DHL was sandbagging the estimate, Hapax showed today, not Fri like they told me to expect. It’s beautiful, seriously. I have only HW first blush, I’ll probably film in some impressions soon. I’m really digging the OXI but my immediate impression is this is the machine I want to sequence tracks with, and the OXI I want to spend time developing ideas on an instrument or synth. The Hapax is definitely a lived at home device, while OXI plus iPad plus anywhere has been amazing.
Hapax knobs are … ok? Not soft touch, not metal like OXI. They got swapped before using them so… yeah. The replacement chroma fatty aren’t deep enough so they stand off a dumb looking amount, and neither are the tall rubber encoders. The chrome ones fit great.
More to come, I have some things to compare against if anyone has questions on build stuff.
The Hapax seems to be the magical beast I’ve been hunting for a long time.
I’ve barely scratched the surface and every section I start to dig into makes sense and makes something cool sounding happens. I need to pivot into the steps sequencer and the algos I got it for in the first place, but I’m having too much fun exploring the chords and master transpose to even make it that far.
Hapax the drum track setup is really on point. Each row/part is assigned a note. It’s really easy to dial in a kit against hardware and the 16 pads Live layout is such an improvement over single trigs. The random fill worked great on hats and perc. The added row of track buttons makes a big difference because the grid can always respond as if you want to play notes, and doesn’t have to be selected first instead. It’s really easy to pivot into velocity or any automation.
The OXI I keep struggling to align with how kits work. You map the root, then each row/track is an offset from the root. The rows are more flexible like a Electron in that any trig can be assigned a new sound. I’m not sure what I keep doing wrong but I often put in a step and it trigger the wrong drum like a step on the HH lane will play a snare, because the default note shifted. its easy to pull it back to the correct note with hold and dial, but I need to figure out how to manage it better. The random is seemingly as random as on the Hapax (I mean, right?) but the OXI also has MI Grids which I haven’t used but sounds cool and it was fun to mess around with. OXI you can pivot into velocity really easily too, and there’s a one click humanizer and it sets up automation ranges really easily.
Both machines feel like they can take a drum groove you’ve built and start to tweak with it. setting up felt easier on the Hapax. Step sequencing did too. The MI generator is cool though and I wish Hapax had it too. OXI sort of wants you to harness chaos into your HW machine a bit more and it’s sounded lovely so far.
MC-101 and either of them is doing great work. the acoustic bass presets sound amazing and so do any mallets. it has so.many.good.synths and you can load sounds into it in stupid amount of ways and it seems like I can start mapping the effects and prog changes, too.
I have both and after a month decided to get rid of the Oxi. It’s a great machine but not a good match for me personally. Regret the impulse buy and now looking to sell it without losing too much cash on it.
Bought it to have something more portable than the hapax for live use, or even to replace the hapax as I had some annoyances with that too (but the latest update already addressed some of them).
Got the split option and a splitter usb-c cable to have more USB/Midi I/O so I could get closer to the Hapax I/O.
With the Oxi, silly things annoy me, like how the start and record button order is flipped in position compared to gear i’m used to, or how some key commands work, or how the menu’s are navigated. I frequently had problems because my intuition / muscle memory did the wrong thing and I ended up deleting things or getting unexpected results.
The instrument definitions on Hapax are awesome, I find it very hard to live without them any more. Using template patterns (which took me ages to set up for my drum machines) on the Oxi is really not the same experience. The bundled definitions are useless to me and I hate having to remember Midi channels.
I love being able to use the Sd card on the Hapax and backup tracks, import midi files, etc…
The config options on Hapax are also way more advanced, making it easy to set up in most complex midi studio configurations.
I understand the love for the Oxi, it’s a compact and cool machine and perfect in modular setups or modern computer/ipad stuff. But in my Midi-only setup, I was just bumping into way too many limitations. I totally don’t see the point of adding a battery to a sequencer either, just seems like a timebomb to me I don’t like having to switch the Oxi off independently from the rest of my studio as the damn battery keeps it on when I cut the power.
After I got fed up with the Oxi due to some synchronization issues (it drifted like crazy as a slave receiving midi notes), I briefly took out my Pyramid again. Which felt like using a time machine to the past And after a few sessions the Hapax was returned to it’s throne in my studio. I’m not going back.
If anything, owning the Oxi made me appreciate the Hapax more than I did before
Thanks for the through write up! I share your frustrations with the Oxi One UI, project and pattern saving, etc. I’ve not throughly explored all the Hapax features yet, but on the whole I found it easier to get on with. But there are a few things I’ve hardly dove into yet.
Did you not use the Oxi One generative stuff much? That’s the only reason I’m handing on to it. I feel the generative features are more capable with the Oxi One, but I haven’t tried the latest beta release either.
not in depth, I was impressed by what I saw on youtube. Actually own the Torso T-1 as well and that motivated me to check out the Oxi in the first place.
But with the recent updates on the Hapax and the T-1 I’m more than satisfied.
Again, don’t want to downtalk the Oxi, I’m sure it’s perfect for many people, but it doesn’t fulfill my personal needs.
Seeing what has been added with the latest Hapax beta, it seems they are very aware of generative shortcomings, and I still have a lot to learn about what is possible currently. The main thing annoying me at the moment is the 8 sounds limit for drumkits (same issue on Oxi afaik). Ideally they would ramp that up to 16 or even 32.
Your review is insightful
I don’t like having to switch the Oxi off independently from the rest of my studio as the damn battery keeps it on when I cut the power.
And after a few sessions the Hapax was returned to it’s throne in my studio. I’m not going back.