To me, the number one advantage of the Reliq over the Hapax (or any other sequencer I can think of) is the matrix mixer. And that’s huge if you do modular. But really only if you do modular.
Imagine using a sequencer to not only to store and play back gates and CVs, but also your patch itself. No more taking photos of your cable spaghetti. Instant reconfiguration in the middle of a song. That’s the kind of stuff the matrix mixer allows — at least for your 16 most cherished ins and outs. And that feels pretty game changing?
But honestly, outside of modular, it’s kind of a pain in the butt. The breakout box is tiny, light, and has its jacks really close together. 3.5mm to ¼" cables tend to be bigger and heavier than patchers, and fitting them all in is not great feeling. And the weight kind of physically overwhelms the box. Plus a good ⅔ of the box is dedicated to CV and Gate outs… so sort of feels like wasted space to non-modular folks like me.
A 19" rack mount breakout with ¼" jacks would go a long way to making this feel better for non-modular stuff, IMHO. But that’s not in the short term plans at least, I guess. And I was kind of hoping I could use Reliq in a non-modular context as a mixer with, like, 16 auxes. But alas, there’s no way to control the “send amount” of the matrix routings. Each connection point either transmits all the given input to the given output or none.
Which, again, makes perfect sense when you think of it as “automated patch cables” for your eurorack (patching also always send either all or none of the signal between two ports 
). But the result feels more like “16 busses” than “16 auxes”. And I just don’t need that many group tracks.
So between the breakout being a pain, the mixer not really doing anything for me, and the Reliq itself being gigantic, it’s been hard for me to really dive deep into the sequencing bits. What I’ve experienced is fine. And the screens and graphics are legit beautiful (the whole product, with the exception of the flimsy-feeling breakout box, feels really top notch and premium). It’s just always physically easier to use the Hapax when I need something, so that’s what I do.
To emphasize, I really feel like I’m not the target audience for this thing. Thus my take is pretty different from people who use it for what it’s meant for (there are lots of them over on the Reliq forums). If you’re into modular, those folk will be a better resource to you.
On the other hand, I know many people here have a setup like mine. So if I’m not the target audience, maybe you aren’t either? If so, hope this saves you some heartache.
