Squarp Instruments Hapax vs. OXI One

The Lounge Other Gear
#3

Yes I hear you, but I don’t think this is a misconception as much as an opinion. If you’ve ever owned a grid sequencer you will maybe have experienced that feeling of “shit what page am I on and what does that light there mean again and where am I again in the loop, at which octave?” — to me it’s just a matter of the amount of information represented simultaneously in any grid sequencer really that make them a risky proposition.

The OxiOne has the mode buttons which give direct access to those, which is cool, but after that it MUST get cramped, given the lovely feature set alone and the lack of more physical buttons & a bigger screen. I get it, it enables the form factor, but I’m pretty sure it takes a good amount of practice to not get lost on the device at times, at least I’m almost certain it would do so for me.

The Hapax has the two screens, one serving almost exclusively the purpose of giving orientation and facilitating informed navigation across the grid within any of the modes (though eg chord mode I think is not that well thought out in that regard). The Hapax is also less modular in regard to what each of its modes do, which is a plus to me in fact (in terms of usability / workflow).

The Hapax will be the center piece of my space ship setup, but as I said, an Oxi might be in the cards down the line as well, since I love midi sequencers and its form factor alone to me should be worth the price of admission.

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#4

You’re completely right!

It doesn’t, honestly. Kind of hard to explain workflow to a person without the machine in front of them, even less via text…
It’s true there’re a few combos with shift, most of them intuitive, and a couple that aren’t (just 3 IMO). At the same time this implies menu diving is removed almost completely, except for global system parameters (set once and forget), scrolling though CC numbers or renaming patterns. Immediacy and performability had priority.

All the mode buttons are a constant between sequencer modes, meaning that you only need to see which number is active 1 to 4, and what mode button is lit to know where you are, not even the screen is needed for that. In regards of the grid itself, there’re 5 layouts: piano roll, keyboard and MOD lanes (exclusive per sequencer), save/load/arranger (it looks the same) and CV out configuration shared between all sequencers.

Whatever, it’s better to check for yourself or read from people owning both. I encourage you to try it given the chance. I can only speak regarding OXI unfortunately, I’m dying to try Hapax too :slight_smile:

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#5

a friend of mine has had an Oxi One for a while now… and is a big fan.

I bent his arm to try the Hapax at Superbooth,
he came out the tent swearing … ‘why did I listen… now I seriously want a Hapax’ :laughing:
anyway, I believe he will be getting a Hapax for review… so that’ll be a good head to head. (not quite sure when that’ll happen)

he still proudly demo’d the Oxi too me the next day,
and, as Ive said all along Oxi is cool, I really do like ‘the pipe’, its portability, and there are some features on the Oxi that the Hapax does not have (currently?!)
similarly, there are things the Hapax has the Oxi does not… (currently ?! )

but they are also quite different in a few ways, and trying different approaches.
really, best thing is to try them both (or watch some YouTube videos if not possible) and see which gels with you more.

what’ll be even more interesting is to see how they both evolve over the coming months, as both have plenty of scope for further development.

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#6

Im sure the oxi one is great but it doesn’t appeal to me like the hapax as an ableton live and elektron user. Proper polyphony per track and push style keyboard and all. Lots of talk of the oxi on this for some reason :thinking: wondering why

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#7

My thoughts too. My hapax has replaced my cirklon in everyday use, especially when I just want to jam out quickly. The cirklon is built like a tank and perfect for minimal techno vibes but not so much when you stray into more structured and chord heavy territory.

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#8

Really appreciate you sharing your experience. The consistency in shift/mod functions across the board is a big one, not self evident that it would be that way. After your first response I read the Oxi’s manual, it felt cramped just reading that but that’s not necessarily an indicator of the actual user experience with the device.

I def will try one down the line, I’m imagining it for eg a mobile setup. At it’s price point it’s not a huge “risk” to take anyway :slight_smile:

Now I’m super excited about the Hapax arriving hopefully in June…only issue is that — with the polyphonic limitations I had accepted in my sequencing setup before removed — I now also want an Iridium :joy::joy::joy:

EDIT: @CarlosUnch do you know if the OxiOne is class compliant? I’m imagining that with an iPad could be a killer travel combo….oh boy, what have you done?! :joy::joy::joy:

Oxi One Hardware Sequencer
#10

it has BT, so class compliance is not so much an issue, i hope. have one arriving today or tomorrow, will know more :smiley:

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#11

See @jemmons comment below, he’s right. Moved this comment to the appropriate thread.

#12

We’ve moved past comparing features to talking exclusively about the Oxi and how to use it. There’s a whole big popular thread just for that. Please take your Oxi-related questions and answers over there. This will make it easier for interested parties to find them.

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#13

I’d love to try a Hapax. I’d be willing to bring my Oxi One to a place where there’s a Hapax for tests! Need to check out Elevator Sounds to see if they have a Hapax I can try out.

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#14

Oxi just came and Hapax coming at the end of June. I am going to figure out by myself what is the one that fits my workflow better. I will post a pros/cons after that.

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#15

I hope you have space for both! From specs alone you can seen how much they shine on different territories!

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#16

Hey there, did you come to a conclusion? Would love to see your pros and cons, am debating between these two and just can’t decide.

#17

The Hapax from June got delayed and hasn’t shipped yet. The OXI is fantastic and the firmware updates seem at a faster pace. I have been enjoying the fact that it has BLE connectivity with my synths. Battery powered and lightweight it is perfect to move it around.

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#18

Anyone got any new opinions here? The oxi looks like more fun to play with but perhaps the hapax is a better solution for creating more complete songs.

#19

i waited for Hapax over Oxi since day one because more (polyphonic) tracks and the dual project architecture and am happy with the choice. as much as i loved Pyramid once i got past the learning curve, the great thing about Hapax is the learning curve now is exponentially shorter. i’ve gotten farther in three weeks with Hapax than i did in five or six months with Pyramid.

main feature’s i’m missing as of OS 1.13: (1) 8 pattern limit per track, which i understand if you believe the 8-row grid fixes the number of patterns going top to bottom; but there is scrolling up/down in all other modes so no reason there couldn’t be more patters afaik; (2) lack of an arranger in Song mode, which really is still chaining sections of mute states for Patterns/Tracks a la Pyramid. it’s more efficient than Pyramid’s Sequence mode but ultimately not ideal for building sections of the song from the 8 patterns.

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#20

I have both and this is a good description. I use OXI for generative and chord / arp duties (I think it does those better than hapax) and Hapax for more complete song structures and its great midi effects. They’re actually quite fun midi synced together. If I could only choose one it would be hapax, but I would miss the OXI.

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#21

How do you use them together? Clock syncing and then controlling different devices serperately?

#22

Yep, hapax clock into the OXI and then both of them separately run into a mio10 midi hub

#23

I was an early adopter of the Hapax, I think I got one of the first batch. I was very excited for it because of the MPE and MIDI recording, instrument definitions, everything else.

In the end, I found it thought a little too much in MIDI for my taste. I have been working in modular for my sequencing and constantly found myself trying to reproduce approaches I used in modular. MPE recording was great but MIDI Tape Recorder is now my choice for that.

I ordered the Oxi One and sold the Hapax. I gel with it much better for step sequencing. I love Matriceal mode. The extra CV outs are very handy. It is perhaps a bit tiny but that also means very portable.

Both companies are very good and responsive, build quality is great on both — I prefer the pads on the HApax and the encoders on the Oxi, and I still wouldn’t hesitate to recommend either.

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