My Hapax (v3.00) is the master clock of my dawless setup. Mainly MIDI Hardware Synths, MIDI Controllers, and a MIDI Hub (MRCC).
I’d like to add my Eurorack case to the setup. I can plug gate and cvs from the Hapax ‘s four CV/Gate outputs directly to VCOs, VCAs etc. but I what I’d like to achieve is to send a clock to my Eurorack system, that I can dispatch wherever I need it (e.g., FX modules that take a clock in for synced delays, modulation modules like the Maestro etc.).,
Sounds like a n00b question (also I did some research in the forum before) but, how do you send a clock signal from the Hapax to the Eurorack world (without going through a computer plugin)?
The manual is comprehensive when it comes to the other way around (syncing Hapax from Eurorack), not so much in my use case.
Do you take one Hapax MIDI DIN or TRS output and plug it into a MIDI module that can then convert to a CV clock? (I do have a FH-2 + MIDI Break Out Expander)
Or do you use a CV/Gate track and directly send from there (I tried this, sending one note per beat on a pattern through a CV output, directly into an FX module Clock In, it works, the tempo is detected, but it uses one track and one CV output just for that, feels like a big waste)
My concern is to avoid wasting a connection just for that and I regret there is no dedicated CV Clock Out, but I can live with that.
My guess is you’ll go the MIDI OUT way, but I’m curious to hear what are your own strategies here.
The first option is what I went with. I configured my Mutant Brain to expose the MIDI clock with different time divisions on fixed gates (so e.g. CV12 will always be /24, CV11 /4, etc.) so I can patch directly without having to do any further time division. You can probably do something similar with the FH-2. If you don’t want to sacrifice in-rack CV outs for this, you could also do the same with an external MIDI-CV interface (like the Kenton Pro Solo), but you will have more flexibility in-rack.
Nice trick regarding splitting clock divisions over dedicated gate ouputs! Since I also have an 8-Gate expander with the FH-2, I have more than enough outputs to stay in-rack. This way I don’t need to use Pam’s Pro to do that work and keep its channels for other useful tasks
I think using the FH-2 plus gate expander is a great idea. But I thought it should be mentioned that Hapax can output Clock, Start and Reset without needing to sacrifice a track. The options are to be found under Settings→Sync Output (Gate Run/Trig Reset/Gate Clock).
Indeed, just checked the manual, I missed that part, meaning I don’t need to use any track to ouput a fake clock with a note per beat. The gate output are configurable to send a clock and even a clock division. Great and good to know in case I want to clock my case directly via CV and not MIDI.
That said, I will first try to clock it via MIDI, because this way I can play notes and use poly/MPE Hapax track(s) to sequence the case, with polyphonic tracks thanks to FH-2 configurations.
Hapax MIDI OUT A/B/C/D → Expert Sleepers MIDI Breakout Expander MIDI IN → FH-2 Configurations → Output gate/CV/AT/CC74 (for MPE) per voice.
