Feature Requests/Several ideas for Hapax

Hapax
1

Hello!

I wanted to share with you all a the Hapax feature request email I sent to Squarp. Some of these are ideas that have already been discussed here and you all have already sent to Squarp… some may be new. I thought some of you may share these ideas or have valuable insight how to improve upon them. As always if you have changes/improvements/requests, please forward them on to Squarp using their request form found here: Contact us | Squarp instruments

  1. Chance Effect assignable to a Drum Lane(s) or Note Selection/Range
    I think this one is fairly self explanatory in that I would like to be able to apply Chance to one or more exclusive lanes of a Drum Track rather than the entire Drum Track. And similarly I would like to apply Chance to a selection of notes or a range of notes.

  2. For LFO Effect, better visual representation of long LFOs. Perhaps a zoom in/out feature or some sort of scaling?

  3. For LFO Effect, feedback from LFO Destination to the Depth and Offset parameters. Currently, I have to switch from the LFO Effect to the Destination to see how much effect is being applied.

  4. Livemode Chord Modifiers
    I would like a feature that allows for the Chord Voicing Modifiers (left hand) to be used as playback performance modifiers. ie. If there is a C5Maj7 Chord programed, then you were to hold the Octave Up, Spread Up, and the Rotate +2 modifiers, the Chord would then play as a ??? If you are familiar with the Polyend Play, this would be very similar to the way its Perform Mode works on its internal tracks (it does not as of current effect external instruments with these Perform Effects).

  5. Multiple instances of a Note per clock tick.
    I’ll do my best to describe this. Imagine a drum track, and you have a snare note programed to step 5, but every 4 bars you want that step to be a roll, or play at a higher or lower Velocity. Or in a Poly track you want to change the length of a note or octave every other bar. I can use an LFO to change the velocity, use Randomizer to change Velocity or Length, or turn Scaler on/off to change the octave- but this requires some complex programing with an LFO, random results using Randomizer and neither allows for a roll (or other Step Note Parameters like Micro Time, Step Chance, Math). Perhaps it would be most benificial to this request if Step Note Parameters were LFO Destinations and Randomizer Destinations or if Chance were assignable to destinations other than just note (ie other Step Note Parameters)… or if Math were an Effect assignable to Step Note Parameters. I think this would allow for more precise programing rather than random. Lastly for this idea maybe it would be possible to have several ‘layers’/‘versions’ of Fills?

  6. More Drum Lanes
    I know other people have already sent you this request, so this is more of a +1. I could really use at least 11 Drum Lanes. The popular consensus seems to be asking for 16. 11 would allow me to use a standard set of lanes for the Roland TR-8S, where as 16 would allow me to use the standard set of 11 lanes with 5 Alternate lanes for the sounds that have an alternate sound programmed. Right now I have 4 Hapax Tracks devoted to TR-8S because of the 8 lane limit. If it was increased to 16, I would definitely be able to halve this to 2 lanes but perhaps even get it down to 1… that would be really incredible!

  7. Increased Track Length
    I would love to see the track length increased from 32 bars to 64, 128… maybe even 256?! I have been using a Squarp Pyramid for a long time now. I don’t always use very long tracks, but with Pyramid, it was something I never had to second guess. With Hapax, I sometimes find myself hesitant to use the Live Looper for fear of running out of space. I know this has ‘got in my head’ before and prevented me from creative endeavors.

  8. Mono Tracks
    There is a good discussion about how a Mono Track would function over at this thread and sounds like several other users have already contacted you with this request: Feature request - MONO Sequencer Type I have a few mono synths (Erica Synths DB-01 Bassline, Dreadbox Nyx V2, Sequential Pro3). My biggest use case for this would be to avoid overlapping notes in the same time position. I would just like to add a +1 to the request pool for this.

Thank you Squarp for an amazing sequencer(s) (plural in my case when also considering Pyramid)! You all inspire me and help me create my musical dreams. Thank you so much! Happy holidays; I wish you all the best and continued success in the New Year! :v:t3::heart:

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Hello!

I wanted to share with you all the response I received from Squarp regarding these feature requests. Here’s what they said:

  1. Chance Effect assignable to a Drum Lane(s) or Note Selection/Range

I don’t really get this one as you have a chance param per note. You can select one or more notes and apply them a chance percentage to be triggered.

  1. For LFO Effect, better visual representation of long LFOs. Perhaps a zoom in/out feature or some sort of scaling?

I already noticed this and I agree. I created a ticket to see what we can do.

  1. For LFO Effect, feedback from LFO Destination to the Depth and Offset parameters. Currently, I have to switch from the LFO Effect to the Destination to see how much effect is being applied.

Understood, I have to talk about this sith the team to check if it’s doable.

  1. Livemode Chord Modifiers

As said before we still have a lot to do in the chord mode. We will do something neat.

