Short version: Can I trigger different length patterns and have them synchronously loop until I’m done with them?
Much longer version:
I’d like to replace Logic Pro for live performances, because nobody including me wants to watch me stare at a laptop, and I’m wondering if the Hapax can handle some of the odd things I tend to do. For example, in one piece I have a 22 note ostinato pattern that repeats forever, and I have Logic set to a time signature of 22/8 so it’s one bar. The “problem” is the bass is a much slower pattern that lasts for five of those 22-note bars. And then after the fifth bass repeat I end it with another pattern that’s just the first two notes with the second note held for a while. Although I could always play that by hand if I had to, but it’d be great to have this be another one-time pattern as that’s something I tend to do pretty often. I suppose I could just manually stop that last pattern manually if I had to. And then I end the ostinato.
So I’d like to be able to start the ostinato pattern, then start the bass pattern after a time at beat 1 of the next ostinato measure, then near the end stop the bass pattern and simultaneously start the ending bass pattern (which should only play once). And then the next “song” is similar except it’s 11/8, and the last one is 13/8. So I’d want to start song #2 (11/8) on the right-hand side while loading song #3 (13/8) on the left (if it works this way?).
Basically the goal is to leave the laptop at home and have the Hapax play some (possibly overly complicated) backing tracks while my drummer buddy and I play the rest, because it’s only the two of us. I think I can do all this and pull it off live but reading through the user guide hasn’t quite made it clear I can actually make it all work. Although I think it will.
I guess I’m kind of asking if I can have Hapax play cells for me in kind of a scheduled way. I could map all this out in advance of course but the larger goal is to have this be flexible so we’re not “merely” playing along with locked-in backing tracks.
Thanks for any help and/or clarification of how things work.
Sounds very doable!
All pattern lengths are independent, and can be changed in 16th note increments.
For convenience, we do have a project time signature, which only has two roles:
Any pattern will default to a length of 1 bar in the selected time signature
In STEP mode, you may force new bars to start on a new page with the misc. setting “SPLIT BARS”. Otherwise, steps are always contiguous.
One caveat is that the time signature is global to the project, so time signature changes are not supported. Polymeters are possible, but you don’t have the convenience to have a time signature per track.
With all of that said, what you’re asking for sounds relatively simple to set up.
You can either do it with a SONG, or with FOLLOW ACTION. Song is for a more “written” workflow, while follow actions leaves room for improvisation and randomness.
With a song:
patterns:
Track 1 - ostinato
pattern 1: pattern length 44 (in 16th notes)
pattern 2: empty
Track 2 - Bass
pattern 1: empty
pattern 2: slower bass pattern length 220
pattern 3: bass coda
sections:
Intro: T1P1, T2P1 (only the ostinato plays) – length 44
Main: T1P1, T2P2 - length 220
Coda: T1P2, T2P3 - length ???
With follow actions:
Track 1 - ostinato
pattern 1: pattern length 44 (in 16th notes) – Follow action STOP – Follow len 264
Track 2 - Bass
pattern 1: silence – length 44 – Follow action NEXT
Thank you, that’s made a bunch of things a good bit more clear. Sometimes it’s hard to figure these things out when you’re just reading the manual and don’t have the machine in front of you, so this has helped.
However… LOL
One of the three parts is a different tempo from the other two. Of course. But I read some more and I think I can make the A section have tracks with a Time Elasticity of 116%, and have the other sections’ tracks at the default 100%, which will essentially let me have two tempos (139bpm, close enough to the original 140, and 120bpm for the others). I think. So I should be able to play the tracks and/or patterns at appropriate times (or in sections) and everything will work.
Needs some real-world testing, just to make sure it’ll work, but I think I’m in.
Just wanted to follow up on this as it’s a month later, I now have a Hapax, and I’ve gotten through about half of what I asked about.
I made three patterns in three different tracks each in a different row to hold the ostinato sequences. I didn’t realize things defaulted to 16th notes so I had to cut my tempos in half (LOL) but otherwise it worked perfectly. The project is at 60bpm (120 cut in half) and one track is sped up to 70bpm via Time Elasticity. I also have the triggers set to PTRN and set the patterns to reset to the beginning, so I can play each row and have one follow the other more or less seamlessly. Works great!
Haven’t added all the bass and pad patterns yet but that’s an adventure for another day. But the basics are working as I’d hoped, and the way the box works just seems to make total sense to me.