ChoralRoot 0.24 brings a second layout for the chord keys made for the FM-1's own keybed (Options > Chord Keys:
FM-1, SUS from two keys under one finger, LOCK on the LFO button), MIDI that plays the FM-1's keys, shortcuts on the
Full keyboard, the GRAIN engine, velocity on all 27 keys with poly aftertouch out, a lighter FM TONE and a SAFE
MODE that really starts clean. It replaces 0.23 as the web installer's default and the three 0.24 betas. Updating from
0.24-beta3, beta2, beta1 or 0.23 keeps your settings, sounds, loops and favorites; nothing changes how you play until
you choose it (the chord keys stay the Orchid's layout, Classic, unless you pick FM-1). Going back is possible at any
time; the last section says what it means.
The FM-1 chord keys (new in 0.24)
Options > Chord Keys chooses between Classic, the Orchid's layout as before (DIM MIN MAJ SUS on F#3 G#3 A#3
C#4, the extensions on F3 G3 A3 C4, LOCK on B3), and FM-1, made for this keybed:
- F#3 G#3 A#3 are DIM MIN MAJ, and G#3 + A#3 together are SUS. Press both small black keys with one finger. F3 G3
A3 B3 are 6 m7 M7 9, and C4 and C#4 become roots: 20 of them, from C4 to G5. - Options > SUS Window (30 to 80 ms, 30 by default; listed with the FM-1 chord keys only): one finger never lands
on both keys at once, so a root pressed while the pair is still landing waits for it and plays once, as Dsus at the
pair, or as Dm when the window closes on G#3 alone. You never hear a minor chord turn into a sus chord. A root with
no chord key held, or with chord keys held from before, plays at once. - Secret chords (with Options > Secret Chords on): F#3 + G#3 is m add4, F#3 + A#3 augmented, all three the power
chord, each where it was in Classic. With them off those pairs are "the last pressed wins", as before. - LOCK is on LFO: tap it for LOCK on / off (the LFO light lit), hold it for the LOCK layer. A latched SUS shows as
G#3 and A#3 lit; the same chord keys pressed again on their own switch it off. LATCH is GLO held, then LFO; the
LFO light pulses while LATCH is on. - The picking keys in the layers (loop slots, naming, the KEY layer's tonic) stay on D4 to G5 as in Classic. Loops
store chords, not keys, so they play the same in either layout. Changing the layout lets go of any key you hold.
Also new in 0.24
- MIDI Keys (Options > MIDI Keys, Off by default): on that channel the notes 53 to 79 press the FM-1's own keys F3
to G5, through the layout you chose: chord keys, roots, LOCK, everything as on the keybed. It cannot share a channel
with MIDI Perform or MIDI Bass. The notes on MIDI Perform still play the sound directly, as before. - Shortcuts on the Full keyboard (Options > Full K Shorts, Off by default): on the KEY layer's Full keyboard F#5
brings the chord keys back on the low keys and G5 plays a chord on every key (the chord LOCK latched, else Key
Mode's chord); a quick press toggles, a long press switches only while held. F3 to F5 stay notes. - KNOB 1 is the voicing on the Full keyboard too (it was the octave there; the octave is OCT- / OCT+).
- SAFE MODE's Flash Data clears your saved sounds too (all 128 user slots), as the manual always said. Back up first
(the device manager's Backup) if you want them again afterwards. - FM TONE uses about 27 KB less working memory, with every sound exactly as before; a dense chord on a preset that
uses HARM (GLASS PAD, DRONE, HOLLOW, CLAV, STRINGS, SQUARE LEAD) takes up to about 9 % more of FM TONE's processor
time. - ChoralRoot for the M-Vave SMK-37: community test builds, SMK37.md.
