M-VAVE FM-1¶
The FM-1 is a pocket FM synthesizer whose community writes its own firmwares: synths, grooveboxes, drum machines, trackers, chord harps. Try the device and any of 95 firmwares right here, then install the one you like on your own FM-1 from its author's page.
Press Start, then play with the computer keyboard, the mouse or a MIDI keyboard.
Start the FM-1, play, and record what it sounds like.
MIDI out of the FM-1 (USB): nothing yet
The virtual FM-1 is fm1-emu by Joakim Eriksson
(MIT), with a USB-MIDI link to this page added: it runs each firmware unchanged and downloads it from its author's
site; no firmware is hosted here. M-VAVE's own firmware needs your copy of FM-1.fwsc.
Drivers
SynthHub's catalogue has the MIDI implementation of the stock firmware (V15, V16), of M-VAVE's open-source FM1 Open (tried on M-VAVE's own workbench) and of Felucca, the firmware most others are built on, and of 91 community firmwares: each card below links to its own.
The firmwares
M-VAVE stock firmware
The firmware the FM-1 ships with: a DX7-style FM synth, both cores running. This page does not host it and cannot download it (M-VAVE's server does not allow other pages to): download FM-1.fwsc from M-VAVE, then open it here; this browser keeps it for next time. Its patches live in flash an update does not carry, so it starts with a small bank of the emulator's own; "DX7 bank…" loads a 32-voice .syx.
Felucca 1.6.1
The original open firmware: a four-operator FM synth with sequencer, arpeggiator and effects.
· install it · source · driver
Felucca [Salt] 0.9-salt14
A Felucca fork with its own sound and editor changes.
· install it · source · driver
386DX 1.0.2
A karaoke robot with a band: it sings songs from karaoke and MIDI files, or lines you type, to the notes you play. Its face is the voice. Keys, bass and drums play along, with a step sequencer and sixteen punch-in effects.
AMB-1 1.3
A generative ambient machine inspired by Music for Airports.
· install it · source · driver
April OS BETA 1.1
A sampler inspired by the Casio SK-1: no synth engines, only samples, recorded through the installer page's microphone bridge.
· install it · source
BEETLE 1.4.25
A tracker for the FM-1: patterns written top to bottom, step by step, with note, instrument, chord and effect columns, the way trackers have always worked.
Bunker Evolved 1.0.0
Generative ambient: four editable layers from 64 sound recipes, 24 worlds, 24 motifs and 32 scales. GROW varies the phrases, seven EVOLVE processes change them over time. Felucca's sound pages stay. Built on Felucca 1.6.1.
Bytemania 1.2.0
A bytebeat synth: play one-line formulas, tweak them with the knobs, and write your own, with a random button in the formula creator that is really fun. A beta, built on Dinghy.
Carnac OS 0.9.3
A dual-timbral wavetable synth after Carnac's standing stones: 15 morphing wavetable banks, seven voice architectures, a MAQ 16/3-style sequencer for modulated sequences and a chord sequencer for progressions, spring, tomb and tank reverbs. Its own installer also writes its wavetables. Built on X0X and Felucca.
Chipbox 1.2.4
A chiptune groovebox with replicas of the NES, Game Boy and Sega Master System sound chips, in three views: RACK for the 16 steps of a page, CHIP to set up each channel, SONG to chain the pages into a song.
ChoralRoot 0.26.1
A port of the Choral Root synth.
· install it · source · driver
fm1-chord 0.3
A chord machine after the HiChord, with extras: chords in a key under the white keys, slash chords and inversions, sounds, envelopes, effects and a looper.
Clipper 1.1-experimental
A deep synth grown out of SLOOP: 23 engines and 407 sounds, from HYBRID (three oscillators, two filters, a mod matrix) to six-operator FM, wavetables, wave sequencing, a Juno and physical models; arp, step sequencer, MPE and a web editor for every parameter.
CoralFlower 0.5
Chords after the Orchid, with a UX made for the FM-1: one key turns every note into a chord with a bass, 27 scales, an arpeggiator, a looper, a plate reverb, and a pixel flower that grows as you play.
