Changelog

0.33

Changed

The black keys with a function (AMBIENT, EXPERIMENTAL, REVERSE, PENDULUM, RANDOM, HALF SPEED, DOUBLE SPEED, EDIT) are dimly lit while off and fully lit while on. SHIFT and the black keys without a function stay unlit.

0.32

Added

Master delay, mono, before the reverb. Per-track send on SHIFT + KNOB 4 (default 0). DELAY page on SHIFT + SEQ with TIME (20 ms – 2 s, logarithmic), FEEDBACK (0–0.95), DAMP (one-pole low-pass in the feedback path) and MIX. Delay line: 2 s at 22.05 kHz, 8-bit μ-law (44 100 bytes, split between the buffer pool and unused code RAM). Echoes go to both master channels and, at half level, to the reverb input. TIME changes glide over about 0.1 s. Stored in sessions (format 13); the send is copied with the track.

Changed

The screen is drawn in bands of at most 56 rows (was 112), freeing 27 KB of buffer memory; the display is unchanged.

0.31

Added

Loop direction and speed per track, on the 4th–8th black keys (lit while on): REVERSE, PENDULUM (forwards and backwards alternately), RANDOM, HALF SPEED, DOUBLE SPEED. REVERSE/PENDULUM/RANDOM are exclusive, as are HALF/DOUBLE; direction and speed combine. RANDOM plays forwards and, each time the next note-on is due and at the loop end, releases the sounding notes and jumps to a randomly chosen note-on (with any note-ons at the same time); note lengths and the interval to the following note-on are those recorded. Applies to all overdubs of the track, each within its own length. A direction change continues from the current position (sounding notes are not cut or retriggered). The loop clock runs at the selected speed, so overdubs recorded at half or double speed keep their played timing; overdubs recorded in reverse are stored mirrored and play back as played. Stored in sessions (format 12), copied with the track, reset when the track's loops are cleared.

0.30

Added

Per-track loop transposition: hold SHIFT and a track button, then press OCT+ or OCT− to move that track's loops (all overdubs) by one scale step. The screen shows the value (e.g. TRANSP T3 +2). It is added to the global loop transposition (SHIFT + OCT). Stored in sessions (format 11), copied with the track, reset when the track's loops are cleared.
The white keys follow the transposition of the selected track (global + per-track), so new notes and overdubs are in the same transposed scale. Overdubs store the transposition at which they were recorded and play back as recorded. USB MIDI notes are not transposed.

Changed

FM macros: BRIGHT renamed BRIGHTNESS, range on modulator output levels increased from ±26 to ±36 steps (about ±27 dB); turning it up also raises feedback. DETUNE now spreads carriers ±40 cents (was ±30) and modulators ±25 cents (was ±12), so single-carrier patches also produce beating.
All macros on all engines use a square-root response: a quarter turn gives half of the full change.
Macro names: FM SKEW → INHARMONIC, GRIT → SATURATION; ANIMA AIR → NOISE, VOWEL → FORMANT, SPACE → RESONATOR; CALIGULA EDGE → WAVEFORM, DEPTH → MOD DEPTH, CHAOS → FEEDBACK, ECHO → DELAY, HAND → TOUCHES, PULSE → GATE RATE; RUSSOLO CHAOS → RANDOMNESS. Names too wide for the dial title use the smaller font.
SHIFT no longer displays the audio load.

0.29

Added

Generator generation 3. ANIMA: eight kinds (PLUCK, REED, FOG, ORGAN, BITS, DRIFT, MURMUR, HOWL). FM: five families (PLUCK, MALLET, WARP, GLITCH, RUBBER). All kinds and families draw from wider ranges: any of the 24 wavetables, more intervals, FM ratios and stack steps, detuning, optional percussive or slow-attack envelopes, other hand-motion modes, square-wave tremolo, sample-rate reduction, high filter resonance (ANIMA); optional percussive envelopes, modulator ratio changes and operator detuning (FM).

Changed

ANIMA renders each voice at 22.05 kHz (16 samples per 32-sample block), upsampled by linear interpolation; bandwidth limited to 11 kHz. Oscillator increments, delay lengths, grain lengths and filter coefficients are scaled to keep pitch and timing. CPU cost per voice reduced from about 15 % to about 9 % of a block.
ANIMA wavetables in use are copied to a 15-slot RAM cache (one copy per audio block at most); a read from flash costs 6–33 CPU ticks, from RAM 1.6.
Loop capacity reduced from 2048 to 1024 note events per track (about 500 notes) to free memory for the cache. Sessions with longer loops load the first 1024 events per track.
ANIMA macros: TONE ±4 octaves on all filters (was ±2.5) and FM index; the kind macro (GRAINS, AIR, FM, VOWEL, DRIVE) ranges from zero to several times the design value, DRIVE below centre removes the second oscillator, FM, noise and grains; SPACE from 0 to 0.85 resonator mix; MOTION from ¼ to 4× hand speed, adding a tremolo above centre. At centre the sound is unchanged.

Compatibility

Sounds stored as seeds (sessions, presets) regenerate identically for generations 0–2. ANIMA sounds play at the new sample rate.

