New
- NOTES editor: a piano-roll note editor for the synth tracks (SEQ -> NOTES). KNOB 1 picks the notes (a chord's notes one by one), KNOB 2 the pitch, KNOB 3 the length, KNOB 4 the force; PRESETS zooms, EDIT deletes. Hold OCT+ on a step for its sheet: SLIDE, NUDGE, FILL, MOVE, COPY, DELETE.
- Per-step sheet on the DRUMS grid: hold OCT+ on a drum step for RATCHET, NUDGE, FILL, MOVE, COPY, DELETE - the groove, shaped step by step.
- The playing section on screen: the TRACKS screen now shows which section (A to D) is playing, in its own colour.
- Filter resonance: the per-track filter gains a resonance control, 0 (clean, as before) to 10 (AUDIO -> FILTER RESO).
- The FX filter on the drum track: the FX -> FILTER page now works on drums too; sweep and shape the whole kit, live.
- Drum TUNE on the noise sounds: TUNE now shapes the brightness of tone-less sounds (closed hats, shakers, claps) on the synthesised kits.
- A smoother punch-in: a settable fade-in and out for the punch-in effects, from instant to about a third of a second (hold FX, then SELECT).
- MIDI Bank Select (CC 0): reach every preset past the 128 Program Change range - the rest of the factory sounds, then your own user presets by slot.
Fixed
- USB RESCUE works: holding OCT- at power-on now reliably opens USB rescue mode (the key matrix is powered before the early scan).
- Install from the browser is more reliable: the installer finds the FM-1's update loader by its handshake instead of its port name, so a loader that Windows renames to a generic MIDI port is still found, and the old MIDI ports are closed properly.
- Steadier MIDI clock in: the tempo is read from the average of the last beats, so a steady 140 no longer reads 139 / 140 / 141; a real tempo jump is taken at once.
- The SONG sections take the current theme's colours.
- FX FADE moved onto the FX layer's SELECT (while FX is held), shown top right; the extra MASTER 2 page is gone.
- The in-browser "return to the official firmware" option was removed because it is not reliable on every system - use M-VAVE's own updater M-UPGRADE to go back to stock.
Compatibility
Projects, autosaves and backups from 2.7 load as they are. A project saved in 2.8 opens in 2.7 as well (no project format change). The USB-RESCUE fix is in the firmware, so it only helps once 2.8 is installed.