Features

Features

• Thirteen engines (below), each with its own factory presets; every factory sound has a category (BASS, LEAD, PAD, PLUCK, KEYS, DRUM, FX, OTHER) to browse by
• Four tracks, one synth part each with its own engine and sound (drums are the DRUM engine); 8 voices shared between them. ALGORITHM selects the track on every page
• Sequencer: 64 steps per track with chords, ties, accent, slide, per-step chance, velocity and ratchets (a step played 2, 3 or 4 times in its length); conditions (a step that plays on loop 1 of 2, 4 of 4 …, or only with FILL held, GLO + E4); a piano roll of the steps, where KNOB 3 sets a note's length (1.6: it follows the play position when the pattern is longer than one screen); a drum grid (white keys = steps, black keys = lanes); SEQ > DETAIL: the cursor step's chance, ratchet, nudge and velocity on the four knobs, drawn as lanes over the steps; automation: recording of knob moves per step (an automation icon marks the cards it drives); live loop recording with overdub; step recording at the cursor (REC on SEQ > STEP while stopped), one chord at a time or note by note (MENU > CHORD ENTRY ADD); divisions listed by length, 4 bars to 1/32; loading a sound never touches your patterns
• Timing: live recording keeps when you played each note, as a per-step NUDGE (1/16 of a step, half a step early to 7/16 late); the track's QUANTIZE decides what plays: ON (the default) every step on the grid, as always, OFF your own timing. Nudges can also be set by hand
• Parameter locks and the AUTOMATION list: hold a step on SEQ > STEP (or the drum grid) and turn a knob to set that parameter for that step only; EDIT with the step held clears its locks. SEQ > AUTOMATION is one list of everything that happens on the track's steps: PLAY / CLEAR, QUANTIZE, each step's CHANCE, RATCH, NUDGE and VEL, its locks and automation events; change their step, parameter or value, turn a lock into automation or back, add or delete one. 128 records shared by the four tracks. SAVE held undoes every edit
• SEQ TOOLS: hold SEQ on any page for tools on the keys: CLEAR, REVERSE, SHIFT < / >, RANDOM (a new beat, or new notes in the scale on the same rhythm) and COOK (changes the pattern a little each press); on a DRUM track also BEAT and each lane's CLEAR, REVERSE, FILL and RANDOM; EUCLID (a Euclidean rhythm: HITS, STEPS, ROT), DOUBLE and HALF (the pattern twice, or its first half); KNOB 1–4 are LEN, DIV, SWING and GATE. Each tool is one undo (SAVE held); OCT− puts the track back as the layer found it
• Metronome and count-in: CLICK (OFF, while recording, or always) with three levels, and a count-in of 1 or 2 bars before recording from stop; the click goes to the headphones and speaker only, never to USB audio or into a pattern
• Songs (GLO > SONG): up to 16 sections, each naming the project slot (A–D) every track plays, or "-" for a track that rests there, with its repeats; drawn as a timeline with a lane per track
• Chord keys: one finger plays an in-key chord (triads or sevenths of the scale, or fixed chord shapes), with voicings; on the keys, MIDI in, recording and the arpeggiator
• Arpeggiator with UP, DN, UPDN, RND, ORD (the notes in the order you pressed them), REPEAT and, for chords, DNUP, UP+8, CONV, DIVG, PINKY, THUMB, WALK and CHORD; a beat LED; 16 scales with a white-key mode, glide, MONO / LEGATO / UNISON
• LFO: RATE or SYNC to a note value (4 bars to 1/32, following the tempo or an external clock), TRIG NOTE or FREE, POL bipolar or unipolar (LFO > LFO 2)
• Modulation matrix: 4 slots per track, MIDI controllers as sources, S&H and SLEW (a random value per LFO cycle, held or gliding), DEPTH as a destination, so the matrix can modulate the LFO itself, and VEL and TIME to humanize (each note's velocity, a step played a little late)
• SPREAD (EDIT > VOICE 3): the voices of a POLY or UNISON track alternate left and right of its PAN
• ENV SYNC (ENV > ENV DEST): the envelope's attack, decay and release as note values of the tempo
• Effects: distortion, an INSERT (drives, CRUSH, phaser, flanger, chorus, with a dry / wet MIX) and the SLICER per track; chorus, delay (in time with the tempo, dotted values included) and reverb sends (the reverb as HALL, ROOM or SPRING; HALL is a smooth stereo reverb, the default on a fresh start); master limiter
