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braindancer

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ACID FM: IDM / braindance firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1 (a fork of JIANT FM)

braindancer is custom firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, by @NorfolkHacker. Open source under GPL-3.0.

forM-VAVE FM-1·by@NorfolkHacker

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Braindancer

Formerly ACID FM.

IDM / braindance firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. Braindancer is becoming a firmware with virtual analog, FM and a generator that writes whole songs on the device. Acid-coloured, in the spirit of 90s braindance and IDM, and of worn-tape ambient.

Install (Chrome or Edge, over USB) · Try it in the browser · Manual

Status: 0.9.1

0.9.1 is a clean-up release on top of 0.9: GEN's CPU model is measured again on 0.9's own pieces played on the FM-1 (2 CORES) and fits the device better; some heavy pieces are thinned a little more than in 0.9; the overload measured so far has been inaudible, with no audio lost; one-core mode keeps its budget, shares the new FM6 and TAPE weights, and has not been measured on the device. The safety net keeps a GEN piece's texture and arp in hand through its sections and never hushes a part you rewrote; GEN's hint shows on every way in; GENERATE starts the music afresh, as NEW PROJECT does; SEQ's dice puts the level back with OCT−; KEYBOARD PLAYS SELECTED drops the pitch bend of the track it leaves.

Status: 0.9

0.9 is about the generator (piece 6), on top of 0.8:

  • GENERATE: GEN is one page now (ENERGY, FORM, COMPLEX, TAPE) and OCT+ GENERATE picks a style itself, out of ten. About one press in ten is WILD (no style); about 45 % of the rest are blends of the style with a partner that goes well with it, named on the panel, for example RETROBOC+AMBIENT 0421. It never picks the same style twice in a row. The GENRE and SEED knobs and GEN pages 2 and 3 are gone.
  • Recent pieces: PRESETS steps from NEW back through the last 8 pieces, and OCT+ RECALL brings one back and sets the four knobs to its values. GENERATE and RECALL are refused while a song (ARRANGE) is playing (STOP THE SONG FIRST). The list is cleared at power-off; nothing of GEN is saved in projects or settings.
  • TAPE in GEN: on AUTO each style sets AGE (RETROBOC 60, AMBIENT 40, AMB TECHNO 25, IDM 20, MICRO 15, the others 0; a blend gets the main style's plus half the partner's, at most 70; WILD 0 to 50). RETROBOC and AMBIENT keep their tape and the music is thinned around it; for the other styles the tape gives way before the music is thinned, when a piece is too heavy. A TAPE amount set with the knob is never changed. OFF and 10 to 100 % set AGE for every piece.
  • Every piece is fitted to what the FM-1 can play, with a budget calibrated on the device (2 CORES); one core is fitted too but not measured on the device (it shares the new FM6 and TAPE weights). A new piece unmutes every track.
  • The AGE retune: 50 is clearly worn (audible wobble, some hiss, a darker tone) and 100 is mangled and darker. Projects from 0.8 with AGE above 0 sound more worn.
  • Projects, presets and settings load as before.

Before that, 0.8 was about the sound (piece 5), on top of 0.7:

  • TAPE, a new master effect after CLIP, PUNCH and DUCK: WOW, FLUTTER, TAPE SAT, HISS and TAPE TONE, with one AGE knob that sets them together. FX › MASTER is now CLIP · PUNCH · DUCK · AGE; DUCK TIME moved to FX › MORE › MASTER and TAPE has its own group in FX › MORE. It is off at first, saved with the project (a 0.7 project loads with TAPE off), AGE can be automated, and it adds about 4 ms of delay to everything while on. Under overload it is the first of the safety's last-resort steps, after the voices are thinned (your settings are never changed, and FX › MASTER shows TAPE PAUSED · CPU while it is off).
  • The 303 acid response (ANALOG, MONO or LEGATO): accents that follow each other climb the cutoff and relax after a plain step; a slide is a short glide (about 58 ms) with no new attack, whatever GLIDE is. Notes played on the keys keep the old accent.
  • 20 new factory presets (ANALOG ACID SQUELCH, ACID SQUARE, ACID LEAD, DETUNE PAD, DUSTY LEAD, RUBBER BASS, BRAIN BLIPS; FM6 GLASS EP, METAL BASS, TIN BELL, MUSIC BOX; PHASE RESO SWEEP, DIGI CHOIR, CHIME KEYS; LOFI DUSTY KEYS, WOBBLE LEAD, CRUSH BASS; VOICE DREAM CHOIR, AIR CHOIR, LOW HUM PAD), added at the end of each list. GEN still picks from the earlier ones.
  • DRUM-X kits: 909 CLUB (shorter, clickier kick, noisier snare, bright short hats, a ride on BELL), 808 BOOM (long low kick, tonal snare, soft hats, long tom, a cowbell on BELL), and crunchier lanes in LOFI DUST, TECHNO RAW and BREAKS.
  • The web editor has the six TAPE globals (G 96 to 101); see web/EDITOR_PROTOCOL.md.
  • Still built on JIANT FM and Felucca.

