Yup. See also:
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Doeas the Hapax offer something similar to the direct pattern change on the Rytm and A4? You know, instant pattern change at the position where the sequencer is at the moment, without restarting the pattern?
Yes !
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Yep, more or less. Its not technically āinstantā as the smallest resolution is a 16th note, but you can set up the changes to work that way (its how I use mine).
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I think youāre looking for TRIG here:
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Iāve read through a fair bit of the thread, and searched, but here goes: how do people who have used both feel about Hapax vs Cirklon?
Cirklon seemed like my dream sequencer. Rock solid clock, loads of options. So many ports. A number of tracks so large it may as well be infinite. The buttons feel incredible, and I love how easy it is to plonk in a basic sequence. The arranger is solid, and gets me thinking in song-structure-mode with little friction. Workscene is incredible.
Then there are some things I find extraordinarily tedious. TLDR: it takes me 10x longer to work with Cirklon than with my Elektrons, an MPC or any other hardware for sequencing. CK patterns are a pain to navigate and I end up just playing in polyphonic sequences - I may as well just play those straight into the DAW. I strongly dislike using multiple p3 patterns for the same sound in order to have enough aux events to do what I want. The UI inconsistencies make it tough to come back to after time away from it, and the minor differences between P3 and CK patterns completely mess up my muscle memory. I donāt have the patience to really dig into the inter track events and accumulators, and most things are just a little more convoluted to set up than Iād like.
I had hoped Iād get used to these things or that those aspects would āclickā but they absolutely havenāt. The Cirklon demands deliberation and seems to work best when you know what you want to make ahead of time, which I rarely do. I really value immediacy, which is not what Cirklon specializes in.
Given these issues Iāvehad with Cirklon, is it worth testing out a Hapax?
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How do you use the Hapax with your Elektron gear?
Do you programm every sequence into the Hapax and let it control your Elektrons?
Or do you still use the internal Elektron sequencers?
When sequencing from the Hapax, how do you manage parameter locks? Notes in the Hapax and trigless locks in the Elektrons?
Iād say yes. Absolutely. I have and use both, and pretty much for the reasons you outline. The Cirklon encourages deep focus on one particular thing at a time. The Hapax strives to give access to everything at once. You can see this reflected in their designs: the Cirk is a line of buttons and a screen that feels like an afterthought. The Hapax is a giant matrix of buttons and two very active displays.
This doesnāt, IMHO, make one inherently better than the other. But does, I think, bias them towards different types of music.
If Iām doing something minimal or techno-adjacent, focus is everything. Itās no coincidence that the Cirk hardware apes the sequencers of the boxes that defined that music. That kind of focus (and the things it let you focus on) is integral to those genres.
The Hapax, on the other hand, feels much more āDAW in a boxā. It wants to keep you at a birdās eye view, only diving down occasionally then quickly returning to survey your arrangement. If Iām doing anything with melodies, harmonies, or orchestration, the Hapax is my first choice. It keeps me feeling in control of the ābig pictureā as opposed to the Cirk where I feel the big picture is something that arises organically, a happy accident.
All of this, you might note, is very vibes-based. Practically, they are both top-notch sequencers that can effectively do what needs being done. But if youāre finding getting it done on the Cirk is putting you in the wrong vibe, yeah. Give the Hapax a whirl.
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I will add that you can launch patterns on bars, etc. like youāre used to in Ableton with clips, but then when you want to shift a pattern to another one mid-bar, you just press and hold the Pattern button and then press the pattern you want to change to. It then makes then direct jump.
So no need to set it up for each pattern in advance if you just use it occasionally. To me thatās even easier than on the RYTM 
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I tend to jam and explore on the Elektrons, and when I find sounds I like, and have perhaps sounds from different devices playing at once, then I pull them together on the Hapax.
For the Rytm and MD I tend to use them as sort of sound modules, tweaking the drums and saving kits, but setting up the patterns on the Hapax.
Thereās no p-locks then of course, but that is not a big deal for my workflow.
For the Digitone II, Iām just getting to know it, so Iām using its sequencer on its own, but expect I will use it on similar ways.
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I might have become annoying with this message of mine, but Iāve tried most of them (only Cirklon 1 though) and I truly think Hapax is The Best Sequencer. (In the category of so-called battleship sequencers.)
Messing with the Auxes was no fun (to me) after a while, and I believe that Hapax offers most of the same possibilities in a more fun format. And more.
