Clipper 1.3

A free, open-source synthesizer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. It grew out of SLOOP and, like SLOOP, it is based on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita / Hügelton Instruments.

Make a backup with the editor before installing. You can always go back to the official firmware (V16 or V15) from the installer page.

What it is

• 23 engines, 407 sounds: HYBRID (three oscillators, two filters, a 16-slot matrix), FMX (six operators after the opsix), FM6 (DX7, loads .syx banks), DIGITAL, WAVE (wavetables, and your own), WSEQ (wave sequencing), VECTOR, JUNO (with its chorus), ANALOG (eight filter models), ACID, STRINGS, MACRO, PHASE, VPS, TERRAIN, PHYS (physical models), TRIO, LOFI, WHEEL, VOICE, NOISE, GRAIN and SAMPLE (on Clipper's own synthesized sources).
• On every engine: a 12-slot modulation matrix, LFO 2 and 3, ENV 2 (one-shot or looping), the MOD SEQ, four macros (BRITE, TIMBR, MOTN, SPACE, also on CC 16-19), SPREAD (each voice its own place in the stereo field), VINTAGE, an insert effect.
• Effects: distortion, chorus, a tempo-synced delay (mono, ping-pong, tape), room, plate, hall and shimmer reverbs, a master EQ, compressor and limiter.
• Playing: 8 voices on both cores (12 / 16 as a build option), poly unison, layer / split / multi, a 15-mode arpeggiator with a Turing machine, a step sequencer, MPE, MIDI over USB and TRS (omni or one channel, program changes, expression, panic, the bend range, local control, CC out, a breath controller), microtuning with Scala scales; the FM-1 is a USB audio interface too.
• A web editor (Chrome or Edge, nothing to install) for every parameter, the HYBRID and FMX patches, DX7 banks, wavetables, the tuning, and full backups.

New in 1.3: a bug-fix release

A bug-fix release. Thanks to everyone who reported issues on GitHub: every fix below has its own test, and the whole firmware was checked again (the editor's protocol, MIDI in and a damaged flash fuzzed, every engine, sound and key measured).

Cleaner sound

• No more distortion at the end of notes. The mix rounded every part down to 16 steps of the 16-bit output, so a fading note carried a buzz that followed it, on the 3.5 mm output and on USB. The mix now rounds properly: about 10 times less error, the quiet tails are clean.
• UNISON no longer stacks its voices in phase. Most engines started every unison voice at the same phase, up to +18 dB louder than POLY on some sounds, and FMX and MACRO peaked far over full scale. Each voice now starts apart, as a unison should, and the level matches POLY.
• PHYS strings are in tune. They played sharp, by up to a semitone on the low notes of HARPSICH (STR PLUCK, BANJO, PLUCK BASS, the guitars). Now within 2 cents; KOTO, SITAR and TANPURA bend with their curved bridge, as designed.
• The top of the keyboard follows the keys. NOISE's NZ ARCADE, SAMPLE and GRAIN played one pitch over the upper keys (SAMPLE CHOIR from A6, VOX CLOUD from G6); they now go on rising. A GRAIN note played while the one before is fading out is no longer almost silent.
• VECTOR: changing the FILTER MODEL while a note plays no longer gives a loud click.
• FMX: a voice taken back from another note now starts clean (before, it kept the old note's state: a DC offset and a changing timbre).

Controls

• A firm press on a layer button (GLO, EDIT, ARP, SEQ, SEL) opens its pages. Before, a press longer than 0.45 s opened nothing; now up to one second counts as a tap.
• On REC READY, a knob changes only its own value: KNOB 3 (START) no longer moves the loop LENGTH too. The same fix covers every page: a knob turned alone changes one value.

Your data

• Projects loaded from SLOOP keep Clipper's own values (SPREAD, LFO 3, ENV 2 LOOP, the macros, matrix slots 7 to 12, the delay MODE) across a power cycle.
• Editor backups now include your user wavetables (WAVE USR1..4), which a restore used to erase, and every value of your user presets.
• Safer loading: a user drum kit with an odd root note, or a project file with out-of-range velocities, plays normally.

Install and go back

• Return to the official firmware accepts M-VAVE's new V16 (and V15). M-VAVE now offers only V16, which the installer refused.

Compatibility

• Projects, presets, samples and settings are kept when you update, and the project format is unchanged.
• A few sounds change a little on purpose: the PHYS strings (now in tune), the unison sounds, NZ ARCADE.

The full list is in the README.

Install

• From the browser: open the installer page (Chrome or Edge, the FM-1 on USB; the editor is next to it), make a backup with the editor first, then click Install.
• From the source, on Windows: see QUICKSTART.md (French: DEMARRAGE-RAPIDE-FR.md) — INSTALL-CLIPPER.bat builds the firmware (WSL and the JieLi toolchain, as SLOOP) and opens the installer.

