NCC 0.4

NCC 0.4 adds seven sound engines, Dual sounds and smoother whole-chord drones to the FM-1 companion for Novation Circuit Tracks.

• Twelve engines, 161 built-in sounds. PHYS, GRAIN, VOICE, LOFI, WHEEL, NOISE and SAMPLE join FM6, JUNO, PHASE, TRIO and ACID. Includes 46 new NCC patches. All eight Circuit knobs have real audio destinations on every engine.
• Dual sounds. SCL layers the existing L/R parts from one selected note source, MIDI channel 3 or 4. Each part keeps its own patch, arp, Drone and controller settings. Effects retain their shared buses.
• Whole-chord REPLACE. Add notes while any physical key is down; after all keys are released, the next gesture replaces the held chord. About 51 ms fade-out followed by 51 ms fade-in; the first strike remains direct. Sustain does not extend the physical gesture. STACK remains available.
• Settings and sound editing. GLO opens channels, clock, output and performance settings. EDIT opens the selected sound's engine, envelopes, LFO, voices and FM6 operators.
• Dry sound defaults. Every newly selected sound starts without delay or reverb; turn sends up whenever needed. Project restore and undo preserve saved wet settings.
• Manager and reliability fixes. Matching settings/demo, correct tempo encoding, safe user-sample addressing and corrected VOICE/NOISE arithmetic. Stored formats and the engine interface remain unchanged. LOOP remains hidden.

Install: web installer (Chrome/Edge and USB), or python3 tools/fm1_install.py ncc-0.4.fwsc. Release identity: FM-1_704. Manual.

Downloads: ncc-0.4.zip contains the firmware, app image, checksums, sample attribution and licence texts. ncc-0.4-source.tar.gz contains the complete corresponding source including the engine submodule, which GitHub's automatic source ZIP omits. SHA256SUMS covers all three downloads. Built on Felucca; GPL-3.0-only with the existing third-party licences.

Validation: both NCC host variants, 113 NCC + 98 plain golden renders, Manager/editor/runner tests and v0.4 WebAssembly integration pass. The same synth code is installed on the owner's FM-1 as development build FM-1_700; write/restart, twelve engines and the 161-sound library were verified. This release changes identity/version metadata. Listening, physical controls and hardware deadline checks remain practical tests. Existing Mac CPU baseline exceptions and the DSP signed-left-shift sanitizer exclusion are documented in the handoff.

Known limitations: the GLIDE ring's displayed time and restoration of an NCC patch's name after power cycling still need work. PHYS/GRAIN have three voices per part, VOICE four; the shared voice budget still applies in Dual.

Firmware SHA-256: 075b9d84b3f7a29b6595debaf1ded6e6681342a6895f3e54f9302195bfcfcb77.

NCC 0.3

NCC 0.3: clearer sound picking, locked to the Circuit's bar.

• Clearer sound picking. SELECT is the category, ALGORITHM the engine, PRESETS the sound, and all three stop at the ends instead of going round. The part's box shows its category and engine as two labels, the bottom line says where you are ("TYPE PAD ENGINE ALL 3/15"), and while you turn you see where you're going (PRESETS: the sound's name before it loads).
• Locked to the Circuit's bar. On the Circuit's clock NCC now counts the bar in its clock pulses, so the arp can't drift off the Circuit any more. Press Stop and Start on the Circuit once after installing.
• DX7 banks: a full 32-voice bank keeps its voice names after a restart, and names like "GrandPiano" get the right type.
• The LOOP engine is coming soon: it is left out of this version while it gets finished.

Install: https://fenderberg.github.io/fm1-nc-companion/webapp/installer/ (Chrome or Edge, USB, one click), or python3 tools/fm1_install.py ncc-0.3.fwsc. Back to stock any time. Installing firmware is at your own risk.

ncc-0.3.zip holds the package, the app image, SHA256SUMS and every licence the firmware needs (GPL-3.0-only; built on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita).

SHA-256 of ncc-0.3.fwsc: 3bdb8234d559bef96bb74502b02f673c9580890eb6b2b7a81b018e5936de39af

NCC 0.2

NCC 0.2: sounds by role, a drum loop engine, 30 more sounds and a web manager.

• Sounds by role, not by engine. SELECT picks the type (BASS, PAD, LEAD, KEYS, PLUCK, BEAT), ALGORITHM the engine (or ALL), PRESETS walks through what's left: a sound from another engine switches the part to it.
• 88 sounds: 30 new ones (keys, plucks, bells, pads, basses, leads on JUNO, PHASE, TRIO and ACID).
• LOOP, a new engine: lo-fi one-bar drum loops that always fit the Circuit's bar. Any note opens the loop where the bar is (the Circuit's scale doesn't matter), so the Circuit's steps chop it. IDM tricks on the Circuit's knobs: shuffle, reverse, stutter/beat repeat, crush, DJ filter, pitch. Seven built-in loops (incl. an Amen-style break played on the FM-1's own drums), and your own loops from the user sample slots.
• NCC Manager, a web page over USB: put sounds on L/R, manage your own sounds, send DX7 banks and drum loops, back up, change settings.
• FX opens on SENDS; delay and reverb work in SPLIT; the Circuit's knobs 5–8 fixed; the knob popup shows what each knob does per engine.

Install: the easiest way is the web installer at https://fenderberg.github.io/fm1-nc-companion/ (Chrome or Edge, USB, one click). Or download ncc-0.2.fwsc and run python3 tools/fm1_install.py ncc-0.2.fwsc. Back to stock any time. Installing firmware is at your own risk.

ncc-0.2.zip holds the package, the app image, SHA256SUMS and every licence the firmware needs (GPL-3.0-only; built on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita).

SHA-256 of ncc-0.2.fwsc: 344d8e2de7fb005faf815f5f229d18233e3bef60d9cfcfaf1c641cf401690061

NCC 0.1

The first release of NCC, the Novation Circuit Companion: firmware that turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a two-part synth for the Novation Circuit Tracks.

• Two parts on the Circuit's MIDI 1 / MIDI 2 tracks (channels 3 and 4), following its clock and Start/Stop
• Split output by default: part L on the left, part R on the right, one per Circuit audio input
• The Circuit's 8 macro knobs mapped per engine, smooth, with a popup showing what each knob does
• Five engines: FM6 (DX7-style), JUNO (with Juno chorus and Juno sounds), PHASE (CZ-style), TRIO (SID-style), ACID (303)
• OCT- / OCT+ to switch between your two sounds, a clock-locked arp with HOLD, a Drone button, FX pages (sends, delay, reverb, chorus, insert, PERFORM) and echo/reverb throws

Install: download ncc-0.1.fwsc, then python3 tools/fm1_install.py ncc-0.1.fwsc (see the manual). Back to stock any time with M-VAVE's updater or Felucca's web installer ("Return to official V15"). Installing firmware is at your own risk.

ncc-0.1.zip holds the package, the app image, SHA256SUMS and every licence the firmware needs (GPL-3.0-only; built on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita).

SHA-256 of ncc-0.1.fwsc: dc0db43d2b59f12e4a1742dea7f10f3ff68b8684a8a9f9af1fe4d0d4b9f42271