github hugelton/Felucca v1.1.5
Felucca 1.1.5
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3 hours ago

Felucca 1.1.5

Parameter locks, sequencer tools with RANDOM and COOK, a metronome with count-in, MIDI CCs, DRUM lane levels, USB audio at 48 kHz, and the FM-1 starting where you left it. Everything since 1.0.5.2 is in this release (there was no 1.1). Older projects and sounds load and sound as before; the changes in how things work are marked ⚠ below.

Install: the web installer (Chrome or Edge, USB) now installs 1.1.5.

Try it first: Felucca in your browser runs 1.1.5, the same firmware compiled to WebAssembly, with the panel on screen.

New

  • Parameter locks. On SEQ > STEP (or the drum grid), hold a step and turn KNOB 1–4: those parameters (the four of the sound page you looked at last) take that value on that step only, and the next step puts back what was sounding. EDIT with the step held clears its locks. A lock plays with its step's CHANCE and ratchets. Locks and automation share the 64 records of the four tracks; SEQ > AUTOMATION counts both. (#53, Discussion #75)
  • SEQ > AUTO LIST, the page after AUTOMATION: the track's locks and automation events as a list, step by step. KNOB 2 moves a record to another step, KNOB 3 changes its parameter, KNOB 4 its value; OCT+ turns a lock into automation and back, EDIT deletes it, and the last row, + ADD LOCK, adds one. Every lock edit (a knob turn counts as one) is undone with SAVE held.
  • SEQ TOOLS. On STEP, PATTERN, CHANCE and AUTOMATION, hold SEQ for a quick layer of tools for the selected track: CLEAR, REVERSE, SHIFT < / >, RANDOM and COOK. RANDOM makes a new beat on a DRUM track (kick, snare on 2 and 4, hats, sparse extras) and new notes in the track's scale on a melodic one, keeping its rhythm; COOK changes the pattern a little and drifts further with each press. A DRUM track also gets BEAT (a basic beat) and, for the lane picked on the black keys, CLR, REV, FILL and RND. Each tool is one undo (SAVE held), and OCT− puts the track back as it was when the layer opened. KNOB 1–4 are LEN, DIV, SWING and GATE. (Discussion #129)
  • Metronome and count-in (MENU > AUDIO, or the REC layer). CLICK OFF, REC (while a track is armed) or ON: a short blip on every beat while the transport runs, higher and louder on the bar's first beat, in time with an external clock too. CLICK LEVEL LOW, MID or HIGH; MASTER sets it as well. COUNT-IN OFF, 1 BAR or 2 BARS: with a track armed, PLAY clicks one or two bars first (even with CLICK OFF) while the screen counts down, then the sequencer starts at step 1; a note played in the last half beat of the count-in lands on step 1. No count-in with an external clock or a song. The click goes to the headphones and the speaker only: never to USB audio, never into a pattern. Everything is OFF by default. (Discussion #131)
  • The REC layer. Hold REC on any page: F3 CLEARs the selected track's sequence (no dialog; SAVE held brings it back), G3 CLICK, A3 COUNT-IN, B3 CLICK LEVEL, each press the next value; KNOB 1–3 set the same. A tap of REC arms the track as before.
  • Step recording at the cursor. On SEQ > STEP with the transport stopped, tap REC: the track is armed and PLAY does not start ("KEYS WRITE STEPS"). Each key (or chord) is written into the step under the cursor, and letting go moves the cursor on. While the keys of a step are held, KNOB 1–4 lock its parameters. PLAY then records live as before. (Discussion #133)
  • The FM-1 starts where you left it. Turn it off and on and the music is back: every track's sound and steps, the mix, the song order, the automation and locks, the FM6 patches (the header says RESTORED). It lives in an autosave of its own, not in your four projects, written only when something changed, the transport is stopped and nothing has been touched for 10 seconds, at most once a minute, to spare the flash. A change made in the last seconds before switching off, or while playing, is not kept. MENU > SYSTEM > RESTORE LAST. (Discussion #130)
  • MIDI CCs set track parameters, always on, on the channels ROUT gives the track: 5 GLIDE, 7 LEVEL, 10 PAN, 71 resonance, 72 release, 73 attack, 74 brightness (cutoff, or the engine's nearest: DCW, MLVL, TONE …), 75 decay, 91 / 93 / 94 the reverb, chorus and delay sends. A CC moves the value as its knob would, and AUTOMATION records it while the track is selected, armed and playing. (Discussion #103)
  • DRUM lane levels. EDIT > LANES (KICK, SNARE, CLAP, HATCL) and LANES 2 (HATOP, TOM, RIM, BELL) set each lane's level, 100 % by default (the kit as designed). They are saved with the sound, automation can record them, and older sounds load at 100 %. (Discussion #97)
  • USB audio at 48 kHz as well as 44.1 kHz: the computer picks the rate, and at 48 kHz the FM-1 converts it itself (flat to 18 kHz, about 94 dB SNR), so a 48 kHz session records it directly. At 44.1 kHz the samples go out untouched, as before. (Discussion #113)
  • Eight more ARP modes for chords: DNUP, UP+8, CONV, DIVG, PINKY, THUMB, WALK and CHORD (all the held notes together, an octave up each step through OCT). (Discussion #95)
  • MENU > CONTROL > SCALE LEDS: ON shows the selected track's scale on the keys all the time, the root a little brighter, with what you play lit over it. Not on DRUM or SLICE tracks. OFF by default. (Discussion #127)
  • MENU > DISPLAY > SCREEN OFF: NEVER, 5, 15, 30 or 60 MIN. After that long with no button, key or knob touched, the screen and its backlight go off; the sound, the sequencer, MIDI and USB carry on. The next button, key or knob only wakes the screen.
  • LEDs: at power-on a soft light sweeps over the keys and the buttons while the start-up screen shows (about 0.7 s; nothing waits for it, and a key or button ends it). ANIM OFF leaves it out. On the drum grid, steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 glow a little brighter, so a bar can be counted at a glance. (Discussion #135)
  • A new start-up screen (Felucca, the version, Hügelton Instruments) and a new header in three parts: the track on the left, the play state, a metronome and the BPM in the middle, the octave or song row and the battery on the right.

