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Step mode



Overview
The  step  mode is a different way to create rhythms and melodies. Unlike the  live  mode — where you perform in real–time using the matrix keypads — this mode allows you to program sequenced events directly into the current track. It is a great way to get the best out of your synthesizers and drum machines.

Hapax a 128–pad matrix matrix pads to program step–by–step rhythms and melodies effortlessly and efficiently. The length of a track can be extended up to 32 bars. In conjunction with extreme zooms, conditional trigs, chance, loop points, selection, scale folding, run modes, possibilities are endless!

The  step  mode can also be used to edit a previously recorded live performance, using the piano roll view.

The  step  mode, like the  live  mode, always displays the events contained the current pattern of the active track. Each pattern of each track has its own events.
Piano roll overview
The piano roll is always displaying the full current pattern on the right screen. The grey rectangle inside is called the viewport. It indicates which portion of the page that is shown on the pad matrix.



The 128–pad matrix always displays the current page, depending on the current zoom and track length settings:

screen_step_mode


The lower–left pad holds the note set in the upper–left corner of the right screen.

 Tip  In case you are lost in the piano roll, a simple  step  Press will automatically focus the pad matrix onto the closest note.

 NEW!  By default, the displayed page follows the playhead. To temporarily lock the view to the current page, simply Press Left arrow button or Right arrow button. A single  step  Press will revert back to the default behavior. This option can be permanently disabled in this sectionthis section of the settings.
Basic operations
Press a pad of the matrix to add a note.

 NEW!  Adding a note while the sequencer is stopped will send a short pre–listen of this note to the output. This behavior can be disabled in this sectionthis section of the settings.

Rotate encoder ① to set the lower–left note of the pad matrix. The main encoder can also be used. A third way to perform this action is to Hold  2ND  and Press Up arrow button or Down arrow button.

Rotate encoder ② to set the octave. You can also Press Up arrow button or Down arrow button.

Rotate the other encoders to change their corresponding parameters.

Hold  track  to enter the track settings.

Press  +  to zoom in, Press  -  to zoom out.

Press Left arrow button or Right arrow button to navigate between pages.

 Tip  Hold  2ND  +  +  or  -  to double or halve the length of the pattern.

 Tip  Hold  2ND  + Left arrow button or Right arrow button to duplicate/divide the pattern along with its events.

 Tip  Hold a pad of the matrix to override the global parameters with the ones contained in this pad (quick copy function).
Note parameters
Each note event includes its own set of 8 parameters : Note & Octave, Velocity, Length, μTime, Chance, Roll, Math.
Step parameters are visible on the left screen. Each one of them is connected to its own encoder :



To adjust the global note parameters, simply set the values with the encoders. The notes that will be added will be created with those attributes.

To modify the parameters of existing notes, Hold a pad or a selection of multiple pads.

 NEW!  Modifying the pitch, octave or velocity of existing notes while the sequencer is stopped will send a short pre–listen of those notes to the output. This behavior can be disabled in this sectionthis section of the settings.
 PITCH + OCTAVE   C0 (0)   ...   G10 (127) 
Sets the midi note pitch & octave.
 VELOCITY   0   ...   127 
Sets the midi note velocity.
 NOTE LENGTH   1/16   ...   INFINITY 
Sets the length of the note in steps. A step corresponds to a 16th note when using the default zoom. Infinite notes won't stop or be retriggered until the Stop button button is pressed.

 NEW!  Note lengths can also be quickly adjusted for existing notes: Hold a pad containing the note and tap another pad to set the end of the note. For a length of 1 step, Hold the pad and tap a pad placed on the same column.
 uTIME   –50%   ...   +50% 
Time offset : slightly moves the note around its central step position. On the right (+) the note will be delayed, on the left (–) the note will play sooner.
 CHANCE   0%   ...   100% 
Sets the probability for the note to be played.
 ROLL   1/8   ...   1/256 
Note will repeat throughout its length (ratcheting)
 MATH   /SYNC   SYNC,   /PREV   PREV   /1ST   1ST   ... 
Conditional trigs allow you to set a condition to a note to be played. Here are some examples :
  • 1:2 — note plays the 1st time, every 2 loops
  • 2:3 — note plays the 2nd time, every 3 loops
  • !2:4 — note not plays the 2nd time, every 4 loops
  • FILL — note plays if the fill button is pressed
  • !FILL — note plays if the fill button is released
  • PRE — note plays if last condition of track was valid
  • SYNC — note plays if added on 1st step of a beat
  • NT=0 — plays only if no other notes are played
  • PB<5 — plays if last beat played less than 5 notes
  • NO FX – note is not sent to the FX chain
 Note  All conditions are listed in the 'Math (conditional trigs)' section at the end of this chapter.
 Tip  When scrolling through the Math parameter, RGB leds are dimmed to highlight events with the same Math parameter. This visual feature also works for Roll and Chance parameters.