GRAIN
GRAIN plays clouds of short grains read out of two pieces of sound it makes itself (no samples to load): two sources A
and B from eight families (PLUCK, DRONE, BELL, BREATH, CHIRP, SWEEP, VOWEL, METAL) with TONE, MOTION and SEED, MORPH
between them, SIZE, DENS, POS, SPRD, RAND, PITCH and SCAN for the grains, the VA's filter, two envelopes, two LFOs and an
eight-slot modulation matrix, and eight presets after INIT (CLOUD PAD, SHIMMER, BREATH PAD, FROZEN, STRUM, SWARM, ACID
DUST, GLITCH). 0.24-beta2's notes have every knob.
Playing
Nothing here changes until you turn Key Touch on (Options > Key Touch, Fixed by default).
- All 27 keys sense velocity: the top seven (C#5 to G5) now play at the velocity you strike them with, read another
way (Charles Vestal's method, from his MONK-1 and CTL-1 firmwares), a little coarser than the other keys and with no
aftertouch. - Key Touch: Vel + Poly AT sends the pressure as polyphonic aftertouch over MIDI.
- Geek Out 2 shows the last key's velocity and the pressure (
VEL 73 AT 42) while Key Touch is on. - With Key Touch on, notes sound a few milliseconds later than in 0.23 (the keys wait for their velocity).
Installing
- The web installer's default is 0.24: press Install. Options > Version reads
ChoralRoot 0.24. - From 0.24-beta3, 0.24-beta2, 0.24-beta1 or 0.23 nothing needs doing: your sounds, loops, favorites and settings
are all there; the chord keys stay Classic until you choose FM-1. - From 0.22 or older: 0.23.md says what changes (FM TONE at the other engines' level) and, from 0.21 or
older, 0.22.md "Installing" what the first start does. - A Single core package for FM-1s that have trouble with Dual Core: the web installer's Advanced > Hardware
fallback. Options > Version then readsChoralRoot 0.24 1-core.
Going back to 0.24-beta3, 0.24-beta2, 0.24-beta1 or 0.23
The installer offers 0.23 under Other versions, and the betas under Show beta releases.
- The new Options are not known there. With Chord Keys on FM-1, Full K Shorts on or the SUS Window off 30 ms, an
older version reads LATCH as off (that is the only thing it loses) and plays the Classic layout; with MIDI Keys on,
it reads Raw Chord Sound as Off. Nothing else is touched, and when you come back the Options are as you left them
unless the older version saved its settings meanwhile (then set them again). KNOB 1 is the octave on the Full
keyboard there again. - Going back to 0.24-beta3: nothing else changes.
- Going back to 0.24-beta2: the same, and SAFE MODE's Flash Data keeps the saved sounds there.
- Going back to 0.24-beta1 or 0.23: the same, plus what 0.24-beta3.md "Going back" says about
GRAIN sounds (they stay in their slots and play as GRAIN again when you return; there they play the VA's init sound)
and, for 0.23, Key Touch (Vel + Poly AT reads as Fixed there; the top seven keys follow your playing again). - Going back to 0.22 is the same, plus what 0.23's notes say (0.23.md, "Going back to 0.22").
ChoralRoot 0.24 for the M-VAVE FM-1 (identity FM-1_920).
Install from the browser at https://quixotic7.github.io/ChoralRootFM1/ (Chrome or Edge, the FM-1 connected by USB), or with the command-line installer: python3 tools/fm1_install.py choralroot-0.24.fwsc.
choralroot-0.24-1core.fwsc is the same firmware on one processor core, for an FM-1 that crashes or freezes with the standard package (the installer offers it under Advanced > Hardware fallback). Settings, sounds and loops stay when you switch between the two.
SHA256SUMS lists both packages and their apps. The package holds three JieLi AC79 SDK files (Apache-2.0); LICENSE, LICENSING.md and LICENSES.zip carry every licence. Installing firmware is at your own risk.
What's Changed
- M-Vave SMK-37 build target (BOARD=smk37); the FM-1 build unchanged by @genkigenki in #14
- SMK-37: keep the stock mapping, release its marker before the first write; FL_TAIL one sector up by @genkigenki in #22
New Contributors
- @genkigenki made their first contribution in #14
Full Changelog: v0.23...v0.24