CS-1 2026.10.22
A Yamaha CS-80 in spirit: eight voices of two channels, high- and low-pass filters in series, ring modulator, the touch response and 22 tones from the owner's manual. A sound module played over MIDI.
CTL-1 1.0
A MIDI controller: the keys play in a scale with its chords on the black keys, four banks of knobs, an arpeggiator and Euclidean drums, with General MIDI sounds of its own.
· install it · source · driver
Cut-A-Dor 1.2.1
A beat dojo for scratch DJs and beatmakers: boom bap, lo-fi and breaks from 16 rhythm families with swing and fills, an eight-lane 32-step sequencer, punch-in effects you record bar by bar, a bass voice. Sound banks and editor in the browser.
Del Rio 0.7
A rhythm box of ceremony percussion: djembe, cajon, udu, clapsticks, maracas and triangle, their real strokes on the black keys, a step sequencer on the white keys and 31 rhythms from the literature. Played alone: a berimbau with its caxixi, a buzzing tanpura and a breathing shruti box. Built on fm1-base.
· source
Dinghy 0.4
Your base for your own FM-1 firmware: everything under it done and documented (updates, USB rescue, USB-MIDI, USB audio, keys, screen, settings), a 4-voice sine on top. Fork it, replace the sine.
DRIFT 0.8
An ambient instrument for live sessions: warm synths, spacious pads and delicate plucks over a generative Euclidean sequencer on one track, with delays and reverbs from spring to shimmer. Built on Felucca.
DUB-1 1.3.0
A generative dub techno machine that plays itself from the moment it is on: chord stabs into a tape echo, FM pings, a sub bass on five grooves, a ducking kick, crackle, and an eight-bar arrangement with breaks and fills.
DUELL 1.0
A multimorphing bitimbral synthesizer: two complete parts, three ways to play them together, and a morph that glides between two versions of every sound.
Evander's Music Box 1.5.2
A bard's instrument for LARP, medieval and high fantasy: recorder, hurdy-gurdy, harp and a tavern kit on four tracks, encounters and songs for the table. "Mother Melody hears thy song."
ETCH 1.61
Draw the sound: a waveform drawn and changed with the knobs, morphed into another one, and a third modulating the result. An experimental build.
Fart Machine One 1.1.0
A questionable musical instrument: eleven artisanal farts, reverb, delay and a sixteen-step sequencer.
Felucca 8 Patterns 1.6.1_and_sequences
Felucca 1.5.1 with eight sequences a track to switch between and chain one after another; the user samples are left out to make room.
FiMba-1 0.6.1
A physically modelled kalimba (thumb piano), with mbira patterns, tape and grains. Built on Felucca, X0X and FoMni.
· install it · source · driver
Flyfish 1.0.1-4e5efb8
One piece on the FM-1: Chopin's Étude Op. 10 No. 1 on a sampled Steinway D. It plays the étude, lets you shape it with rubato, touch and accents, practise it and move it. Built on Tuna and Felucca.
FM-106 Beta4
The Juno-106 emulation of KR-106 ported to the FM-1: six voices on both cores, the BBD stereo chorus, 128 factory presets and a 1980s Roland look.
FM-1 Doom 0.5
Doom on the FM-1: one arena from FreeDM, played on the keys and a knob, on the FM-1's screen, with synthesised sound effects and no music.
· source
FM1-GM 1.0.2
A General MIDI sequencer with 16 tracks, 128 General MIDI instruments to choose from and a drum kit (on track 10). It can store up to 64 songs, each containing up to 128 measures.
FMEL-1 1.0
Mellotron-style tape sounds, coloured with effects and lo-fi tape: flutes, strings and choirs as on the old tape frames, played from the keys.
FMini-1 1.8.0
A three-oscillator monosynth in the spirit of the classic Moogs: a 24 dB/octave ladder filter, two contours, 100 factory patches, an arpeggiator, a sequencer and MIDI. Built on Felucca.
FOMAJAM 0.1.6
A drum machine in the classic step-grid style: voices after the 909, 808, 707, 606, DMX and more, a machine per voice, accents and patterns. Play it in the browser first.