 Tip  Hold an encoder ①...⑧ to reset a parameter to its default value. For example, Hold  all  to select all notes, and Hold the uTime encoder ⑤ to quantize all notes to their closest time position.
Note selection
You can select one, or a group of notes to edit all their parameters at the same time.

Single–event selection


Hold a note on the piano roll. The pad color will change and the selected note parameters will be displayed on the left screen.

Keep holding the pad and Rotate one of the ①...⑧ encoders to change the corresponding parameter.

 Tip  Keep holding this pad and quickly tap another pad to set the end of the note (two-finger step length feature).

 Tip  Hold a note pad momentarily to override the global parameters values with the values contained in this note.

Multiple–events selection


Hold a pad on the piano roll, then Hold another pad to select multiple notes.

To perform a selection, you can also:
Hold  all  to select all events.
Hold a  row  to select a single row of events.
Hold more than one  row  to select a range.

While selecting steps:
Rotate an encoder to change the corresponding parameter.
Press Left arrow button or Right arrow button to move your selection left/right.
Press Up arrow button or Down arrow button to move your selection up or down.
Press  mute  to mute/unmute your selection.
Press  delete  to erase your selection.
Press  copy  to save a copy (see PASTING below).
Press  +  or  -  to warp or rotate (see WARPING below).

 Tip  By default, a multiple–events selection will select all notes on the vertical axis inside your selection. Hold  2ND  while making your selection to constrain your selection to the selected notes.

 Tip  Press  2ND  during an  all  or  row  selection to toggle between single–page and all–pages selection.

Pasting


To paste your copied selection:
Hold  paste  and Press a piano roll pad. When pasting, only the horizontal position is important (pasted notes pitch/octave will stay the same).

To paste a selection at a precise XY position (transposing the copied motif), Hold  2ND  +  paste  and Press a piano roll pad.

Warping


When a multiple-events selection is active, you can warp your events in time by using  +  and  - . In other words, you can compress or expand rhythms.
 Note  The MISC setting "SELECT +/–" need to be set to WARP. Otherwise the selection will rotate when using  +  and  - .
EXAMPLE 1
  1. In zoom x1, place three events on consecutive pads, to create three 16th notes.
  2. Now select these events, making sure the selection spans exactly three columns, i.e. three 16th notes.
  3. Press  + .
The three events now span four 16th notes, and are still regularly spaced, which results in triplets.

EXAMPLE 2
  1. In zoom x1, place five events on consecutive pads, to create five 16th notes.
  2. Now select these events, making sure the selection spans exactly five columns, i.e. five 16th notes.
  3. Press  - .
The five events now span four 16th notes, and are still regularly spaced, which results in quintuplets.

Of course, you can press  +  and  -  multiples times, and program complex rhythms, polyrhythms and swings easily.
Track length, zoom and navigation

Length


Each of the 16 patterns of each track can have a different lengths. The track length can be set between 1 and 32 bars.

To set it, Hold a  track  and use encoder ⑥. You can Hold + Rotate encoder ⑥ to increment the length in steps.

 Tip  Quick length modifiers :

Hold  2ND  +  +  to double pattern length
Hold  2ND  +  -  to halve pattern length
Hold  2ND  + Right arrow button to double pattern length and copy events
Hold  2ND  + Left arrow button to halve pattern length and delete events

Zoom


Press  +  or  -  to zoom in or out.
Press  +  and  -  at the same time to Toggle between regular and triplet zooms.

Navigation


A page is what you can see on the matrix pads, represented by the smaller grey rectangle on the piano roll screen, called viewport.
When increasing the track length or zoom values, the viewport will exceed one page. The piano roll screen will always display the entire pattern with all its pages.

Press Left arrow button or Right arrow button to navigate to previous or next page.
Loop points
Loop points allow you to set up in real–time where your pattern begins and ends. Only the pattern inside your loop points will be played. You can set different loop points for every pattern within every track.

