Alt firmware gives M-Vave’s FM-1 a 909, an 808 and two 303s
Community firmware turns the pocket FM synth into a groovebox, a multi-engine instrument or an acid machine. The hardware stays the same.
Flash the right alternate firmware and M-Vave’s FM-1 stops being just a six-operator FM synth with 32 algorithms, 128 presets, an arpeggiator and a 16-step sequencer. It becomes a box with a TR-909, a TR-808 and two TB-303s. The hardware sells for about $80 on Amazon, and Synthtopia rounded up the options: six firmwares so far.
The drums and acid come from XoX, a standalone groovebox firmware. Each 303 has a TB-3PO acid generator, and there is a breakbeat generator as well. It holds 16 patterns, with each part able to play its own, and adds a song mode, recorded knob moves and shared reverb and tape delay sends. The master section has a compressor with a kick-keyed pump, a sweepable filter and a limiter. If you play live with hardware drums and acid lines, that is a self-contained rig.
Sloop is a four-track groovebox: three synth layers plus a drum machine, with chorus, delay and reverb. It runs on the Felucca engines (virtual analog, 4-op FM, phase distortion, organ, formant, granular, sampler and lo-fi). Felucca itself offers nine engines and a multi-sequencer.
The others lean toward sound design and performance. Lunar Modulator has five engines with more than 160 models, shapes and patches between them, plus four effects; its step sequencer with parameter locks is still to come. Baud Girl focuses on live use and quality-of-life features, and adds a virtual analog engine. Groove OS is another groovebox conversion.
These are third-party builds, so test one at home and learn how to restore the stock firmware before it goes near a gig.
Sloop is free, and Darren Lock’s demo is the place to start. Stanley Gurvich, DECIMA1 and Grzegorz Bojanek have videos of Felucca, Baud Girl and Groove OS.