On the SMK-37 (Pro, Elite, MKE-P37, Starrykey 37 Play), the same synthesizer is Clipper Pro.

Please report what you find in the Issues: bugs, crashes (photograph the FELUCCA CRASH screen), stuck notes, crackles, CPU readings (GLO → SYSTEM).

Custom firmware with no warranty. Clipper is not affiliated with M-VAVE. GPL-3.0.

Clipper 1.2

A free, open-source synthesizer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. It grew out of SLOOP and, like SLOOP, it is based on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita / Hügelton Instruments.

Make a backup with the editor before installing. You can always go back to the official V15 firmware from the installer page.

What it is

• 23 engines, 407 sounds: HYBRID (three oscillators, two filters, a 16-slot matrix), FMX (six operators after the opsix), FM6 (DX7, loads .syx banks), DIGITAL, WAVE (wavetables, and your own), WSEQ (wave sequencing), VECTOR, JUNO (with its chorus), ANALOG (eight filter models), ACID, STRINGS, MACRO, PHASE, VPS, TERRAIN, PHYS (physical models), TRIO, LOFI, WHEEL, VOICE, NOISE, GRAIN and SAMPLE (on Clipper's own synthesized sources).
• On every engine: a 12-slot modulation matrix, LFO 2 and 3, ENV 2 (one-shot or looping), the MOD SEQ, four macros (BRITE, TIMBR, MOTN, SPACE, also on CC 16-19), SPREAD (each voice its own place in the stereo field), VINTAGE, an insert effect.
• Effects: distortion, chorus, a tempo-synced delay (mono, ping-pong, tape), room, plate, hall and shimmer reverbs, a master EQ, compressor and limiter.
• Playing: 8 voices on both cores (12 / 16 as a build option), poly unison, layer / split / multi, a 15-mode arpeggiator with a Turing machine, a step sequencer, MPE, MIDI over USB and TRS (omni or one channel, program changes, expression, panic, the bend range, local control, CC out, a breath controller), microtuning with Scala scales; the FM-1 is a USB audio interface too.
• A web editor (Chrome or Edge, nothing to install) for every parameter, the HYBRID and FMX patches, DX7 banks, wavetables, the tuning, and full backups.

New in 1.2

• A note held under others keeps sounding (after SLOOP 2.8.2 and 2.8.3): a key held while you play or record over it is never restarted nor cut by the sequencer, live, in a free take or an overdub, on POLY and on UNI2 / UNI4; a hold overdubbed over a recorded melody goes on through its notes, and the notes the sustain pedal holds are left alone too. Recording a key over a held one on a MONO or LEGATO sound says MONO: SET VOICE POLY.
• SEQ > NOTES: LEN under later notes: a note's length can run on under the notes after it (a long bass under a melody, programmed).
• No stuck notes when MIDI comes in too fast.
• SAMPLE and GRAIN: a sample played again starts from silence with its ATK: no click on MONO, LEGATO or UNISON, or on the same note on POLY.
• No crash on FMX when ALG is turned past 32 (FM KICK and the other FMX sounds).
• The second core, hardened: a backup over USB could crash an FM-1 running on two cores. Every job core 1 runs is now checked; a wrong one is refused and the FM-1 goes on with one core until it is switched off. If a unit still does it: HOME (held) → SYS → 2ND CORE OFF.
• A quick tap no longer flashes a layer (SEQ, EDIT, ARP, GLO).
• The editor without internet: download it from the installer page as one file (clipper-editor-1.2.html, also attached here), or install the site as an app.
• The EWI plays one voice: with GLO > MIDI 2 > EWI on, the instrument plays one note at a time, legato, and the breath alone shapes the level (a soft note no longer adds a second one at full level).

The full list is in the README.

Install

• From the browser: open the installer page (Chrome or Edge, the FM-1 on USB; the editor is next to it), make a backup with the editor first, then click Install.
• From the source, on Windows: see QUICKSTART.md (French: DEMARRAGE-RAPIDE-FR.md) — INSTALL-CLIPPER.bat builds the firmware (WSL and the JieLi toolchain, as SLOOP) and opens the installer.

On the SMK-37 (Pro, Elite, MKE-P37, Starrykey 37 Play), the same synthesizer is Clipper Pro.

Please report what you find in the Issues: bugs, crashes (photograph the FELUCCA CRASH screen), stuck notes, crackles, CPU readings (GLO → SYSTEM).

Custom firmware with no warranty. Clipper is not affiliated with M-VAVE. GPL-3.0.