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You can get close on the Hapax, obviously set up with IDs so you can twist on a knob on your external gear and itāll record and playback instantly.
Then set the Automation lane Max Rate to 4PPQN and turn Interpolation off, to get that steppy sound.
What would be amazing, if we could hold a note (in Step mode OR Automation mode), then turn a knob on your synth, and the Automation lane in question is updated accordingly.
Maybe the screen could jump to the lane being updated, too?
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Expanding on this, itās also a great workflow to use the Hapax as a writing tool on the Elektron boxes.
In this way you can take advantage of the strong points of both machines: Hapax to create nice sequences and Elektron to further improve via Plock/sound design, having the added value to be eventually free to perform on the Elektrons alone.
Obviously you can get there, and be even deeper, arranging and performing on the Hapax, but sometimes I like to hang out with just a box or two and in this way Iām not forced to give up the Hapax touch on laying down cool stuff
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Thx for your thoughts about sequencing Elektron boxes.
I will keep an eye on the Hapax and will further use the internal sequencers.
Maybe when my setup will grow in the future and more synths without an internal sequencer are added to my setup I will try the Hapax.
Thx folks!
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There is no reason to not consider using a mix of internal and external sequencing between Elektron devices and Hapax to get the best of both worlds.
You could have, for example your more complex evolving melodic parts programmed from the Hapax, and your backbone parts that take full advantage of Elektron sequencer tricks programmed directly on device.
Or if you wanted, you could do something like run the MIDI clock at 1/2 speed, then double the speed of the Hapax sequence and use a combination of internal and external trigs, on a single track even, to program a 16 bar sequence that uses features from both sequencers.
And so onā¦
Plus, with program changes that send a bit early baked into Hapax sequences, you can actually change programs, when intended on slaved Elektron devices!
Also, if you use a DAW, the CV sync input, not to mention the latency compensation settings on every MIDI channel and clock adds immense hidden value.
Iām just sinking my teeth into my Hapax, lots to learn yet but I am super stoked for the possibilities! For me it is definitely not a matter of having any ultimatum choice between whether I use the internal, or external sequencer. Plenty of ways to utilize combinations of both.
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One of the nicest things of Hapax for me is how easy it makes it to change voices in my setup (synths or Eurorack voices that I use for Bassline, main lead melody, etc), and just change the instrument definitions to the new instrument definitions of my current setup.
To that extent I usually use my Syntakt to sequence itās own basic drum patterns which is faster and more enjoyable for me; but I sometimes sequence a Syntakt track for a bassline or synth lead line. That way I can easily swap out which voice to send my bass / lead line to.
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New firmware (v2.12) is out.
Optimizations
- Significantly reduced output jitter and latency for smoother performance.
Bug fixes
- PLAYER: High CPU load could cause events to be skipped.
- PLAYER: latency compensation could cause event loss at very high negative values.
- REC: HARD REC used on drum tracks could sometimes cause a crash.
- STEP: Note selection preview would send too many note-on messages
- STEP: pressing undo after adding an infinite note could cause a stuck note.
- STEP: entering STEP mode would sometimes cause a crash with certain projects.
- STEP: Pressing the STEP button no longer re-engaged the āfollow playheadā feature.
- STEP: Adding an infinite note on a MPE track would send too many note-on messages.
- STEP: Warp and move combination causes note to disappear and offset weirdly.
- LIVE DRUM: changing the output note or output channel of a lane while performing could cause stuck notes
- pTRSP: Playing two projects simultaneously could cause one project to use the pScale of the other project.
Breaking change
- When a Program Change (PC) is sent, assigned values will no longer be resent.
Features
- Drum Mode: Added lane swap functionality.
- Drum Mode: Introduced up/down velocity shortcut for faster adjustments.
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Can the Hapax do anything approaching Cirklonās intertrack aux events, particularly changing a trackās notes in relation to changes on another track? For example: Track A is a melody. Track B, the first trig of every bar in āgrabsā Track Aās first note, adjusts the pitch down a 4th, and plays that note, creating a simple bassline. My assumption is that if this is possible, itād be through the midi fx?
This is probably the only āadvancedā function I use regularly. Itās something I could live without, but quite like using.
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Hey, would you be so kind and share the template for sequencing the Iridium Keyboardās two layers separately with the Hapax?