Before that, 0.7 was the rename: ACID FM is now Braindancer, after braindance, the 90s IDM. It is a rename only: no new features, and projects, presets and settings load as before.

  • The splash and ABOUT say BRAINDANCER, and the FM-1 shows up over USB as a MIDI device called BRAINDANCER (formerly ACID FM).
  • The website is now https://norfolkhacker.github.io/braindancer/ (the installer, emulator and manual); the old links forward there. The code is at github.com/NorfolkHacker/braindancer.
  • The installer, the tools and the web editor find a device on Braindancer or ACID FM.
  • Still built on JIANT FM and Felucca.

Before that, 0.6 was SAVE, the MENU and the dialogs in the ACID look (piece 3c-2), on top of 0.5.2:

  • SAVE is SOUND, SONG, PROJECT and MORE. SOUND lists the 32 user slots; SONG puts the sections on top and the song's rows under them as chips; PROJECT shows four cards, a dot on the one with changes not stored, and warns on LOAD only when there are some; the tools are in MORE.
  • The MENU is AUDIO, CLICK, CONTROLS and MORE; ABOUT and PROFILE are restyled.
  • One full-screen dialog for every confirmation: it says what is lost and how to get it back.
  • PLAYS (SEQ › MORE › TRACK): a track plays only on some loops; you can change it while the music plays.
  • The clock rule: under a USB or TRS clock, GEN, the demo and the web editor leave the tempo alone; CPU TEST uses the internal clock and puts CLOCK back.
  • The web editor has a per-track MIDI page. The example names are in English. Projects, presets and settings from 0.5 load as before.

Before that, 0.5.2 fixes harsh glitches on some generated songs. A few EXPLORE pieces asked for more than the FM-1's processor can render (a 2-second delay over a busy six-track piece, for one), and the audio skipped. GEN now keeps EXPLORE pieces within a CPU budget measured on the device, and the long delay is only used where there is room for it; under a sudden overload the sound engine falls back step by step (the long delay to its short mode, then a generated piece's texture, then its arp) instead of skipping, and comes back once the load eases.

0.5.1 retunes GEN's genres (names, tempo ranges and swing, from research into the real styles: GLITCH HOP and AMB TECHNO replace BROKEN BEAT and DRIFT; DRILL'N'BASS 155–172, ELECTRO 124–138, RETROBOC 68–100) and makes an external clock (USB or TRS) hold a steady tempo.

0.5 is SEQ, GLO and MIDI in the ACID look (piece 3c-1), on top of 0.4:

  • SEQ is STEPS, STEP EXTRAS, PATTERN and MORE. STEP EXTRAS holds the chance, ratchet, condition and micro-timing of the picked step; with a step held, MORE's rows lock on it (the ACID lock card).
  • GLO is LIVE, MIX, MIDI and MORE. LIVE is the performance page (rate, loop, thin, DJ filter, the keys' tricks); MIX is the six tracks' levels, pan and sends; MORE holds the rest (rails, tempo, system, undo).
  • The MIDI page: per track MIDI in, out and channel; the clock INT, USB or TRS; clock out over USB; the keyboard plays the selected track. Older settings and projects load as before.
  • SEQ TOOLS, REC and GLO layers (the held layers) in the ACID look, with the keys' names and states on the keys.
  • Level bars in dB on LIVE, MIX and HOME.
  • The manual is English only and Braindancer's own.