FoMni 0.4
A chord harp inspired by the Omnichord: hold a chord, strum the keys.
· install it · source · driver
FRASIL 1.0
An ambient drone and texture instrument: tap a key to latch a drone, a note or a chord in your key, press to swell it. Three layers a voice into a big reverb with shimmer and freeze; GLINT plays icy FM bells on top, by hand, by arpeggiator or a 32-step sequencer, and BASS holds a deep note below.
Frodhes 0.9.4
A Rhodes electric piano, physically modelled, no samples: four piano types, compressor, drive, tremolo or wah, phaser, chorus, delay and reverb, tap tempo, MIDI clock, scales and presets. Built on Dinghy.
FuMi-1 1.1.0
Inspired by the Suiko ST-50 shigin conductor: koto and shakuhachi-style tones.
· install it · source · driver
Pocket GammaWave 1.0-GW
The companion to the GammaWave desktop synth: four industrial distortions, vowel and scream filters, an FFT spectrogram, a four-track tape deck screen and a song generator with 49 genres, trap and drill too.
GHOULBOX 2.3.2
Dungeon synth (a Felucca fork): cathedral reverb and dark drones.
· install it · source · driver
Golana 1.2
One analog-style synth laid out like the classic microKORG, with a screen that draws the sound.
Golana DZ Edition 0.1.0-beta
Golana's synth with a sequencer for whole songs: 64 steps a pattern, 32 programs (up to 2,048 steps), a SONGMODE that plays from a first to a last program once or on repeat, and USB MIDI out to sequence other synths.
GR!MM 1.0
Dark ambient, dungeon synth and deathdream: four tracks, seven sound sources from VA and 6-op FM to formant voices and physical models, tape, granular freeze and reverbs up to infinite, a 64-step sequencer and song mode. Built on Dinghy.
HERA 1.1
A chord groovebox after the Roland J-6: 100 chord sets, 9 phrase styles with 12 variations each and a 64-pattern step sequencer, on a four-voice Juno-style synth from Clipper with chorus, delay and reverb. A chord map on the screen shows which chord sits on which key. Built on Dinghy.
Hortator 0.23.3
A drum-focused firmware based on Felucca.
· install it · source · driver
HYP-1 1.5.54
Hypnotic techno and acid: a breathing pad, a deep drone, a generative 303 line and grain over drums you sequence. Flip patterns on the bar, break it down, build it up. Forked from AMB-1.
Jangada 1.0.1
Superwave analog voices and a modulation matrix.
· install it · source · driver
JIANT FM 0.9.9-beta4a-813869d
A bio-synthetic groovebox: six tracks drawn as living beings, eight engines (FM6 with Dexed, analog, phase, voice), mutating macros and SLOOP's song mode. Still in development.
KAWA 0.5
A pocket tracker for any style: six tracks with an engine each (pulse, 4-bit wave, noise, 6-operator FM, drum kit or sample), patterns chained into a song, 32 live effects and tools that write beats for you. A beta, not yet tried on a real FM-1 by its maker.
Ketch 0.1-beta
A tracker in the LSDJ / picoTracker / M8 line: song, chain and phrase screens, instruments, effects and a mixer, on the FM-1's own keys and screen.
LOOM-8 0.7
A groovebox inspired by the OP-XY: eight tracks on nine engines, step tricks and locks, weave, a conductor and throws.
MAKU 1.0
An ambience machine for DJ interludes: switch it on and a random world in key plays, four parts, buttons that are verbs, and the worlds you like breed new ones. Clock follow. Play it in the browser first.
MC-1 1.2.0
An original four-part groovebox with a 1990s workflow: three melodic parts and a 16-lane drum part, 128 melodic presets, eight drum kits, song arrangement, an arpeggiator and recorded knob moves.
Melodee 1.4.5
Total playing pleasure, far beyond Felucca: recording without quantize, microtonal scales, a Casio CZ-1, a bit-by-bit Dexed, scale modes made for an MPC Sample as its companion.