0.28

Added

Track copy/paste: holding a track button for 0.8 s copies the track (screen: COPIED; the button blinks while the clipboard holds it). Holding another track button pastes it (screen: PASTED) and empties the clipboard. Copied: engine, the sound of each of the four engines with macros, filter, granulator, crush, reverb send, octave, generative path, all loops with their mute states. Not copied: level, pan. The destination's latched notes are released.

Changed

Documentation uses "track" instead of "layer".

0.27

Added

Global loop transposition: SHIFT + OCT+/OCT− moves all loops by one step of the current scale, up to two octaves of the scale either way. Sounding notes are moved immediately. Changing scale or root re-maps the loops to the new scale. Stored in sessions (format 10).
Selecting an empty session slot resets the machine to its power-on state: loops and latches cleared, new sounds on all tracks, all track settings, scale, root, reverb and transposition at defaults.

Fixed

A note held while REC closes a loop is no longer released at the loop end and retriggered at the start; it sustains across the loop boundary.
ANIMA voice reuse: the comb resonator, phaser and sample-and-hold states of a reassigned voice are now cleared; previously the previous note's state was audible as a click.
Audio dropouts when starting a loop under high load: the render cost of each voice and organism is now measured per block, and before new voices start the oldest release tails are faded out (2 ms) until the predicted cost is under 82 % of the block. Held notes are only dropped if a buffer is actually late.

0.26

Added

RUSSOLO engine, based on the techniques of Noisferatu by Robert Heel: 17 kinds of noise, logic-gate oscillators, buffer manipulation and random tones, rendered at FS/3 with 10-bit values plus per-sound bit and sample-hold reduction. One instance per track; keys gate it and set its pitch. Macros: two per kind, CRUSH, CHAOS. 64 presets.
Sessions also store each track's granulator character and latched notes (format 8).

0.25

Changed

Voice allocation: a pool of 12 voices shared by all tracks replaces two fixed voices per track. Stealing order: oldest release tail, then the oldest held note of the same track, then the oldest held note.

0.24

Changed

Sessions are read and written one 4 KB flash sector at a time; about 54 KB of RAM freed. Session format unchanged.

Fixed

The name on the start-up screen fits.

0.23

Added

Overdub muting: holding PLAY shows the selected track's loops on the white keys; pressing a key mutes or unmutes that loop. Mute states are stored in sessions (format 7).

0.22

Added

EDIT key (the black key left of SHIFT): KNOB 1–4 control four macros of the selected track's sound, defined per engine and kind. Stored in sessions and presets.

Fixed

FM generator: operator ratios were computed with the fine value 100 times too large, placing patches about two octaves above the played note. Corrected for new sounds (generation 2); generations 0 and 1 are kept unchanged so stored sounds regenerate identically.

0.21

Added

Presets: SHIFT + SAVE opens 64 preset slots per engine.
Generator generation 1. FM: eight families (CHOIR, BOWED, HOLLOW, BLOOM, TIDE, SHARDS, STATIC, WIND), modulator levels reduced on high ratios, keyboard level scaling, several candidates generated and the one whose brightness fits the path kept. ANIMA: six kinds (TIDE, CHOIR, SHARDS, BOWL, DUST, MACHINE), filter keyboard tracking, path-dependent oscillator intervals, resonator on most AMBIENT sounds. CALIGULA: four species (LITANY, UNDERTOW, WIRE, MOTH), four tunings, repeated touch patterns.

Compatibility

Generation 0 is kept; sounds stored as seeds regenerate identically (checked by a test).

0.20

Changed

Firmware renamed Tonitor (previously ACOUSMA). USB device name "FM-1 Tonitor". Existing sessions load.

Added

Browser installer using Web MIDI (Chrome, Edge, Opera).
Website and online manual.

0.19

Added

SHIFT + PLAY with no loop playing starts all loops from their beginnings.

0.18

Added

Sessions page: holding SAVE saves to the displayed slot, with an OVERWRITE? confirmation for occupied slots. Occupied slots shown in red, empty slots in grey.

0.17

Changed

ANIMA EXPERIMENTAL path: sample-rate reduction, wavefolding, band-pass noise, scattered grains, fast tremolo and high resonator feedback on most sounds.
Level meter moved to the bottom of the screen; level shown in percent.

Added

SHIFT + PLAY stops all loops on all tracks.

Fixed

Long messages fit the screen.

0.16

Added

Generative paths AMBIENT and EXPERIMENTAL on the two leftmost black keys, per track.

Fixed

CALIGULA slow attacks and long releases.
Overload handling no longer drops the most recently played note.

0.15

Changed

Latching: hold keys, then press SHIFT. SCALE page: SELECT sets the root, ALGORITHM the scale.

0.14

Added

SHIFT key and latched notes.

0.13

Changed

CALIGULA played from the keyboard.

0.12

Added

CALIGULA engine.

0.1 – 0.11

FM and ANIMA engines; six tracks with two voices each; one looper per track with up to ten overdubs; track level, pan and reverb send; master reverb; 64 session slots; scales on the white keys; per-track filter, granulator and crush.