Before that, 0.4 was the sound sections in the ACID look (piece 3b), on top of 0.3:

  • EDIT, ENV, ARP, SCL, LFO and FX in the ACID look: a picture of the sound, four knobs, and MORE for the rest, with names in plain words. The old creatures are removed.
  • The held layers (EDIT, MACRO, FX, SCL) in the same look; with a step held, MORE's rows lock on that step too.
  • GEN shows ten IDM genres (IDM, BROKEN BEAT, BREAKS, DRILL'N'BASS, ACID, ELECTRO, MICRO, RETROBOC, AMBIENT, DRIFT), plus EXPLORE and RANDOM; techno and house are hidden (a song saved with one generates as before).
  • At power-on PLAY plays a short demo (beat, acid line, pad, 124 BPM); NEW PROJECT still starts empty.
  • The first time 0.4 starts, MENU › TRACKS switches to 6 once (the demo uses T5 and T6); a 4 picked after that stays.
  • HOME TRACKS: KNOB 1-3 are three tracks' levels, KNOB 4 the BPM.
  • Steadier timing: the screen draws more slowly when the audio is busy.
  • SAVE, the MENU and the dialogs keep their inherited layouts in ACID colours until 0.6.

Before that, 0.3 was the new look (piece 3a, UI foundations), on top of 0.2:

  • One ACID palette (the inherited palettes and skins are gone), Inter Tight lettering with gradient and glow, shared widgets.
  • HOME is TRACKS, VISUAL and GEN (HOME again or SELECT cycles; HOME+SELECT goes to GEN): TRACKS is six ridgelines with each track's level in dB, the four knob-controlled tracks in the knobs' colours; VISUAL is six rings pulsing with hits.
  • The wordmark splash replaces the inherited one.

Before that, 0.2 was the trim, on top of 0.1 (the build, install and rollback pipeline, proven end to end):

  • ANIMAL and WHEEL are retired: stored sounds that used them load as ANALOG, and T3 at power-on is PHASE.
  • 4 songs; 128 KiB of flash reserved for breaks (an 8 KiB gap may join later), for breakbeats coming in a later version.
  • The voice budget is measured on the FM-1: 12 voices at once on two cores, 8 per track.

The Braindancer features arrive in steps (see docs/superpowers/specs/2026-10-24-acid-fm-design.md, written when it was still ACID FM):

  1. Pipeline (0.1)
  2. Trim (0.2): engines for IDM, the voice ceiling measured, room made for samples
  3. The ACID screen theme (3a in 0.3: look, HOME, splash; 3b in 0.4: the sound sections; 3c-1 in 0.5: SEQ, GLO, MIDI; 3c-2 in 0.6: SAVE, MENU, dialogs, PLAYS)
  4. Sound (0.8): TAPE (wow, flutter, saturation), 303-style accent and slide, new presets and drum kits
  5. The song generator (0.9): GENERATE picks a style, blends, recent pieces, TAPE in GEN, the AGE retune

The manual is Braindancer's own; it grows as Braindancer's features land.

Built on

Braindancer builds on open firmware for the FM-1: JIANT FM by Juan Jiant and Felucca by Hügelton Instruments, with SLOOP's song system. The upstream README is kept in docs/JIANT-README.md. Every third-party part and its licence is listed in LICENSING.md.

Build

See BUILDING.md. On Linux x86-64:

python3 -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate && pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
export JIELI_TOOLCHAIN=$HOME/.jieli/toolchain AC79_SDK=$HOME/fw-AC79_AIoT_SDK
./build.sh && CC=tools/host-cc sh tests/run_tests.sh

(CC=tools/host-cc is for GCC 14+ hosts; see BUILDING.md.)

Safety

Installing firmware is at your own risk. Back up the full flash first (MvaveFM1Unbricker backup). The FM-1's ROM bootloader cannot be overwritten, so a failed install can be recovered (FM-1 Firmware Hub rescue), and the official firmware can always go back on.

Licence

GPL-3.0-only, as JIANT and Felucca. See LICENSE and LICENSING.md.