• FX layer: hold FX for repeat, reverse, filter sweeps, tape stop, freeze, a harmonizer (OCT UP / OCT DN with shimmer), FLANGER and PHASER (in time with the tempo), REV THROW and ECHO THROW (every track's reverb or delay send full while held), and mutes on the black keys; any white key can hold any effect (hold the key in the layer and turn PRESETS); MENU > FX LATCH makes them toggle, so nothing has to stay held
• MOMENTARY: hold LFO and turn a knob on HOME or a sound / FX page; let go of LFO and the value jumps back (OCT+ while holding keeps it)
• Quick layers: hold FX, GLO, SCL, EDIT, REC or SEQ for shortcuts on the keys and knobs, or double-tap it to keep the layer open; one-step undo (SAVE held); REC on every page; OCT+ confirms, OCT- goes back; what can be pressed breathes softly instead of blinking
• Presets: factory presets, 32 user preset slots and 4 projects, named on the device (an FM6 sound keeps its own patch in both); user presets get a category, and a project can get a random name; projects from every earlier version load. The PRESETS knob changes the sound from every page that is not a list. INIT loads the engine's first preset, CLEAN INIT its basic sound with nothing added; SAVE > PROJECT can ERASE a project. Turn the FM-1 off and on and the music is as you left it (MENU > RESTORE LAST, an autosave of its own, written only when stopped and idle)
• Screen: flat UI with Inter Tight and Fukiai icons, FLAT or LINE style, 10 palettes including grayscale, black and white, high contrast and NIGHT; type in sizes by role (what you read in the larger size, labels and hints in the smaller); MENU > LARGE for tall knob cards with larger labels and values; the menu in five tabs. The header shows the track and the project slot of its pattern ("1 A", "1 A*" once edited), the play state and the tempo. HOME shows the oscilloscope or, with MENU > HOME TRACKS, the four tracks with their steps playing (LEVELS: with the four tracks' levels on the knobs); the screen can go dark when the panel is left alone (MENU > SCREEN OFF; MIDI notes keep it on and wake it); MENU > HELP shows a short hint when a page or a layer opens; MENU > CONTROL > SELECT makes the SELECT knob step the pages, or play the mod wheel or the keys' velocity
• LEDs: idle buttons and keys glow dim so the panel can be found in the dark (MENU > LEDS: OFF, DIM LO, DIM HI or INV, the official firmware's look, also dimmed as INV LO and INV HI); PLAY turns green while playing; the keys show the notes the sequencer and MIDI IN play, and on SEQ > STEP (stopped) the notes of the step under the cursor; the drum grid marks the beats (steps 1, 5, 9, 13); MENU > SCALE LEDS shows the track's scale on the keys; a soft light sweeps over the keys at power-on, and with MENU > ANIM IDLE drifts over them while the FM-1 waits
• USB: class-compliant MIDI in and out, and a stereo audio input ("Felucca") at 44.1 or 48 kHz (the computer picks) that records the master output on the computer, no driver needed (at a fixed level with MENU > USB LEVEL FIXED; on macOS 13–15, set MENU > USB SERIAL to OFF so the audio input appears)
• MIDI: USB and TRS MIDI in; MENU > MIDI > MIDI IN: CH1-4 (channels 1–4 play tracks 1–4), CH5-8, CH9-12 or CH13-16 (another block of four, e.g. for two FM-1s on one cable), SEL (every channel plays the selected track) or TRACK (each track its own channel, 1–16, OMNI or OFF: MENU > MIDI > T1–T4 CHANNEL); a MIDI note lights its track's number, and AUTO SELECT makes that track the selected one; the keys send on the track's channel; pitch bend, sustain, panic; clock from internal, USB or TRS. MIDI CCs set track parameters: 5 GLIDE, 7 LEVEL, 10 PAN, 71 resonance, 72 / 73 / 75 release / attack / decay, 74 brightness, 91 / 93 / 94 the reverb, chorus and delay sends. MIDI LEARN (GLO + D4) sets up to 16 more CCs of your controller to any knob's parameter of any track, on the device; Program Change loads a track's sound by its number in PRESETS
• Web: editor for every parameter (with a 6-operator FM patch editor that also sends a whole 32-voice bank), step grid, mixer, preset library, sample upload (with a slot's sample rate and bit depth) and recording with trim, the MENU settings; full backup and restore (everything but the FM6 voice bank: keep its .syx file); return to the official firmware; Felucca itself running in the browser