A solid update for a great sequencer. Who needs a Cyrclon now?
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ohhh
Spent a bit more time with mine and itās a fine sequencer indeedā¦
Ableton/Elektron/deluge hybrid, canāt wait for more algos and midi fxā¦
Strongly considering picking one of these up when thereās a window of opportunity, had a couple of Qs though which maybe one of the users/insiders might be able to help me with.
First off, how close can you get to CC āparameter locksā on this thing? It seems to me that the relationship between automation lanes and midi clips is fairly similar to Ableton, can you write into an automation lane from the sequencer page in the same way you can with Push + Ableton? If not, are there any rumblings with Squarp about something like this coming in a future update?
Second, are you limited in the number of CC destinations per track? I couldnāt find anything in the manual that suggested you were (āunlimited automation lanesā per track makes me think Iām all good here), but it would be disappointing to find out I only had a 10 per track or something.
Instrument definitions with all CC available + some decent approximation of parameter locks + clip launching would make this pretty perfect for me, so fingers crossed. Just the inclusion of the negation of x:y conditional trig primitives is REALLY making me want this thing, I have no idea why Elektron havenāt delivered this in firmware updates to date.
Feel like placing an order today
Does anyone find the 8 patterns per track limiting? Or is there something I missed? Iām pretty sure itās latter though
Iād say that, while you canāt ālockā CCs on midi events, the relationship between the two is pretty tight.
I think the best way to describe the autom view of the HAPAX is as an āoverlayā on top of the step view. The step view is like your piano roll that shows all your midi events. The autom view is this same view, but with the MIDI events shown in a faded green and the automation lines in bright blue āon topā of them.
So in some ways, these two views are completely independent. Automation isnāt āattachedā in any way to the notes of the step view. Adding/removing notes wonāt affect automation, and changing automation wonāt change any notes entered.
But visually, because autom is overlaid on top of the piano roll, they are very related in that they have the same visual scale and you always see the one in the context of the other. So if you want expression to peak on a certain note, You always see both the expression level and that note to make sure thatās happening.
Sorry, Iām not familiar with the Push, but kind of, yes. From your sequencer page (called āstepā in HAPAX land), you can pull up the autom overlay momentarily by pressing and holding the autom button (instead of tapping it). Press the pad where you want the new automation level, then release the autom button. Youāll snap right back to the sequencer view.
Really nice for making quick edits (and this is true for all the colored buttons on the HAPAX interface. You can jump momentarily from any view to any view by holding that viewās button. Youāll snap back to where you were when you release it. Also good for quickly changing patterns or trying out some chords or whatever).
Not practically. I added 35 before I gave up. Of course, 35 lanes of continuous CC automation will clog up MIDI pretty fast, so there may be other considerations apart from the HAPAXās capabilities.
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Itās always on my mind, but I havenāt actually bumped my head against it yet (which means I should probably stop worrying about it). One thing Iāve found, quite apart from the 8 pattern limit, is if Iām writing something longer-form, I need to treat patterns as āsectionsā (intro, verse, etc) rather than as a sequence of 4-bar building blocks. 4-bar blocks work great for loop-based music, but for anything that would require arranging a bunch of blocks end-to-end in a āchainā, the HAPAX song mode gets unwieldy quick.
Normally Iām hesitant to work with section-long patterns because editing can be a chore, but the HAPAX is really great at this. Navigation in a pattern is quick. Selections make working with small groups of notes in a larger pattern easy. You can loop a pattern at arbitrary places, so playback of just the part you need to hear is a cinch.
All in all, Iāve learned to compose long stuff much closer to how I would in a DAW rather than in a groovebox. And itās rare in a DAW that I have more than 8 āsection markersā. Same with the HAPAX. It feels like it should be cramped, but in practice it hasnāt been for me.
And this isnāt to say that itās not good at the 4-bar loop stuff. All that clip-launching workflow is there and is great for that. Maybe 8 patterns is more of a limitation there? Similar to how 
do it, conditional events and fills can add a lot variation to a single pattern on the HAPAX. But I donāt know. Even without those tricks its rare I have more than 4ā6 patterns in a bank on a DT. Same with the HAPAX. But it could just be my music is pretty boring 
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Thanks, super helpful - esp the tidbit about temporarily bringing up the automation view. Sounds like a plock-ish enough thing, just one extra button to hold.
I guess when I mentioned having as many CC assignments as I like, I guess Iām thinking - am I in a situation like Octatrack where Iāve got 10 guys I can point at CC numbers, and if I want to switch that up I have to menu dive and config; or is it that when I set up an automation lane, I can just immediately select any CC from my instrument definition to go with. Itās a v subtle difference (probably nonexistent difference for most people) but itās mainly a workflow thing for me.
Edit: just read this back and itās basically nonsense, lol! What I mean really is - Iāve got some knobs at the top of Hapax that Iām gonna be setting automation with. Do I have banks of mappings for these (eg I can shift through them to have a knob for every CC number in principle) or are they a fixed assignment like in Octatrack that must be remapped?
Hmm. I think I understandā¦ but Iām going to be long winded to make sure I cover it 
The knobs at the top are rarely adjusting CC things (there is an exception that I list below). Usually theyāre controlling some parameters of the view youāre in. Like, in the āautomā view, the knobs are how you select and add automation lanes. In the āliveā view, they control the key, scale, and layout of the keyboard.
