I was watching this video of the Polyend Tracker’s performance mode and it made me wonder:
Does Hapax already have something similar that I’m overlooking?
In the video, each track can independently switch patterns, change length on the fly, reverse playback, apply stutter, and tweak things like filter or LFO — all without permanently altering the sequence. It adds a layer of controlled chaos on top of a very structured workflow.
Hapax is incredibly deep structurally, but is there a way to get this kind of live, per-track performance manipulation in Track View?
If not, what would you want to see in a dedicated Hapax performance mode?
Hapax’s Snapshot feature is exactly what you are wanting: non-destructive editing of a pattern. However, I am not certain how it reacts to switching patterns.
The mod matrix represents an additional, non-destructive layer of manipulation. MIDI fx + modulation is a wild combo!
Individually, it can do most of what you are asking for, it’s just not optimized for performance, so it would require some new interface control layer in addition to the existing ways to do these things, so that it’s accessible and applicable performatively.
I’ve only had my Hapax for two days, so I still need to really dig into the mod matrix and snapshots. I also have a Polyend Tracker Mini, so I looked into how their performance mode works. It’s a really cool track wide performance layer.
That said, I already know the Hapax can do a ton, and I’m sure there are workflows I haven’t discovered yet. Just sharing ideas and learning as I go.
Would love to hear from more experienced Hapax users on what would be cool here and whether this could make sense as a feature request.
I requested something like this back in 12/2023 suggesting it could perhaps be part of the Chord mode. Back then I had pointed to the Polyend Play as inspiration for this feature. The Play and Play+ were updated with MIDI Perform mode which looks very similar to the function of Perform mode on the Polyend Tracker.
At the time, I received a response from Squarp stating they had more ideas in line for the Chord mode. I have hope things are still in the works regarding this.
Here’s a link to that thread and a couple others making this request over the past few years:
Here’s a link to the basic function of MIDI Performance mode on the Polyend Play:
If you have ideas, questions, feature requests- be sure to contact Squarp via their request form. They don’t always read all posts on this forum, but are very receptive and responsive to communication via the contact form.
That’s really helpful context, thanks for sharing those threads.
It’s great to hear this has been on the radar and that Squarp had plans around Chord mode. The Polyend Perform idea feels like a solid reference, but maybe there’s a uniquely Hapax way to approach it.
I also wonder if Track 16 could host something like this, since it already handles global controls like transpose and chord follow.
Would be great to keep refining the idea so it could become a well thought out feature request.
Yes, you are correct. I just watched the Hapax Tutorial on LOOP POINTS, which is really cool. It would just be cool to have all of the most useful and performative effects on one page so you can do it all from one place. Maybe track 16 or some alternate mode “MIDI Perform Mode.”
