HOOK FM Custom firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1 Drones, chords and cities. thespacepit. WHAT IT IS A generative drone that is always breathing, with chords on top that always fit it. 21 cities from Hop Pyramid, each with its own key, scale, sound and picture. Leave it alone and it plays itself (wander). Play chords and it follows you. THE SOUND Drone Moog-style ladder or ARP 2600-style. Moves on slow waves, made to meditate with. Calm for 5 minutes, then the warble eases in by itself (the 2600's sample-and-hold, cross and ring mod). A new city starts the calm again. Chords CS-80 style. Two layers per note, filter swell, slow vibrato. Arp Plays the chord in time, 72 BPM. FX Two chains, one for the drone, one for the chords. Each has a DJ filter (one knob: low-pass left, off center, high-pass right, with MS-20 bite) and a Space Echo style tape delay. KEYS White keys from C4 up The city's chords, one per key (5 or 7 of them, then they repeat) F3 Let go: chords stop, drone goes home G3 (hold) Throw the drone into its delay A3 (hold) Throw the chords into their delay SCREENS: EVERY BUTTON OPENS ITS OWN Press a button: its screen opens. Press it again on that screen: it does that screen's job. K1 to K4 change with the screen; their names are along the bottom of every screen. Button Screen Press again K1 K2 K3 K4 HOME Play (city) - weather drone col chord filt chord echo ARP Arp arp on/off speed pattern octaves gate SEQ Wander wander on/off bars chord type follow - PLAY Transport start/stop tempo drone lvl chord lvl - REC Patterns save here bank slot - - ENV Chord shape next shape how attack release - EDIT Chord voice next tone tone brightness vibrato - LFO Drone engine weather color peak tide FX Effects - drn filt drone echo chord filt chord echo GLO World map next city city - - - SEL Setup - grit engine drone peak tape wear Arp speeds: 1/4, 1/8, 1/8 triplet, 1/16, 1/16 triplet, 1/32. Every note the arp plays throws sparks off its step on the ring. Patterns: 64 slots, 4 banks (A-D) of 16. On the Patterns screen the 16 white keys are the bank's slots: press one to pick it (a filled one loads and plays). REC again saves the whole sound there: city, tempo, every knob, arp, chord shape and voice, both filters and delays, and the last 8 chords you played, which play back in order. Kept through power-offs. Tempo: 50 to 140 BPM. The arp, wander and the delays follow it. ALWAYS OCT- OCT+ The chords' octave, 2 down to 2 up (the drone stays put) SAVE Remember this city for next time ALGO knob Brilliance SELECT knob Arp gate PRESETS City MASTER Volume THE CITIES Brooklyn, Madrid, Paris, Medellin, Berlin, Tokyo, St. Louis, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Tulum, Rishikesh, Varanasi, Bombay, Addis Ababa, Lagos, Accra, Kingston, Cusco, Salvador, Rio, Buenos Aires. Pentatonic cities get 5 chords, seven-note cities get 7. QUICK START 1. Turn it on. It starts in Brooklyn and the drone fades in. 2. Wait a few bars: wander starts playing chords by itself. 3. Press a white key from C4 to take over. 4. Press ARP twice: the arp screen, then the arp on. Turn K1 for speed. 5. Hold A3 for a dub throw on the chords (G3 for the drone). 6. Turn PRESETS for the next city. OCT- / OCT+ move the chords' octave. IN THE EMULATOR (joakimeriksson.github.io/fm1-emu) Open .fwsc, pick hookfm.fwsc, press Start. Set Clock to 240 MHz (the real FM-1's speed); at 100 MHz it can crackle. A S D F G H J K L ; ' white keys C4 to F5 (your chords) Z X OCT- / OCT+ (chord octave) 1 FX 2 SEL 3 ENV 4 LFO 5 EDIT 6 GLO 7 HOME 8 SAVE 9 ARP 0 SEQ Space PLAY R REC F3, G3 and A3 are below the computer keyboard's range: click them. Drag a knob with the mouse. The CPU number at the top right is for testing. If it says LATE, the chip ran out of time (tell Nick's builder). NOT IN THIS VERSION YET Room and spring reverb, texture slots (hiss, crackle, your own samples).