In the particular case of the āstepā view, the knobs on top control parameters of the notes entered ā pitch, velocity, length, microtiming, conditions. These particular parameters all act exactly like P-Locks. You can set them to what you want and then add a note and it will have those values. You can hold an already-added note and adjust them and just that note will have those values.
For values unrelated to notes, MIDI uses CC, NRPN, pitchbend, aftertouch, etc. All of these get recorded into automation lanes (one lane per type. So CC7, CC11, and aftertouch would each have their own lane for a total of 3 lanes). The āautomā view we discussed earlier is where you can view, enter, and edit things in these lanes.
But the āautomā view can only view/edit one lane at a time. So you can see your CC7 events or your CC11 events. Not both. Itās easy to switch between them (you donāt have to menu-dive, just scroll through an already-presented list), but you canāt edit them all at once, which can be a drag in a live setting.
So thereās one extra mode the HAPAX has called āASSIGNā. When in this mode, you can essentially ātake overā the top knobs and assign each to a different CC or NRPN or whatever. This will give you the simultaneous control over these values that you canāt get while editing them one-at-a-time in the āautomā view.
These assignments can be different for each track, but do not have banks of mappings that you can switch between within a given track. To change them, youād have to remap them by diving in a menu.
So normally, I have CCs I need live or simultaneous access to on ASSIGN (cutoff, resonance, sometimes volume and expression), but do everything else (pitchbend, reverb and delay send, etc.) via the āautomā view.
And it doesnāt have to be one or the other. Assigning a knob to a CC in ASSIGN mode just gives you a way to control that value. It still also has its own automation lane that you can view/edit via the āautomā view whenever you like.
I feel like this all sounds way more complicated than it actually is in practice. If you have an example workflow you want to know how it works, iām happy to put together an example that might answer all this better.
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A huge benefit to the Squarp vs Electron approach to automation is you can easily find and change just the parameter you want. On an electron one you record some automation in you end up with Trigless Trigs all over your pattern and any editing becomes very cumbersome.
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Thanks so much for the detailed response, Iām feeling pretty comfy with the workflow youāre describing so I think Iām going to take the plunge. So much of what this thing covers already solves most of the issues I have with my current hardware sequencers, so all this stuff is basically the cherry on the top. Fingers crossed I end up in the next batch!
Can this thing be available already!!!
I keep buying things to keep me happy until I can get thisā¦but Iām wasting money buying and selling. MPC Live, Polyend Play, Keystep Proā¦I mean, cmon alreadyā¦need my be all end all to be all available.
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unless and until chip supply chain issues get fixed, orders are likely to get fulfilled on an as-ordered basis. basically get in line now if you want a unit in the next batch
The issue with the last batch, to be delivered at the end of June, now postponed to September, was about the front panel, not passing the quality control in the assembly process.
I guess the last 2 batches, the postponed one and the other already planned to be delivered in September, are ready at the Squarp HQ, just waiting for the the new front panel batch. So thereās a chance to get one and got it in few weeks, but maybe you can write Squarp about that, theyāre pretty responsive with customer care IME.
Still canāt wait to have mine at home, to finally reroute all my gear for the āend allā headaches.
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The Polyend Play isnāt THE perfect box but it sure is super fun! Love that thing
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the store states current orders are part of the September batch. not sure if thatās 100% true or not butā¦.September aināt far away!
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Just received one and a bit confused by a few design choices. Iāll adapt, but they donāt make much sense.
In step mode, why do I not get the top octave note when project scale is set? Seems really weird to limit me to 7 notes and have to press up or down to add an octave.
Alsoā¦ why havenāt they implemented the feature where you hold a note and hold a further step in order to program a long note. The design was done in the deluge, the Oxi, etc. Not loving had to turn a knob to extend note length. I guess itās because they have a selection mode where if I hold two notes I select all. That is convenient, to an extent. Itās something I can probably get used to.
Just IMO
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I agree to all your points. Please contact Squarp about this (I did as well), they are very open to feature requests/feedback and the more people who request a certain thing, the more chance they will implement it.
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When Iām using the USB Host port to connect a synth directly to the Hapax with a USB cable, I am getting hanging notes every once in a while. Especially when playing chords in the Chord mode, but also when I play multiple notes at once in regular Live mode.
I tried this with my MC-707 and NF-1m and both got the same issue. Also used 3 different USB cables, but with all of them the issue was there.
When using midi DIN or the USB device port to my DAW everything works as expected.
Anyone else here with the same issue? I wonder if this might be a bug or maybe hardware failure of the USB Host port?
I did, but Iāve unloaded it already. Strikes me as a very much half finished product from a firmware standpoint, but thatās something thatās to be expected from a new product these days. Itās a great concept, but lots of weird, or IMO bad, design choices. Itās definitely something I want to revisit in a few years. Having had both an Oxi and Hapax now, Iād say the Oxi is a much more well thought out product at this point in time. Lack of note preview on step input is possibly the biggest WTF decision Iāve seen on a piece of gear in a long time. The fact that they havenāt addressed this yet, despite the requests from users dating back to March is a red flag to me, and a deal breaker. Like I said, lots of potential here, but itās got a very long way to go. All IMO.
Squarp updated the Pyramid for years, and it is a great product. Iām confident the Hapax will get there if they listen to feedback. As of now, itās too far away for me to hold on to it and wait. I canāt afford to sit on it and wait, financially.
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