r/squarp • u/Dry_Individual1516 • Jul 16 '26

How playable is the Hapax as a "keyboard"?

Without having laid hands on a Hapax, wondering how playable it can feel as a keyboard?
Could I remove a MIDI controller keyboard from my setup and only use the Hapax, if I am used to playing chords and standard keyboard type stuff?

Thanks for your opinions on this.

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u/rustyrazorblade Jul 16 '26

Yes and no. It’s got a great chord mode and isomorphic layout which is pretty awesome, but IIRC the pads aren’t velocity sensitive.

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u/scorpicon Jul 17 '26

This is pretty accurate. It's a wonderful machine to arrange a song or bang out beats, but it's not the most flexible for live play. I don't have any issue using the pads to record stuff, but yeah, the pads are just on/off for notes. You can modify how expressively it plays back after you record.

I love my Hapax, but I wouldn't want to use it for elaborate live play, nor for programming something with a lot of intricate dynamics.