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SIDOU 0.2.0: write C64 music on the FM-1

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@dsablic dsablic released this 22 Oct 05:33
· 541 commits to main since this release
v0.2.0
f511862

M2 is complete: write C64 music on the FM-1. SIDOU turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a two-SID instrument and a GoatTracker 2 compatible tracker. This release has run on one real FM-1; the first release for everyone, v0.3.0, follows after a wider test. Installing custom firmware carries a risk: read the recovery route first.

Try it in your browser: https://dsablic.github.io/sidou/.

What's new since 0.2.0-m2-preview

  • Make a song on the device. SEQ steps STEP (the 16 keys as a drum machine's steps, with parameter locks on held steps), TRACKER, ORDER, INSTR and TABLE. PLAY plays and stops; GLO and a key mutes or solos a voice; SAVE saves it to the FM-1's flash, and the file opens in GoatTracker 2.
  • REC from the keys: with REC on and the song playing, the keys write their notes into the playing pattern, quantised to the nearest row (or OFF, or after a COUNT-IN bar). K1 and K2 record cutoff and resonance locks.
  • Two SIDs: chip B renders beside chip A, the keys play B while a song plays on A, and the character's expert layer exposes every analogue parameter as a control and an NRPN.
  • MIDI: follows and sends MIDI clock, start, stop, continue and song position; live, multitimbral, whole-chip and omni modes; program change with bank select; SysEx for inquiry, instrument and song dumps and the store's directory (sysex.md).
  • Readable screens: a high-contrast theme, large text, a value popup over any view, and a help card for every view (hold HOME).
  • LIVE: presets that keep your edits while you browse, and DICE, a new sound at every turn.
  • RED MOON RITE, a barbarian duel that the song plays.

Fixed

  • USB-MIDI out works on the FM-1. On the preview almost nothing SIDOU sent reached the host, so a unit could not be updated over USB from SIDOU. SIDOU now uses Felucca's USB code byte for byte. On a real FM-1 it installs and updates over USB, answers SysEx and sends its knobs' CCs, also after a replug and with the cable plugged in after a battery boot (the diagnosis).
  • The unit is "SIDOU FM-1" on USB, so the FM-1 installers find it. macOS keeps a port's old name: delete the device in Audio MIDI Setup to see the new one.
  • Everything the end-of-M2 review marked for this release: notes from the keys over a playing song, notes above G#7, GLO in the song views, HOME deep in the menus, the help cards, the store's error paths and SysEx after a gap in incoming MIDI.

The full list is in CHANGELOG.md.

Install

  • From V15 or a Felucca-family firmware: Felucca's installer (fm1_install.py sidou-0.2.0.fwsc) or its web installer. From M-VAVE's FM1 Open, go back to V15 first.
  • From an earlier SIDOU build: the same installer, over USB.
  • Back to the stock firmware: install M-VAVE's FM-1.fwsc the same way.
  • If a unit won't boot: hold OCT- at power-on for the chip's ROM boot mode, then restore with the unbricker (flash-day.md).

Known limits: the identity is the development FM-1_900, shared with other community firmwares' development builds; SIDOU's own identity comes with v0.3.0. Open items are in TODO.md. SIDOU comes with no warranty.

SHA-256 of sidou-0.2.0.fwsc: f1219c72889d5242b95b4e06fd43eb40bd16f4e360e3d26cfe6f60b735c52d52 (built by CI run 39728448869; the same bytes as the local release build that passed hardware test 8.1 on a real FM-1). The package includes Felucca's loader and third-party code under their own licences, attached as LICENSE-*.txt; see LICENSING.md.

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