I saw a demo on the Hapax sequencer at the weekend and was blown away by it, I’ve been watching Red Means Recording on it too which is very good, especially the algorithms and generative stuff it can do.
I’m a home user and use the Elekron Digitone, Digitakt and also have a Novation Peak which I love (shame it’s not multi timbral), but all are in tune with the Elektron step sequencer, which I do enjoy and know it well now.
I was wondering if any of you use a Hapax sequencer on your Elektron and hybrid setup and what you think of it and what made you try this different sequencer?
I love making ambient type music and think with it’s extra features might go well. Most people tell me to stop GASing and live with the Elektron sequencers or use an iPad or computer. However I work on computers all do with 2 screens and I can’t think if using a computer in the evening for music, so I remain DAWless mostly, I only use Ableton to master a wav file I record via my Bluebox 1010.
I’m using both Elektron and Hapax. Mostly I use Hapax to sequence pattern changes on my Elektron boxes - I’ve got all of them on the same global channel so they all change patterns at the same time. This is kind of wasteful as I don’t use all Elektrons on all tracks but it helps keeping a bit of sanity. Whether I sequence the Syntakt or DN on each device or on Hapax changes from track to track depending on which features I want to use (no Arp on Syntakt for example), or whether an idea originated during “sound design” or random noodling. Each way has advantages and disadvantages.
In principle the Elektrons - especially since the addition of song mode - have almost everything I need to sequence a full track. I’ve bought the Hapax mostly because I have a bunch of different midi devices and got fed up with having to remember midi channels and CC numbers. And of course because of the advanced Midi FX stuff (Euclidean, Arp, etc), and automation lanes. Also, for songs created on Elektron spanning more than 2-3 patterns and using pattern mutes I found it hard to maintain an overview of what’s what especially when returning to a track after a few months - I hoped the Hapax would help with that. And while it does help, it could be better - more patterns per track and custom colours for patterns would be quite nice.
Fully understand not wanting a computer for a sequencer. Same here. Feels stupid sometimes when considering how much of a pain maintaining even a mid-sized hardware setup can be. But to me it feels worth it, avoiding touching a mouse or trackpad for as long as possible while making music.
Would I recommend the Hapax in your case? I’m not sure. For how long have you used your current setup? Do you feel you’ve reached the limits of the Elektron sequencers? It’s insane how much you can achieve with them.
Thanks for the reply. It looks like to have 1 devices to control them all and see how everything is mapped out, I feel (what do I know) that you are missing out loads on what the Hapax can do based on some videos I’ve watch, but this is only in the automation, midi effects areas, I could be so wrong though.
Yeah I use the song mode on the Elektrons and it works well, the sequencers are good, but I don’t know why I find them not so inspiring now after 2-3 years and want to mix it up a bit, especially now I have the Novation Peak which is unbelievable (I sequence from the Digitone).
Oh, yeah, I forgot about polyphony, which is definitely rather cumbersome on Elektron sequencers. That said, in the years between dreaming about the perfect hardware sequencer and getting something at least approaching that thing in Hapax, I’ve switched to preferring multiple mono voices and rarely using polyphony at all.
Yes, there’s certainly something to that. Whether Hapax adds something for you in particular is harder to say. As with every bit of gear, what works for one person may not work for the other even when their lists of requirements look similar. Feels boilerplate-y to write this, but that doesn’t make it less true and good to be aware of. I waited for a few months after the release and haven’t regretted getting one. Did it eliminate my recurring bouts of lack of inspiration? Sadly, nope.
I think everyone gets that music block, so much can effect that. I’ve sat down many times and thought I feel creative and I get nothing out of that session and hate all my equipment and think it’s a waste of money etc and other times it’s 10pm at night and i’m turning the lights off to go to bed and have a cheeky 5 mins and it’s suddenly midnight…weird.
I only do this for myself as a hobby, it’s something to relax to and time my mind of things.
I have a Hapax, several Elektron boxes (Octatrack mk2, Digitakt, Analog 4 mk1) and a bunch of synths and other samplers.
I sequence all the synths from the Hapax, its performance features are awesome and especially for polyphony it has the Elektron sequencers beat easily.
I also used to sequence the Digitakt from a Hapax drum track, but have gone back to just using the DT’s sequencer to sequence itself (I use it for drums only and am pretty proficient with it, so I figured I’d stick to it after all).
I would let the Hapax sequence the OT (notes) if the Hapax allowed for pitch selection of individual notes in a drum lane (would allow sequencing all 8 tracks of the OT in eg Slice mode in a single view), but to my knowledge that’s currently not possible.
There are a few things that I wish would work better for my purposes (eg muting tracks with a single hand, loading a preset on startup, better support of USB controllers going in etc), but I’m still hopeful that firmware updates will fix / improve a few of these things.
You can absolutely dial in the notes for each “sound” in a drum kit.
Drum lane MIDI routing
A lane is characterized by its corresponding note. This means that events in a drum lane will always trig the same note. This is ideal for working with drum machines, which usually expect a given note for a given drum element.
Each lane can have its own particular pair of note/channel. It is also possible to have a lane triggering a gate output : you can mix and match multiple machines to create your drums ensemble.
To change the midi note & channel output of a lane, Hold a row to select the lane, then rotate encoders ① and ② :
note 0 … 127
Sets the note played by this lane.
By default, this parameter sets both the note that will be outputed by the lane and the note that the lane will listen to (the trigger note).
Yes I’m aware of that, I was talking about dialing in the pitch / midi note for individual “trigs” on a drum lane.
To illustrate:
If I set each track on the OT to its own midi channel (eg ch 1-8) and set each drum lane on a drum track to the corresponding midi channel, then each drum lane will control one of the OT’s tracks. From there, I’d like to pitch up/down individual notes on a single drum lane to eg trigger different slices of an OT track.
To my knowledge, this is currently not possible. I can set a midi note per drum lane, but can’t adjust the note of individual trigs/notes on a drum lane.
The Hapax does pretty much unlimited polyphony (practically speaking) and that polyphony is easily accessible & editable via the grid. Most Elektron sequencers (don‘t know about the Digitone) do a max of 4 notes per track and editing eg a chord on a single trig is not the most convenient thing.
i sequence Digitone from Hapax (and Deluge), using it as a sound module basically. it has 8-voice polyphony total but i have yet to max that out at once between the four different “tracks” (sounds).
I’ve seen a video with the Digitone begin sequenced form it, it was like they were made for each other once he used those midi effects. I the the Peak will be a good match with it too.
It seems that you really want to test the Hapax and are aware of what it could bring you.
Even if Elektron sequencer is powerfull, Hapax open lot more possibilities.
So, maybe just do it, try the journey and you’ll see.
There is no mistake, just trials
