FMER 734 - FMER Companion - FM/VA synth firmware for the FM-1

FMER 734

FMER brings six-operator FM, Virtual Analog sound design and four-track performance to the M-VAVE FM-1, with an offline Companion for your sounds and projects.

FMER Companion offers an easy and local way to manage your firmware and instruments. It runs as a stand-alone EXE and allows you to manage your library of instruments and projects including direct patch manipulation, renaming/reordering, and backup/restore functions. It also can query GitHub for updates and includes the 128 original V15 presets from the stock firmware as provided library options.

To get started, download the companion, hook up your FM-1 and install the firmware through the guided wizard. If you would like to install through another method, download the firmware image on it own.

Build 734 is a pre-1.0 release for public testing and feedback.

Choose your download

Asset	What it contains
FMER-Companion-734-Windows-x64.zip	Extract-and-run Windows app, embedded runtime, firmware installer, 64 FMER defaults and 128 OEM V15 voices, library tools, offline Help and corresponding source.
fmer734-compatible-r2.fwsc	Firmware alone, in FM-1 FWSC update format. Same bytes as Companion. Third-party installer caveats are in the installation guide.
FMER-734-Default-Sounds.fmer-catalog.json	The same 64 original sounds as Companion; import to merge independent Library copies.
FMER-734-Source.zip	Reviewed source tree, original splash, original patch recipes, build scripts and dependency notices.
FMER-734-Press-Pack.zip	Original logo, exact screen captures, 37 annotated sheets/workflows, PDFs, feature descriptions, copy and video drafts.
FMER-734-Feature-Overview.pdf	Two-page introduction and feature summary.
FMER-734-Visual-Guide.pdf	The complete 37-page annotated screen and workflow guide.
FMER-734-Shortcuts.pdf	One-page shortcut sheet.
INSTALLATION.md, SHA256SUMS.txt, release-manifest.json	Installation instructions, exact download hashes and source/binary correspondence.

Installation and compatibility
· Complete feature tour
· Feedback

Two engines, three playing modes

• Six-operator FM with 32 algorithm diagrams, operator envelopes and standard
  DX7 voice/bank interchange. Exact DX7 emulation is not claimed.
• Virtual Analog with sine, saw, square, triangle and noise.
• 1V glide, 4V polyphony, or four independent mono parts in 4T.
• 64 editable DEFAULT instruments plus 64 USER slots; either engine in either bank.

Sound shaping and performance

Reorder six shared effects: low/high/band-pass filter with resonance, Room/Plate/
Hall/Cloud reverb, beat-synced or millisecond delay, four chorus profiles, four
phaser profiles and drive. Store your preferred chain. Keep LFO settings with
each sound and toggle modulation directly.

Patterns, songs and live control

• 11 arp types, including Strum; latch, octave range, gate, swing and triplets.
• Record played notes or generated arpeggios with a four-beat count-in,
  Overdub/Replace, rests and held notes.
• 16 patterns per project, up to 64 steps each; 16 onboard project destinations.
• Four-track mixer with volume, mute, solo, FX routing, pattern, patch and run state.
• Song mode: 32 entries per lane with repeats and transposition. Single-instrument
  sequencing remains available alongside live playing within the four-voice budget.
• Next-bar launches, expanded waveforms and direct performance shortcuts.

Wired MIDI and local library management

Send and receive USB MIDI, control patches and documented parameters, follow an
external clock, split generated tracks across MIDI channels, or directly link two
powered FMER units over USB. TRS MIDI is input-only. Bluetooth not yet implemented.

Companion organizes local sounds/projects, imports and exports DX7 FM voices,
backs up supported FMER units and installs compatible firmware. Everything runs
on your computer; no cloud account or hosted page is required.

Testing and feedback

Feedback is welcome on installation, Companion, navigation, sounds, effects,
arpeggios, sequencing, playing modes and MIDI. Test only the areas that interest
you. Use Beta feedback in Companion to export an optional diagnostic summary,
review it, and attach it to an issue with your observations. Nothing uploads
automatically. Outside code pull requests require prior maintainer permission.

Some caveats:

Four voices are shared across the instrument; effects are shared across tracks.
Battery percentage is an estimate.
Unknown firmware layouts cannot be forced through the installer.
Loaded-audio reserve, USB-audio endurance and the wider recovery matrix remain qualification limits.

Original FMER software, defaults and splash are GPL-3.0-only. Felucca supplies
incorporated board support; MSFA supplies the FM foundation; the updater derives
from SLOOP. Their notices remain included. See LICENSE, LICENSING.md and NOTICE.

OEM V15 voice data comes from the publisher's Apache-2.0 public resource, with source and notices included. It is separate from the 128 onboard destinations; FM conversion does not promise identical stock audio or FX. Community FM6 capture is a protocol-tested preview, not hardware-qualified support.

Read the release status and test scope. The earlier linked-runtime licensing issue was addressed in 734-r2; third-party notices and corresponding source are included.