FM-1 4-TRACK

A four-track groovebox firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1.

WIP Not published yet Firmware

The M-VAVE FM-1 is a small hardware synth with a 240×240 screen, a row of buttons, seven encoders and a 27-key keyboard. 4-TRACK is a firmware I'm writing for it: four tracks of patterns you chain into a song, a built-in sound engine, and a step recorder, all driven from the device's own controls. It's a work in progress and has not been published yet. The emulator below runs the real firmware code, compiled to WebAssembly, so you can try it right here.

What it does

Four tracks Lead, chord, bass and drums, each with four patterns (A–D) of up to 64 steps.
Song chains Chain up to 16 patterns per track on the home screen. Each track loops its own chain, so different lengths drift against each other like polyrhythms.
Track types Plain steps, held multi-note steps, chords in 14 qualities and an arpeggiator.
Sound engine Oscillators, filter, amplifier and LFO with an envelope view, plus delay and other effects. Each voice has 16 sound slots you can edit and name, and the drums have kits.
Step recorder Play the keys to write notes, with rests, ties and cursor moves. The pattern you are editing keeps looping while you record.
Per-pattern controls Beats, step length (including triplets), swing, transpose, gate, octave, preset and level.
Save and load The song is stored in the device's flash (here, in your browser). On first boot it loads a demo song so there is something to hear.
Play from the keys The keyboard plays the focused track's instrument on the home and track screens.

On the hardware

An M-VAVE FM-1 running 4-TRACK, with the home screen showing four lanes of patterns — 4-TRACK running on a real FM-1.

Try it

Press Sound to hear it. Click the device to use your computer keyboard. Click the buttons and keys, and scroll or drag on an encoder to turn it. A song you save (hold SAVE) is kept in this browser.

Keyboard shortcuts

`↑` `↓`	SELECT (↓ = clockwise)
`←` `→`	ALGORITHM
`Enter`	HOME (OK)
`Esc` / `Backspace`	SAVE: tap = back, hold 0.7 s = save the song
`Space`	PLAY
`[` `]`	OCT− / OCT+
`F1`–`F4`, `F6`–`F9`	FX, SEL, ENV, LFO, GLO, ARP, SEQ, REC
`Z`…`/` and `Q`…`P`	piano keys (two rows, like a tracker)

Screens

Click a screen to enlarge it.

Home screen with the transport running and playheads moving across the four lanes — Home: four lanes of pattern chains, with the playheads running.

Track screen with the chain strip, pattern bars A to D and parameters — Track screen: chain strip, pattern bars and parameters.

Home screen editing the chain of the lead track, with a rest cell — Editing a chain: repeat or remove cells, or leave a rest.

Step recorder with two rows of steps and the notes written so far — Step recorder, writing notes from the keys.

Step track type with a held step — Held steps: one step can sound several notes.

Chord track type, with the root key and chord quality — Chord tracks: a key writes the root, a knob picks the quality.

Arpeggiator pattern with its notes and mode — Arpeggiator pattern.

Sound editor showing an oscillator waveform — Sound editor: oscillator.

Sound editor showing the filter response — Sound editor: filter.

Sound editor showing an amplitude envelope — Sound editor: envelope.

Sound editor showing the effects page with a delay — Sound editor: effects, with a live waveform.

Drum kit editor for the clap sound — Drum kit editor.

Home screen showing the SAVED message — Song saved.

Status

4-TRACK is a work in progress and has not been published yet, so there is no download or repository link for now. Still to come: a mixer with mute and solo, MIDI in and out, richer sound engines and a proper release. Check back soon, or get in touch at dag@dag.cl.

The firmware is free software (GPL-3.0), built on the open Felucca platform by Leo Kuroshita (Hügelton Instruments) as carried by SLOOP. The screen font is Terminus (SIL OFL 1.1). “M-VAVE” and “FM-1” belong to their owners; this project is not made or endorsed by them.