  1. Multiple instances of a Note per clock tick.

I think I got your point and this would be a huge change inside the core of the HAPAX. I had several ideas reading this. Why don’t you duplicate and make longer tracks (even if most of it is the same). you can also use patterns and as you said “fills”. Several layers of fills is something I never thought about before, thanks for the idea.

  1. More Drum Lanes

As said to other users, this is a request we had several times. I totally got the point of it. For now adding this would take a lot of internal memory and we don’t want to reduce the scope of other features, but we planned to think about ways to improve parts of the code to earn space and be able to add 16 tracks. In the meantime, you can use two tracks sending notes to the same destination. this is not the same but it works right now.

  1. Increased Track Length

As you can imagine this was a tough decision. We have some limitations due to memory and other engineering stuff. I agree with you that in looper mode it can be frustrating. I don’t think we will change this, it is quite similar to the 16 rows in drum pattern. We could think about a looper jumping to the next available pattern to keep recording what you are playing, though.

  1. Mono Tracks

We have wanted to do this since the beginning of this project. It is in the feature request pool!

Some good stuff here! Hopefully some things for y’all to think about.

Happy New Year and happy music making!

Michael

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Hello again!

In the spirit of open dialogue and sharing of ideas, I wanted to share with you all my response to Squarp with some further thoughts on their response to my feature requests:

  1. Chance Effect assignable to a Drum Lane(s) or Note Selection/Range
    Your Response: I don’t really get this one as you have a chance param per note. You can select one or more notes and apply them a chance percentage to be triggered.

My further thoughts: The particular instance I was thinking of for this request is for a Drum Lane of hi-hats. Additionally, LFOs are assignable to a Chance Effect, allowing for some control and variation over how much ‘Chance’ you want applied to a set of notes. The way this works now using an LFO assigned to the Chance Effect, it effects the Chance of all notes in the drum Track rather than precise control of just the hi-hat Drum Lane.

The ideas I shared regarding expanded use of the LFO, Randomizer, and Chance Effects come into play here as well: … it would be beneficial if Step Note Parameters were LFO and Randomizer Destinations or if Chance were assignable to destinations other than just note (ie other Step Note Parameters).

Additionally, it would be useful if Math were assignable to Step Note Parameters other than just a note. This might require a “Math Effect” that would work similar to an LFO, where Math could be assigned to an array of parameters. Hopefully some things to think about there.

2-4) Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to whatever you all come up with regarding these ideas!

  1. Multiple instances of a Note per clock tick.
    Your response: I think I got your point and this would be a huge change inside the core of the HAPAX. I had several ideas reading this. Why don’t you duplicate and make longer tracks (even if most of it is the same). you can also use patterns and as you said “fills”. Several layers of fills is something I never thought about before, thanks for the idea.

My further thoughts: Heard that! I definitely duplicate and make longer tracks. I think where this idea stemmed from is how useful the Step Note Parameters are to create variation, and that I find myself working within a bar or two and using those parameters (ie Chance, Roll, and Math). I suppose even more control within a couple repeating bars seems really useful rather than scrolling through pages and pages of duplicated and slightly different bars (which totally contradicts my request for more bars… can we just have it all please LOL)!

  1. More Drum Lanes
    Your Response: … this would take a lot of internal memory and we don’t want to reduce the scope of other features, but we planned to think about ways to improve parts of the code to earn space and be able to add 16 tracks. In the meantime, you can use two tracks sending notes to the same destination. this is not the same but it works right now.

My further Thoughts: The work around is completely acceptable. It’s what I do now and it works. For whatever it’s worth, the other requests I’ve made here are more important to me than increased number of Drum Lanes. If this request is a resource hog and reduces the likelihood of other features, then this is my vote to move this down in the request pool.

  1. Increased Track Length
    Your response: … We could think about a looper jumping to the next available pattern to keep recording what you are playing, though.

My further thoughts: YES!!! This would be amazing, especially with the increase of patterns from 8 to 16. If a looper were able to do this across all 16 patterns at 32 bars each… you could have a 512 bar Track! Bonkers! I love this idea.

  1. Thanks again for your consideration and looking forward to whatever you come up with for a Mono Track type.

Michael

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7. Increased Track Length

As you can imagine this was a tough decision. We have some limitations due to memory and other engineering stuff. I agree with you that in looper mode it can be frustrating. I don’t think we will change this, it is quite similar to the 16 rows in drum pattern. We could think about a looper jumping to the next available pattern to keep recording what you are playing, though.

I like the implementation of pattern chaining on the Circuit Rhythm/Tracks. If you hold down the pad that selects a pattern and hold down another (or more) in the same column, it chains them together as a “group.” This allows for longer patterns. I could see something similar working on the Hapax.

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