MIN-1 0.2.1
A tiny minimalist ensemble after Philip Glass: it starts playing when you switch on, you join whenever you like. In EASY mode every white key is a chord that fits. Four models, twenty pieces.
Mini-Tone 1.0.2
Felucca with six tracks and new engines: SID, Braids' 48 models, a TB-303 and engines after Elektron's Analog Four, SY Chip and Digitone 2, a ping-pong delay and a new reverb. Built on Felucca 1.5.
MODELAR 0.3
A semi-modular drone synth played like a Kaoss Pad: four oscillators modulating each other through eight routings, and keys that move a cursor on an XY pad instead of playing notes: white keys are points, black keys gestures. ARP, a polymetric sequencer, a clock in Hz and eight generative environments.
MONK-1 0.9.1
Twelve singers, from Jerry the monk to Snider the punk, each in its own voice: MonkSynth's formant voices, played with velocity and pressure from the FM-1's own keys.
MORPHEUS 1.0.0
A pattern sequencer after Reason's Matrix: up to four channels of MIDI sequence data out, and a few voices built in to build the patterns with.
Mutable Dreams 1.0
A generative instrument after a small modular setup: six interchangeable tracks on eight engines (selected Plaits algorithms, Rings' modal resonator, a Choir of its own), 64 Biomes, Euclidean rhythms with probability, four macros and a granular bus. Plays and edits in the browser.
MYCELIUM 1.0-test
Forest, Psytrance, Goa and Hitech grooves, built on Felucca and SLOOP: original drums and icons and four factory songs. A test release: not yet fully tested on the device.
Niagara Drift 0.2
A drone synth: two drifting virtual-analog drones, each with its own part, swells, LFOs, effects and a sequencer.
No Man Sky FM 0.5
A space adventure while you make music, built on SLOOP 2.7.1: fly between planets with two knobs, land, mine, fight sentinels and warp between stars, every SLOOP screen floating over the game.
NOIZ DEMONS 666
Felucca with randomization as a ritual: every new sound summons one of 30 demons of the Ars Goetia, its sigil takes the screen and its rank decides how wild the sound gets.
OberVave 3.0.1
An 8-voice analog-style poly in the spirit of the classic American polys of 1979-84: two oscillators a voice, sync, cross-mod, a 12 / 24 dB filter with a SEM-style morph, an arpeggiator with hold, chorus, ping-pong delay and a plate reverb. A two-track step sequencer played as sloopDX: live recording on top, chords, long notes, a click and a count-in.
OPN-1 2.0.0
The Sega Genesis / Mega Drive's Yamaha YM2612: six channels of 4-operator FM. Its web app takes patches from game music (VGM) and OPM files and streams VGM tunes to the FM-1 to play.
ORBIT 0.7.1
A four-track groovebox based on SLOOP: three synth parts and a drum machine, an event tape to rearrange them, OP-1-inspired screens.
· install it · source · driver
PIGEON 0.5.0-beta.1
An old-school hip-hop and house sampler after the SP-404 and the PO-33: two song samples and a 16-pad kit, up to 32 chops a song, a 64-step sequencer, patterns and a song arrangement. Built on Felucca.
Polly 0.5
A pocket arranger after the Yamaha QY70: pick a style, play a chord and a band of eight follows, with General MIDI sounds.
· install it · source · driver
PurpleMonkey 0.11
A firmware for kids.
· install it · source · driver
FM1 Quest 38
A live RPG adventure inside the synth.
· install it · source · driver
Rainbow Mode 1.1.5-rb
A music toy for little hands (a Felucca fork).
· install it · source · driver
Shine On 3.0.1
A string ensemble in the spirit of the late-70s machines, grown out of OberVave: divide-down keyers with 16', 8' and 4' footages, register filters, a three-tap BBD ensemble and a phaser, on two tracks with the sequencer.