Changed

  • ⚠ Projects are saved as format FUN9 (the DRUM lane levels need it). Firmware 1.0.x cannot open a FUN9 project, so every project saved with 1.1.5 stays on 1.1.5 and later. Every older project loads on 1.1.5.
  • ⚠ REC held opens the REC layer. Up to 1.0.5.2, REC held on STEP, PATTERN or CHANCE asked "CLEAR Tn SEQUENCE?". The clear is now the REC layer's F3, on every page, at once and without a dialog; SAVE held undoes it. Clearing is also in SAVE > TOOLS and SEQ TOOLS.
  • ⚠ Step recording writes only when armed. On SEQ > STEP the keys used to write the cursor's step whenever the transport was stopped. Now they only play, unless REC is on (see New). The drum grid is unchanged: its white keys are the steps, armed or not.
  • ⚠ SEQ held on STEP, PATTERN, CHANCE and AUTOMATION opens SEQ TOOLS. From every other page it still opens SONG; from the SEQ pages, SONG is a tap or two of SEQ away.
  • ⚠ KNOB ACCEL is faster, and the encoders are read differently. Fast turns no longer lose clicks, with KNOB ACCEL ON or OFF. With ON, a value of more than 64 steps goes up to 8 steps per click on a fast turn (a quick flick takes FILTER from 0 to about 50), and the FX and GLO layers' knobs accelerate too. Slow turns, the first clicks of a turn and lists stay one step per click. (#126)
  • ⚠ SCREEN OFF is 30 MIN by default: after half an hour without touching the panel the screen goes dark (the sound goes on). Set it to NEVER for the old behaviour.
  • ⚠ RESTORE LAST is ON by default: the FM-1 starts with your last session instead of the power-on sounds. Turn it OFF to start fresh every time.
  • ⚠ MIDI CC 5, 7, 10, 71–75, 91, 93 and 94 now change the sound (see New). A controller or a DAW that sends them will move those parameters; the change is saved with the sound like a knob move.
  • Loading a sound keeps the locks and automation that still mean the same: all of them for a sound of the same engine, and those on the shared parameters (LEVEL, the envelope, the LFO, the sends, GLIDE, PAN …) for another engine. Up to 1.0.5.2 a sound load dropped them all. SAVE held brings back the old sound with what was dropped.
  • USB: the audio input now lists 44.1 and 48 kHz, and some computers pick 48 kHz by themselves (macOS does). MIDI, the editor and the installer work as before.
  • The update loader checks the whole package before it erases anything: a damaged or incomplete package file leaves the FM-1 as it was.
  • Unchanged: every sound plays as before (the DRUM kits, SLICE's BREAK and PIANO, every engine), saved sounds and patterns keep their notes, and the new settings default to the old behaviour except SCREEN OFF and RESTORE LAST above.

Fixed

  • Keys during start-up played at full volume (#137). The MASTER knob is now read before the audio starts, and keys pressed while the start-up screen shows stay silent.
  • Fast knob turns lost clicks (#126). See KNOB ACCEL above.
  • Damaged data is handled safely: a broken user sample slot, a project with an unknown engine, or a damaged user preset pattern is refused or kept in bounds, and a malformed editor request never stops PLAY.

Web

  • The web editor at webapp/editor (developed in Felucca-WebApp) shows the DRUM lane levels (and offers them for automation on a DRUM track), keeps parameter locks as locks, reads and writes FUN9 backups, has the new MENU settings (CLICK, CLICK LEVEL, COUNT-IN, RESTORE LAST, SCALE LEDS, SCREEN OFF) and the eight new ARP modes.
  • The installer checks the package's size and SHA-256 before it writes, and its progress bar follows 1.1.5's loader.
  • Try Felucca at webapp/try runs 1.1.5.

Going back to 1.0.5.2

Projects saved with 1.1.5 (format FUN9) do not open on 1.0.5.2: its project loader refuses them, as it would any newer format, and the same goes for them in a restored backup. Projects you saved before and have not saved again with 1.1.5 open as before. User presets saved with 1.1.5 load on 1.0.5.2 without their lane levels. Your settings stay; 1.0.5.2 ignores the new ones (CLICK, COUNT-IN, RESTORE LAST, SCALE LEDS, SCREEN OFF), and they are as you left them when you come back. The autosave stays in flash: if you return to 1.1.5 later with RESTORE LAST ON, its first start may bring back the music last autosaved before you went back.

Thanks

Files

  • felucca-1.1.5.fwsc: the package the web installer installs (identity FM-1_911, version v1.1.5)
  • felucca-1.1.5-app.bin: the firmware app alone

Licences (as of this release): LICENSE (GPL-3.0-only) · LICENSING.md · LICENSES/ · sample attribution. The package holds three unmodified JieLi AC79 SDK files under Apache-2.0 (Apache-2.0.txt). The source of this release is the tag v1.1.5.

SHA-256 felucca-1.1.5.fwsc (610,086 bytes): a6034141cbb74f55c767c3c89935e70dd3a0a91fed238ab158a9ef684033147b
SHA-256 felucca-1.1.5-app.bin (447,576 bytes): ee327df4d0f68a70143b4357ffe7791065da7fa068e98f4db36bda58327f38bf

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