Yes, we’ve asked for this from day one so don’t worry, I’m sure the live preview option will be implemented soon.
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currently on Pyramid i just select notes on my keyboard to MIDI IN (both playing in Live mode and entering in Step mode). other than not seeing the individual note names on Hapax’s screens (i assume?) is anything different about the way it accepts external note triggers than Pyramid?
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Many users has asked for this feauture including myself. Wrote a request to Squarp a couple of months ago. Hopefully they will add it, atleast as an option.
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Yes, hopefully…
I can’t really understand any reason why not implementing it would be an advantage.
I also can’t really understand users that worry so much about and optional feature that they would not use.
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This one is a bit of a head scratcher not to have
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I also quite surprised that this isn’t in the firmware. It should be only a couple of lines of code to add and it’s such an essential requirement of a piano roll based sequencer.
Hopefully a future update will include this. 
The functionality is identical to the Pyramid. If you have a MIDI keyboard then you can play from there, and so long as you’ve pressed the ‘Learn’ button in step mode, the bottom row will be the note (or bottom note of a chord) you’ve just played.
Having an external keyboard is by far the quickest way to input notes into step mode (especially as it records velocity for the note played as well)
Also shows you the note (of the first key you press I believe) plus a diagram of the chord
(bottom note of the chord is always the bottom row on the grid, though)
yeah, that’s been my experience with Pyramid. not sure i even look at the screen for actual note values anymore, just velocity/length really because that’s all i use the encoders to change per step
Ditto. Just feels a lot more natural to ‘feel’ out notes and chords on the keyboard and then think “yeah, like that” and tap it into the step sequencer, or just jab in a bassline super quick, especially with the velocity.
Horses for courses, as with everything else.
I have tried, but have basically given up on the chromatic keyboard* in live mode for the Hapax, just doesn’t gel with me (possibly because I have no idea about notes or scales or generally any idea what I’m doing) But that part of Hapax is kind of wasted on me and I carry on sequencing exactly the same way I did on Pyramid, which is still the second-best sequencer I’ve ever owned.
*I do enjoy the Chord mode, even though I kind of feel like I’m cheating when I use it, which in itself is a stupid concept.
You can preview the bottom row by pressing the most right encoder. Then you can use the upper left encoder to choose the right note and if you found the right one you can enter the note by pressing a pad in the bottom row.
I know it is not the same, but at least it is something.
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This is another way, too, if you’ve not spotted it
I personally think the reason it doesn’t play when you press in Step mode is because on those sequencers that you can, they don’t have a dedicated live mode, so Squarp have split the functionality between two screens.
This makes sense to me, especially coming from most step sequencers don’t play the notes when you tap them in (thinking of the TR-style ones, and also Elektron) but I think people are now more used to the Poly* and Oxi style sequencers (and also a lot of ‘piano roll’ screens in DAWs, for that matter) which I do not believe have a dedicated Live mode (although could be wrong, as I’ve not played with any of those)
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Yes I know that, but I prefer to stay focussed in the Step edit screen.
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Ah fair enough
I just bought a Hapax and am glad to see a few workarounds here, as this is actually my one single worry about how I’ll feel using it. As someone who is not a great keyboard player I often didn’t even have one hooked up to the Deluge. I guess I’ll always have to keep mine on hand with the Hapax. Excited to give it a try when it gets here though!
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haven’t given it a go on Hapax yet but step entry with an external keyboard on Pyramid was dead easy, as a technical matter – press the key you want on the keyboard, press the step on Pyramid/Hapax you want the note to play on. adjust length/velocity as needed for each step. quickly becomes rote memory (in my experience)
Watching a few more vids makes it look pretty dead simple as well, since Live mode can be turned on momentarily, basically. Looks especially handy for chord mode!
it would be so simple to just have an option to hear a note as its entered in step mode and yet here we are a year and a half later…
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At least as an option. Imo there is a reason that Deluge and Oxi One has this function.
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