FM-1 SID 0.1
A SID chip on the FM-1, as a synth: the keys play 12 instruments, KNOB1-4 are cutoff, resonance, attack, release; FX opens chorus, delay and reverb. HOME turns it into a C64 tune player (reSID 0.16 and a 6502 running the tune's own code), starting with its own tune. Built in this repository (fm1-sid/), not on fm1-editor.com's list; its own page plays all of HVSC: joakimeriksson.github.io/fm1-emu/fm1-sid/
SID-1 1.0.0
The Commodore 64's SID chip, twice for six voices. Its web app edits patches and takes them straight from .sid game music files.
SIDOU 0.3.1
Turns the FM-1 into a C64 SID machine: two SIDs (6581 and 8580) with the chip's character dialled in, a GoatTracker 2 compatible tracker and step sequencer, and a live instrument to play over a song.
Skiff 1.4
A six-track groovebox built on Felucca 1.1.5: fourteen synth and drum engines, a 64-step sequencer with chords, ratchets and locks, songs and a performance layer.
· install it · source · driver
SLOOP 2.8.1
A live groovebox: four looping tracks.
· install it · source · driver
SLOOP ALG ALG05-TEST
A SLOOP test build with extra FM algorithms.
· install it · source · driver
SLOOP DX7 Banks 2.5-b28-test
SLOOP with up to twelve DX7 voice banks and presets grouped by kind. Test builds.
SLOOP Floyd FM 2.4
SLOOP with a four-operator FM engine after Floyd Steinberg's 4-OP idea: an envelope per operator and a live oscilloscope that draws the envelopes as you play.
sloopDX 4.0
SLOOP's live workflow with a six-operator DX7 engine from Dexed: 32 algorithms, your own .syx banks, every voice edited on the FM-1, and FM drums.
Tessera 2.0.1
Generative music on four tracks: each plays its own steps, an arpeggio or one of 13 generators (Turing, Euclid, Markov, Constellation, Chord and more), and the tracks evolve, follow and modulate each other. EVOLVE and FORM grow phrases into songs; 16 mod cords connect anything. A Melodee fork.
Tonitor 2026.10.23
Six tracks for live ambient and experimental music: three synth engines, patches generated by algorithm, free-length loops with up to ten overdubs each, a granulator, filters and a lush reverb.
TRIBE 0.3-beta
A ten-track groovebox built on X0X where any engine plays on any track: kicks, 909 and 808 voices, a 303, sixteen clips a track and scatter effects.
· install it · source · driver
Tuna 1.0-fbc56d3
Generative music built on Felucca: composer profiles write the music as it plays, you steer them. A work in progress.
Unholy Union 0.2.3
Generative ambient and drone: Immaculate Permutation rolls an arrangement in one key, a pad, a sequence and a chord arpeggio under a fourth voice for your hands. Keep a sermon you like, evolve it, or reveal another.
Vector37 0.3.2
An orbiting overtone synth: four corners of two overtone generators each, a sun on a path and a moon around it decide how much of each you hear; the knobs shape the selected planet. Made for the SMK-37, here its FM-1 build. After the Beetlecrab Vector.
WaveLoop FM-1 1.0.5.2-midi23
A Felucca mod: standalone Arturia MiniLab 3 control, fine track mixing, a DJ filter, momentary effects and MIDI feedback.
· install it · source · driver
winampFM Synth 0.12
Winamp 2.x on the FM-1, built on SLOOP: your sounds as a playlist, four tracks recorded as loops, effects on sliders and a visualizer of lines.
X0X 1.1.0
A groovebox: 909, 808, two 303s and a break player. Pick a drum with a black key, set steps with the white keys, then PLAY.
· install it · source · driver
X0X-RMX 1.1.0
X0X remixed after The Orb: banks and patterns reordered live per voice, Grids MAP and EUCLID drum generation, an extended TB-3PO with 22 scales and a morphing 303 waveform. Built on X0X.
ZEN-1 1.2
Ambient as a living window: cherry petals on a river, koi in a pond, fireflies under a real moon, and every movement a note. Set it down and let it play; the keys play along, the knobs shape the scene.
zp12 2.5
A 12-bit sampling drum machine after the E-mu SP-1200: 32 pads at 26 kHz with no interpolation, filtered channels on the knobs, loops and songs.
The list comes from fm1-emu, which follows the FM-1 Firmware Hub.