When composing, it is a great way to loop a small part you want to focus on. When performing, you can play with track positions and create interesting effects like beat repeats or polymeters.
Hold Left arrow button and Press one of the 1...16  track  buttons to set your loop point start.

Hold Right arrow button and Press one of the 1...16  track  buttons to set your loop point end.

Press both Left arrow button + Right arrow button to remove the loop points.
Project scale (pScale)
Hold  proA  or  proB  to enter the project settings.
Set the pScale param to ON to enable the project scale.
When a global pScale is enabled, the matrix pads only show the notes of the selected scale:

There are never more than 8 notes in a scale, so the 8 rows will always show the same note. For example, if the key note of the scale is F, the bottom row will always display the F note of the selected octave.
Once pScale is enabled, only in–scale notes can be added with the matrix pads. The vertical navigation in the piano roll is now octave by octave. This simpler interface garantees that no out of scale note can be added anymore.

 Tip  Even with pScale set to ON, you can disable it for individual tracks in their secondary setting window.Press  2ND  + Track and set pScale to OFF.
Note learn
NOTE LEARN can learn both single notes and chords (multiple notes) from either the  live  mode keypads or an external controller.

Before playing any notes, the left screen will show:



Before enabling NOTE LEARN, it is necessary to first play a note on the  live  pads, or on an external keyboard:



At this point, Hapax is not learning notes at this stage, but it has recognised the note input. Press encoder ② to enable NOTE LEARN. The display will change to:



The pads are now reflecting notes played in  live  mode, or on an external keyboard. Playing a single note will move the view, so that the bottom row follows the note pressed.

To add this this note, Press a pad on the bottom row.

However, if a chord is learnt (e.g. C +2), Press any pad in the column to add this chord to the pattern. If notes were previously added on this column, they will be first deleted.



To turn NOTE LEARN off (and so stop the view moving when note are performed from an external controller), simply Press (or rotate) encoder ① or ②.

 Tip  Press  2ND  +  settings  to enter REC SETTINGS and Rotate encoder ① to completely disable NOTE LEARN.
Math (Conditional Trigs)
Also known as "Conditional Trigs" in the sequencing vocabulary, the math operations are conditions that you can add to individual events to modify their behavior.

A "!" before a condition means NOT. For example !FILL has the opposite behavior of FILL.
 FILL 
 FILL  Note plays only when  fill  is held.
 !FILL  Note plays only when  fill  is not held.

 CONDITIONAL 
 1ST  Note plays on first pattern playback.
 !1ST  Note does not play on first pattern playback.
 PRE  Note plays if last condition was valid (track level).
 !PRE  Note plays if last condition was not valid.

 SYNC 
 SYNC  Note plays if added on 1st step of a beat.
 !SYNC  Note plays if not added on 1st step of a beat.

 NOTES 
 NT=0  Note plays only if no other notes are played.
 NT<2  Note plays if less than 2 notes are played.
 NT<3  Note plays if less than 3 notes are played.
 NT<4  Note plays if less than 4 notes are played.
 NT<5  Note plays if less than 5 notes are played.

Those conditions are applied at project level.

 LAST STEP / LAST BEAT 
 PS=0  Note plays if last step played zero notes.
 PS<2  Note plays if last step played less than 2 notes.
 PS<3  Note plays if last step played less than 3 notes.
 PS<4  Note plays if last step played less than 4 notes.
 PS<5  Note plays if last step played less than 5 notes.

 PB=0  Note plays if last beat played zero notes.
 PB<2  Note plays if last beat played less than 2 notes.
 PB<3  Note plays if last beat played less than 3 notes.
 PB<4  Note plays if last beat played less than 4 notes.
 PB<5  Note plays if last beat played less than 5 notes.

Those conditions are applied at project level.

 ONE IN... 
 1:2 … X:Y  Plays the note X time each Y loops.
 !1:2 … !X:Y  Does not play the note X time each Y loops.

 NO FX   NEW! 
 FX IF FILL  Note sent into the FX chain if  fill  is held.
 NO FX IF FILL  Note not sent into the FX chain if  fill  is held.
 NO FX  Note never sent into the FX chain.
 Note  The FX chain also includes the pSCALE and pTRSP effects. The parameter NO FX notes will also bypass these effects. Click here for more infoClick here for more info.
 Tip  When  fill  is held, adding notes (or recording them) will force them with MATH =  FILL .
MPE Tracks



Overview
MPE, or Midi Polyphonic Expression, is a recent specification of musical instruments data exchanges, based on MIDI.
It allows to play a synthesizer in an expressive, articulated way, that approaches the sound and feel of acoustic instruments. Hapax can record MPE controllers, with which you can simultaneously modulate several parameters on distinct notes, like timbre, tonality, pressure or volume.

