Where can I purchase these “hex“ pickups from?
your hex hardware options include:
cycfi nexus*
older roland/boss gk2/3 or graphtech or rmc with a breakout cable* or gp10/sy1000
roland/boss gk5 with gm800/vg800
subsix*
* requires a multichannel audio interface
each has various strengths and drawbacks.
there’s a variety of effective audio interfaces ranging from $200 - $500. i’ve used the zoom l8 and the behringer umc1820.
A good source for new equipment is:
Used gear you can find in eBay.
Just bear in mind that only a pickup will not bring you any further (see kimyo’s post above).
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. 
Yesss!! I was just looking at that, I’m going to grab one for my bass.
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what kind of things are you trying to do with hex?
i see lots of arguments for hex on guitar, but bass not as much.
I was just trying to have better tracking. I’m actually using it in my standup Bass. Trying to do something different I guess! 
do you have access to a stand up bass strung with piccolo strings?
odds are that using piccolo strings will give you much more noticeable tracking improvements than hex.
the last bit you need was discussed here recently - volume swells aren’t currently handled. using those to control pressure or another cc will advance you on your quest to do something different.
No piccolo stings, but I’m using an octave pedal that helps a lot. I guess I’ll find out how it all works once I try it out!
A pedal is not changing the physical conditions such as string tension and original pitch.
What do you mean by “using those to control pressure or another cc?”
as it stands right now, increases in the volume of the note are not converted to midi.
this makes sense, as a guitar string, once plucked, will never increase in volume (well, yes, feedback and all).
in any case, bowed instruments lose a key expressive element.
here’s another option to consider: a single string pickup in combination with your existing one. you’d run two copies of midibass, on the one fed by your existing pickup you’d filter out notes below your second string.
this would work with any two input audio interface, plus they’re on sale ($169).