A firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, for rhythmic noise, power noise, industrial and IDM

Bigorna takes the Elektron Digitone II as its model. It is not a copy of its machines: it tries, as far as the FM-1 allows, to bring the same grit and harshness the Digitone II is known for, and the same range of tones. Bigorna is Portuguese for anvil.

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Parameter locks on nearly everything

Any step can lock any parameter of the sound: all of the machine's SYN pages, the filters, the envelope, overdrive and reduction, MANGLE's destruction and slicer, the track's level, pan and effect sends. Up to eight locks a step, on every track.

On top of the usual note, velocity, length, trig condition and ratchet, each step has its own:

MUTATE moves the note up or down the scale by a set number of steps, or at random, every so many times the step plays.
MIDI FX is a per-step note effect: ECHO, ECHO UP, ECHO DN, STUTTER, FLAM, LATE, GRACE, FIFTH, TRIAD, OCT UP, OCT DN, DROP. It can also fire only every so many times the step plays.

Most sequencers with parameter locks have neither of these per step.

Long, quantized loops over the sequence

The looper records what you play over the running steps: up to 32 bars a loop, three loops a track, on all six tracks. Notes are quantized to the step on the way in, and the loop's length to whole bars when REC ends it, so it never drifts from the pattern. Each note keeps its velocity and the length it was held, and a note can be held for the whole loop. Loops are saved with the session.

This makes it suited to slow chord progressions with CHORD mode: long pad chords and held atmospheric layers, over a 16-step drum pattern. It suits improvised lines just as well, kept as played. Each loop can be muted or cleared on its own. A looper of this length, synced to the sequencer, is rare on hardware of this kind.

Features

Six tracks: Each with its own machine, sound, octave, level, pan, steps and loops.
Four machines: 4-OP, DRUM, WAVY and HIVE, chosen per track (described below). Each track keeps a sound for each machine.
Sound pages: Eight parameters a page, as on the Digitone II: SYN 1 to 4 (the machine), FLTR 1 and 2 (multimode, 4-pole low-pass, legacy, comb− and comb+, EQ; base-width filter), AMP (AHD or ADSR), FX (overdrive, bit reduction, sample-rate reduction, the sends).
MANGLE: Per track: digital destruction (wrap, XOR, bit flip, drop-outs) and a tempo-synced slicer gate.
Sound generation: HOME draws a new sound from 56 recipes — kicks, snares, hats, percussion, noise, basses, leads, stabs, drones — leaning each time towards industrial, IDM or abstract. SHIFT + PRESETS moves through the families.
Sequencer: 16 steps a track, each track with its own length, clock and direction. Per step: note, velocity, length, trig condition, ratchet, MUTATE, MIDI FX, and up to eight parameter locks (described above).
Phrase generator: Writes a phrase for the track from the role its sound plays (kick, snare, hat, noise, bass ..), with conditions, ratchets and locks; DENSITY and COMPLEXITY per track.
Recording: REC records the keys into the steps (velocity and length as played). The looper is described above.
CHORD mode: Each key plays a triad in the scale: triad, inversions, sus2, sus4, open, fourths. Chords go into the steps and the loops.
BREAK: Held, the 3rd black key breaks up the track's pattern — beat repeats, half and double time, reversed windows, shuffled beats, rolls, with ratchets, flams and octave leaps; SHIFT, every track. It stays on the pattern's beat, and the loops play on as recorded. Nothing is written: let go, the pattern continues in place.
Mute and solo: MUTE mode turns the track buttons into mutes; held, a track is soloed.
Send effects: Chorus, delay (tempo-synced, ping-pong) and a plate reverb, with a send from every track.
Compressor and sidechain: A master compressor; any track can be ducked by another track's hits, from light pumping to a gate.
Patterns and sessions: 16 sessions in the FM-1's flash. A session holds the whole state: sounds, effects, its 16 patterns and the loops. SAVE held saves it; the FM-1 starts with the last session used. A pattern switches in time, as the chosen track finishes its steps.
MIDI: Over USB, and in through the 3.5 mm TRS MIDI IN jack (Type A). Clock in and out, with start, stop, continue and song position; following a clock, the sequencer is held to its pulses, so it does not drift. Notes and CCs in and out on each track's channel, an AUTO channel for the chosen track, program changes for the patterns. MIDI LEARN binds a controller's knobs to any sound or effect parameter. Set in GLOBAL SETUP (SHIFT + SAVE).
USB audio: The FM-1 is also a USB audio input: its master output, stereo, 44.1 kHz, to a computer or a phone, as any class-compliant interface, alongside its MIDI on the same cable. Tested with a MacBook Air M5 and a POCO X7 Pro (its camera app records video with the FM-1's sound).
Scales: The white keys play one of ten scales from any root.
Readable screen: Few words, very large type, high contrast, a colour per track.

Machines

4-OP

Four-operator FM after the Digitone II's FM TONE: eight algorithms, the C, A and B ratios, harmonics, detune, feedback, two modulator envelopes, key tracking.

DRUM

Three-operator FM percussion after FM DRUM: a pitch sweep, seven algorithms, operator waveforms, a wavefolder, a noise generator with grain, and transients.

WAVY

Two wavetable oscillators with phase distortion, ring modulation or sync, drift, and a noise generator (grain, tuned or sample and hold).

HIVE

A swarm of six detuned oscillators and a main oscillator at their pitch or one or two octaves below, animated, with noise modulation: pads, leads, grinding basses, drones.

Install

The installer runs in a desktop Chrome, Edge or Opera and talks to the FM-1 over USB MIDI. Nothing to download, nothing uploaded.

Connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable and switch it on.
Open the installer, read the warning and allow MIDI access.
Press Install and leave the FM-1 connected until it restarts into Bigorna.

Bigorna is unofficial. It is not made, endorsed or supported by M-VAVE or Elektron, and installing it may void any warranty that applies to your FM-1. You install it at your own risk; see the disclaimer.