live mode is the best place to start composing a track.
This mode turns Hapax into a MIDI controller that you can use to experiment and record your music using the built-in pad matrix or an external keyboard. Depending on the current type of your track, you will have access to three different live modes.
Livemode SCALE
On POLY or MPE tracks, play some notes on the built-in isomophic keyboard, and add a scale to quantize their pitch. Hold live + Rotate the main encoder to switch to livemode scale.
Livemode CHORD
On POLY or MPE tracks, effortlessly build and play some colorful chords. Hold live + Rotate the main encoder to switch to livemode chord.
Livemode DRUM
On DRUM tracks, play your drum kit with the pads, divided into zones of 16 velocities. A simple Press on the live button will lead you to the livemode drum.
You will find many useful tools in those modes, such as a quantizer, scales and chords generators, hold/relatch options, chord recognition, a live looper, and of course a lot of real-time effects (arpeggiator, harmonizer, swing...).
Record your performance
PressO (and if your sequencer is stopped) to record your performance. When you will start playing, you will notice that notes are starting to appear on the piano roll screen.
NEW! It is possible to record events on several tracks at the same time. To learn about this feature, please check the Multitrack recording chapter on this pagethis page.
Recording settings can be accessed through the REC menu. Press 2ND + settings to enter this menu.
LEARN OFF ON Toggle this parameter off to completely disable the note learn in step mode.
NOTES HARD REC OVERDUB When hard recording is selected, the previously recorded notes will be erased upon a new recording. Overdub allows to merge incoming notes with the existing ones.
COUNTDOWN OFF ON (1 BAR) ON (2 BARS) ON (3 BAR) ON (4 BAR) When enabled, Hapax will play a countdown before the recording starts. The track must be armed beforehand with a Press on rec O. The countdown time can be set from 1 bar to 4 bars.
METRONOME OFF ON Enabling Metronome will output a quarter note when the sequencer is playing. The output routing and other parameters of the metronome can be set in the misc. settings .
PUNCH IN OFF ON PressO to arm your track. If punch-in is enabled, Hapax will wait for the first incoming note to automatically start recording.
LOOPER OFF AUTO LENGTH This option provides a way to capture your performances as if you were using a looper pedal. The length of your track is not predefined, and will be determined by the final length of your recording. First, Press rec O to start recording a loop. Press rec O a second time to stop recording. The track length will now be set, and the track will start to loop.
Tip When recording with auto-loop, press the live-looped-track button to set the track length while keeping REC enabled.
REC OFF OFF END PATTERN If enabled, this parameter will allow the recording to stop automatically when the sequencer reaches the end of the pattern.
Quantize your performance
The real-time quantizer is very useful for correcting the timing of a live played recording, or for applying rhythmical variations on a pattern.
Each track quantize parameters can be set independently. Hold 2ND + Press track to enter the track secondary setting window:
Rotate encoder ① to enable and set the rate of the quantizer. 1/16 is the coarsest setting, 1/64 is the most precise.
Rotate encoder ② to set the strength value of quantization. While 100% strength value will apply maximum quantization to the notes, lower values will allow the notes to be slightly off-grid. Tweak this parameter to taste to find the balance between straight and swung feel in your tracks.
Across live and step mode
Any note recorded in live mode can be seen and edited in step mode.
Moreover, all notes and chords played on an external controller or using the live mode keypads are captured in step mode and displayed on the left screen under LEARN. Those learned notes can be added with a single press of a pad in step mode.
In this mode, the pad matrix is used as an isomorphic keyboard. This leverages the property of transpositional invariance, very useful for playing chords in various keys:
Any given sequence and/or combination of musical intervals has the same shape when transposed to another key. - Wikipedia
By default, this isomorphic keyboard is chromatic, with a row-jump of 3 semitones : for any given pad, the pad to its right plays 1 semitone up, and the pad above it plays 3 semitones up.
When applying a scale, the keyboard will no longer add 1 or 3 semitones, but will move up by 1 or 3 degrees of the scale. For example, in chromatic mode, a pad up would translate into a minor 3rd jump, whereas in a major key, it would give us a fourth jump.
Basic operations
Press or to set the octave of the lowest note of the pad matrix.
Rotate encoder ① in order to set the lowest note of the pad matrix.
Rotate encoder ② to enable hold or relatch.
Rotate encoder ③ to set the velocity of the played notes.
Rotate encoder ④ to set how many notes separates a given row from the row above it.
Rotate encoder ⑤ to change the scale color.
Rotate encoder ⑥ to change the scale type.
Rotate encoder ⑧ to set the way that notes are displayed on the pad matrix:
KEY Displays a simple layout indicating the different positions of the root note and of the played notes.
NOTES IN PATTERN Only displays the notes that are stored in the step mode of the current pattern.
CHROMATIC+SCALE Always displays the chromatic scale (all the 12 notes), but highlights the notes of the currently selected scale.
Scales
COLORS Hapax comes with 72 factory scales, sorted by families called colors.
Scales of the same color are sharing the same third and/or seventh degree, so that you can replace a scale by another of the same color without radically changing the feel of you track.
