to the sequence.

ok, so drum track (mode) do work like this… basically you have 8 lanes.

and they keyboard learn also works as you describe, also the way you change per step parameters is very elektron like

BUT as you say, in poly track mode, it then puts things into piano roll.
I guess, because for polyphonic tracks having multiple notes on ‘one line’ is not very useful.
… also bare in mind the hapax makes it much easier to have different note lengths/offsets.

so feels like that would be a step backwards…
but hey, Squarp are very open to suggestions… perhaps they could create a mono track?
(sorry, I don’t know if this has been already suggested or not)

one suggestion I have made to them is ‘note folding’
this is in some daws, where you only shows notes, that have been used… this I think would be very useful when you have smaller screens.

Ableton Link… yeah, though Im not sure its well defined how this works over non-network connections. as Ableton assumes it on the network, so you need some kind of ‘bridging app’ - no?

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@dokev

Looks like I waited too long: sold out till June now At least there’ll be some good videos to watch soon

oh no… I guess they only had limited stock
it does seem there has been a very good response… and Red Means Recording video is only going to make that worst

[bibenu]

@RabidMusic

Are they saying that it only has storage enough to store two projects?

I asked the same question above. I think it might have been less confusing if they’d called this feature ‘Dual Projects’ or something … because obviously I’m not the only one who thought “what ? only two projects ?”

[sir-vector]

Thanks for the answer!

Yeah, I can understand the usefulness of a piano roll if one sticks to a narrow range within one scale (eg classic house tracks that shift minor 7 chords a few steps up and down) but in my case that’s not really practical due to love for spread-chords across multiple scales. So the Elektron-way, while limiting in its own way, actually works the best for me (loved the Analog Key’s way of working where you press a step and assign notes while still having visual feedback via the LED’s above the keys).

True regarding Ableton Link - maybe a Wifi-Dongle via the USB host port would also work (though one would obviously need to sacrifice the USB host port for this).

Also, any information about how much power is transmitted through the USB host port (ie will it power my Blokas Midihub or Torso T1).

[thetechnobear]

@bibenu/@RabidMusic
projects are on SD card… so lots of projects can be stored.
just only two loaded/running

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@sir-vector

where you press a step and assign notes while still having visual feedback via the LED’s above the keys

so you can program chords this way using midi learn.

or you can program using their chord mode which is a fantastic way of introducing chord variation in. (basically has intervals , plus modifiers.

as for visual feedback, yeah, thats why Id like a fold notes mode for similar reason.

(oh, also if you are in Live view, and playing patterns , the pads will show up chords being played… and also chord name)

that said, the left display is showing multiple octaves at a time, it kind of does fold the octaves not in the ‘window’
basically there is a window on the left screen that shows what the pads are looking at.

also you have the harmonizer fx, which would allow you to program one note, then the ‘shifts’ from that note… so this would be pretty similar to octatrack.
AND that harmonizer parameters (so the note shifts) can be automated

you then also could follow that by the scaler fx to keep it in scale.

so there are ways

I think sequencers all have different workflows/designs , so theres always some adaptation in workflow… and I find often that change is inspiring, gets you to new places.
(or perhaps thats just my justification for having multiple sequencers )

[bibenu]

@thetechnobear

projects are on SD card… so lots of projects can be stored.
just only two loaded/running

I understand that, now. On the post you replied to, I was trying to make the point that because they called it ‘2 projects’ it leads to misunderstandings. If they’d called it ‘Dual Project’ or ‘project transition’ or something other than ‘2 projects’ it might have been less confusing.

[Smapti]

@HBIII

So you are saying you use an audio track to generate a CV clock signal in Bitiwg and use one of the audio outputs of your interface to pass it to the sequencer?

Yes, that’s correct. Doing it that way creates a tighter sync with daw audio.

@lostforwords

Looks like Hapax doesn’t have a CV clock out. The manual says to use one of the CV gate outputs meaning you sacrifice a CV gate just for clock sync.

I agree with Technobear – midi is fine for clock out (I use Poly 2 for clock distribution from Oxi One to modular). I don’t see this as a negative for Hapax.