Test: Squarp Hermod+
Hermod+ from the French manufacturer Squarp is an interesting module that can take on the function of a control center in your modular system. It is not for nothing that it‘s high up on the list of popular sequencers in many specialty stores!
Hermod+ is a versatile sequencer with a modular design. Hermod+ benefits from the manufacturer‘s experience with sequencers, from its predecessor Hermod and the hardware sequencers Pyramid and Hapax. An improved screen, more pads and the eight new track buttons make working with the 26 HP wide module much easier. It is a kind of little brother to the external Hapax sequencer and is much cheaper in comparison. It even has more CV/gate outs (eight instead of four CV/gate out pairs), but also has to make do without the internal controller functions or other features such as Undo/Redo.
Compared to its predecessor, Hermod+ now also offers dedicated Reset and Clock Gate outputs. The module can also be used as a MIDI to CV/CV to MIDI interface and can be connected to a DAW via the USB device port. With a keyboard connected via a USB host port and supplied with power, you can easily record melodies, beats or chords. Hermod+ can be the perfect interface between DAW and modular system.
Hermod+ can handle both CV/Gate and MIDI data well and distinguishes between (polyphonic) note and modulation tracks particularly well. You can record notes and modulation, program them or have them created with the help of generator functions and use them to control your sound generators.
Practice
If you want to record something live, you might miss having a metronome. Here, you have to rethink, program a simple sequence in another track and control a simple sound generator if a rhythmic specification is required. Ultimately, Hermod+ is also designed for integration into a modular system. Many users will prefer to work with step programming anyway, as this is now easier to do in chaser style in the new Hermod+ with its 16 pads than with its predecessor. Even chords can now be programmed with the new Row Edit mode. The generator functions for the automated, random generation of note and modulation sequences offer detailed settings (for example: quantize, density, note range, note length, velocity). You can also edit notes or modulation curves in the editor, regardless of how they were previously recorded. A total of 16 tracks are available. Eight of them use the CV/Gate outs (but can also be used for MIDI output); the other eight are designed as MIDI tracks. CV/Gate outs can also be used in mixed layouts of different tracks, for example, as pure CV or gate sequences, polyphonic sequences or sequences with several CV outs (such as converted velocity and aftertouch commands).
Effects and projects
Effects such as Arpeggiator, Euclid (for creating Euclidean patterns), Chance, Scale, Swing, Delay, LFO and more can be used to modify MIDI notes, as well as the modulation curves of a sequence, or even generate them themselves. You can also use Hermod for the scale quantization of incoming or self-generated random patterns. You can also use the Harmonizer effect to create chords from individual notes. And you can also link effect parameters with CV Ins and MIDI CCs in a modulation matrix. Projects can be saved on a microSD card and even loaded during operation. A project can have 16 sequences, this means one pattern per track, Sequence 1 then plays Pattern 1 of all tracks, Sequence 2 all of Pattern 2, etc. This structure is perhaps a little less flexible than elsewhere, but offers simplicity and clarity for live performances. Sequences can also be combined as a song using the Chaining function.
Verdict
Thibault and Benoit from the French developer, Squarp, do their work with a lot of heart, respond to requests, always strive for improvements and are also a little understated. Squarp Hermod+ is definitely a little insider tip as a powerful centerpiece in a modular system and interface to computers, which can handle both CV/Gate and MIDI very well. ⸬