The different colors are listed below, along with their respective scales :
MAJOR Major, Harmonic, Augmented, Pentatonic, Pentatonic (V), Pentatonic (Ionian), Arabic
HALF-DIMINISHED Half-Diminished, Locrian, Pentatonic Minor b5
DIMINISHED Diminished, Half Tone, Romanian, Ultralocrian, Blues Heptatonic
MESSIAN 2nd mode T, 3rd mode, 4th mode, 4th I mode, 5th mode, 5th I mode, 6th mode, 6th I mode
INTERVALS Minor Thirds, Major Thirds, Fourths, Fifth Octave, Octave
Hold and relatch
Hold and Relatch options are accessible through the PLAY parameter on the left screen. All held or relatched notes will remain highlighted on the pad matrix.
Rotate encoder ② to enable Hold or Relatch.
HOLD The classical toggle mode. When notes are played, they will be held until the same notes are played again.
RELATCH The held notes will be replaced by any new input of notes.
Tip Hold is very useful when designing drones/synth pads or experimenting with effects, such as an arpeggiator.
Chord recognition
The name of the currently played chord is displayed under the keyboard representation on the left screen. The number between brackets is the inversion index of this chord.
For example, if C-E-G is played, Hapax will indicate Cmaj, as well as the second chord name Em6 in second inversion:
This mode gives access to a large variety of chords, harmonized to the currently selected scale, that can be used to generate complex harmonies.
No particular knowledge is required for using this mode, although based on solid musical theory.
The interface is designed to be played with both hands. The left side is focused on inversions, spreads, drops, alterations and other enrichments. The right side is used to play the different degrees of the chords.
Here is a description of those two main areas :
RIGHT HAND
Press the bottom pads to input an initial chord.
LEFT HAND
Press a pad of the left part of the pad matrix. A modifier will temporarily be added to the chord. Up to 8 modifiers can be stacked per track to enrich chords.
Right hand - Chord generator
Press a chord pad on the pad matrix to play a chord.
Rotate encoder ⑤ and ⑥ to select a selected scale. If a project scale in enabled, it will be used instead.
Each chord pad represents a scale degree : if the pentatonic scale is set, five chords will be available on the pads, as this particular scale contains five degrees. Harmonizing a scale is done by stacking thirds of a scale.
As an example, a C Major scale harmonisation leads to the following chord degrees :
Scales, when used as basis for chords, entails vast possibilities, which are yours to discover!
Left hand - Voicings
Chords that are played by the bottom pads are in common root position. Add some modifiers to spice things up!
Up to 8 modifiers can be stacked per track. The stacking order is important, as each modifier is processed sequentially.
Press a modifier pad to momentarily add it to the list. Its name appears on the right screen.
Tip Hold 2ND and Press a modifier pad to add or remove it from the list. The modifier no longer requires to press a pad to be applied.
The different modifiers are described below :
OCTAVE
OCTAVE +1/-1 Each chord note is raised/lowered by one octave. OCTAVE +2/-2 Each chord note is raised/lowered by two octaves.
SPREAD
SPREAD UP Takes one out of two chord notes and raises them one octave up. SPREAD UP ++ Takes one out of two chord notes and raises them two octaves up. SPREAD DOWN Takes one out of two chord notes and lowers them one octave down. SPREAD DOWN ++ Takes one out of two chord notes and lowers them two octaves down.
ROTATE +1 +2 +3 +4
Chord inversions are displayed under the keyboard representation on the left screen. Inversions are great for making chords match with each other.
VOICINGS
SPREAD UP+DOWN Applies SPREAD UP and SPREAD DOWN at once. WIDER INTERVAL DOWN Rotates the chord until the wider interval is in the lowest part of the chord. QUARTAL VOICING Replaces thirds by fourths.
EXTENDED CHORDS
POWER CHORDS Only keeps root & 5th. SUS2 Replaces the 3rd by a 2nd. SUS4 Replaces the 3rd by a 4th. ADD 6TH Replaces the 7th by a 6th. ADD 6/9 Replaces the 7th by a 6th, and adds a 9th. KENNY BARRON Adds a 9th and an 11th. Best used on minor chords.
BASS (DROP)
BASS ROOT Drops the root note by an octave. BASS THIRD Drops the 3rd by an octave. BASS FIFTH Drops the fifth by an octave. BASS SEVENTH Drops the 7th by an octave.
TRANSPOSE +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +7
Transposes the entire chord in semitones. +5 is equivalent to a perfect 4th up, +7 to a perfect 5th up.
Auto inversion
This special modifier unlocks for you a well known pianist skill, which is moving as few fingers as possible from one chord to another.
LIVEMODE DRUM is designed specifically for drum machines, grooveboxes and samplers. This mode gives you the ability to play your kits with different velocities.
Hold step and Rotate the main encoder to switch the track type to DRUM.
Then, Press live to enter the LIVEMODE DRUM.
The pad matrix is divided in 8 zones, corresponding to the 8 drum lanes of the track. Pressing a pad will trigger the sound mapped to the corresponding lane. The velocity values are indicated by the brightness of each pad.
Rotate one of the eight encoders to change the lane note number.
Hold & Rotate an encoder to change the lane output channel or gate number.
or an external keyboard. Depending on the current type of your track, you will have access to three different live modes.
if your sequencer is stopped) to record your performance. When you will start playing, you will notice that notes are starting to appear on the piano roll screen.
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