MPE and POLY track types are very similar, but in MPE type, Hapax can record and playback the 3–dimension XYZ expressions of individual notes, even when playing polyphonically.

These per–note messages are usually named Pitchbend (for X–axis movement), Timbre = CC74 (for Y–axis movement) and Finger Pressure (Z–axis movement).



It’s like having 3 automation inside each recorded note.
Recording and editing
Recording a track using an MPE controller is the same process as described in this sectionthis section about recording in  live  mode.

To edit an MPE track, you can use the same basic operations, parameter editing and note selection techniques that are described on this page. The MPE per–note expression controls can't yet be visualized and edited, but they are contained in the note pads of Hapax. This means you can move notes around, use copy, paste and every other tool at your disposal for editing your MPE recordings.

Drum Tracks



Overview
The DRUM track type is particularly suited for drum machines, grooveboxes and samplers.



Once in step mode, Hold  step  and Rotate the menu encoder to set the track type to DRUM.
In this mode, each percussive element, along with its events, corresponds to a drum lane.

There are 8 lanes in total :

screen_step_mode


screen_step_mode
This step mode shares basic operations, selection & editing, copy/paste, mute and loop points with the POLY and MPE step modes.

A drum note has the same parameters as any other note: Velocity, Length, µTime, Chance, Roll and Math.

The principal difference is that instead of pitch & octave parameters, a drum note has a midi note and a midi channel, defining which drum element the lane will trig.
Select/Rename a lane
In DRUM tracks, events are organised in lanes. The lanes are, by default, named as follows:
  1. Kick
  2. Snare
  3. Closed HH
  4. Open HH
  5. Low Tom
  6. Hi Tom
  7. Hand Clap
  8. Cowbell
To select a drum lane, you can either Rotate the main encoder, or Press the  row  button corresponding to the lane.
To rename a lane, start by selecting it, then Press the menu encoder.

 Tip  To quickly mute an entire lane, Hold a  row  button and press  mute . You can repeat this operation to unmute the lane.
Drum lane MIDI routing
A lane is characterized by its corresponding note. This means that events in a drum lane will always trig the same note. This is ideal for working with drum machines, which usually expect a given note for a given drum element.

Each lane can have its own particular pair of note/channel. It is also possible to have a lane triggering a gate output : you can mix and match multiple machines to create your drums ensemble.

To access the setings of a lane, Hold a  row  button:
 NOTE   0   ...   127 
Rotate encoder ① to set the note played by this lane.

By default, this parameter sets both the note that will be outputed by the lane and the note that the lane will listen to (the trigger note).

To set a different trig note, Press + Rotate encoder ①. The input channel of the trig note can be set in the track settings.

Example: Note = 48 and Trig Note = 23.
If you play note 23 on an external controller, this lane will be trigged, and will output note 48.
 CHANNEL   1   ...   16   GATE 1   ...   GATE 4   CV 1   ...   CV 4   CV/GATE 1   ...   CV/GATE 4 
Rotate encoder ② to set the channel of the lane (each lane can have a different MIDI channel).

A lane can also trig its drum events on a selected GATE output or a CV output (a CV output will act like a gate, with 0–5V trig levels).

You can use the CV/GATE output to perform with drum accents (the gate will trig the event, the CV will output the drum velocity).

 Tip  By default, the channel of drum lanes follow the channel of the track. Once it has been changed manually, it is independent from the track's channel.

 Tip  Hold one or multiple  row  buttons and Rotate encoder ① or ② in order to change all selected lanes parameters at once.

 Note  On DRUM tracks, the midi output channel defined in the track settings does not affect the lanes outputs, although it will be used for midi automation output.
Velocity view
To enter the VELOCITY VIEW, Hold  2ND  and Press a  row  to select the lane you want to edit.

In this submode of DRUM, the matrix pads show the note velocities of the selected drum lane. Press a pad to change the velocity of an existing note.

velocity_view


To exit velocity view, simply press  step .

 Tip  Hold  2ND  and press a pad to add events fromVELOCITY VIEW. Events will be created at a velocity corresponding to the pressed pad. Please note however that pressing the lowest row will delete existing events.