Clipper 1.1 (experimental)

A free, open-source synthesizer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. It grew out of SLOOP and, like SLOOP, it is based on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita / Hügelton Instruments.

⚠️ This is an experimental release. It passes its whole test suite on a computer, but it has run very little on a real FM-1. Expect rough edges (CPU load, clicks, storage), and there is still a huge amount of work to do. Make a backup with the editor before installing. You can always go back to the official V15 firmware from the installer page.

What it is

• 23 engines, 407 sounds: HYBRID (three oscillators, two filters, a 16-slot matrix), FMX (six operators after the opsix), FM6 (DX7, loads .syx banks), DIGITAL, WAVE (wavetables, and your own), WSEQ (wave sequencing), VECTOR, JUNO (with its chorus), ANALOG (eight filter models), ACID, STRINGS, MACRO, PHASE, VPS, TERRAIN, PHYS (physical models), TRIO, LOFI, WHEEL, VOICE, NOISE, GRAIN and SAMPLE (on Clipper's own synthesized sources).
• On every engine: a 12-slot modulation matrix, LFO 2 and 3, ENV 2 (one-shot or looping), the MOD SEQ, four macros (BRITE, TIMBR, MOTN, SPACE, also on CC 16-19), SPREAD (each voice its own place in the stereo field), VINTAGE, an insert effect.
• Effects: distortion, chorus, a tempo-synced delay (mono, ping-pong, tape), room, plate, hall and shimmer reverbs, a master EQ, compressor and limiter.
• Playing: 8 voices on both cores (12 / 16 as a build option), poly unison, layer / split / multi, a 15-mode arpeggiator with a Turing machine, a step sequencer, MPE, MIDI over USB and TRS (omni or one channel, program changes, expression, panic, the bend range, local control, CC out, a breath controller), microtuning with Scala scales; the FM-1 is a USB audio interface too.
• A web editor (Chrome or Edge, nothing to install) for every parameter, the HYBRID and FMX patches, DX7 banks, wavetables, the tuning, and full backups.

New in 1.1

• The crackle on the left channel with the reverb on is fixed. PLATE, HALL and SHIMMER read one of their left output taps outside its delay line: a click every 60 ms, on the left only. ROOM overflowed into a crackle with DAMP turned down on a loud sound: fixed too. Every effect is now checked by a test that sends a sine through it at its extremes.
• Made for MIDI controllers and DAWs: program changes and bank select load the sounds; CC 11 expression; CC 120 / 123 (panic), CC 121 (reset), CC 122 (local control); the pitch bend range (GLO > MIDI > BEND, and RPN 0); LOCAL OFF for a DAW that sends the track back; the knobs can send their CCs (MIDI 2 > SEND CC) so a DAW records the moves; a breath controller (EWI, CC 2) plays the volume and the aftertouch (MIDI 2 > EWI); the MIDI identity request is answered. The whole list: docs/midi.md.
• A MIDI channel for the synth: GLO > MIDI > IN CH (OMNI or 1 to 16) and OUT.
• The sequencer of SLOOP 2.7.2 on the FM-1: the NOTES piano roll and its note sheet, the keys or a MIDI keyboard writing the step, EDIT / ARP / GLO held as layers (erase, shift, length, transpose, note repeat, fills, tap tempo), legato recording, a steady MIDI clock.
• A pro sequencer in the web editor: undo / redo, ranges, transpose, reverse, chords, Euclidean and random generators, ready-made patterns, velocity / nudge / ratchet / level lanes, a pattern library.
• The PRESETS page filters by engine (KNOB 2), the factory sounds load dry (no delay, no reverb: the SPACE macro or FX add them), A4 in Hz (400 to 480), and the knobs no longer miss steps when turned fast.

The full list is in the README.

Install

• From the browser: open the installer page (Chrome or Edge, the FM-1 on USB; the editor is next to it), make a backup with the editor first, then click Install.
• From the source, on Windows: see QUICKSTART.md (French: DEMARRAGE-RAPIDE-FR.md) — INSTALL-CLIPPER.bat builds the firmware (WSL and the JieLi toolchain, as SLOOP) and opens the installer.

What is left to do

Testing on real units (CPU, flash, RAM, clicks, storage across power cuts); room for many more SysEx banks; a sound-design pass so the presets use what 1.0 and 1.1 added; editor pages for the matrix and the banks; a real manual. See What is left to do.

Please report what you find in the Issues: bugs, crashes (photograph the FELUCCA CRASH screen), stuck notes, crackles, CPU readings (GLO → SYSTEM).

Clipper is not affiliated with M-VAVE. GPL-3.0.

Clipper 1.0 (experimental)

A free, open-source synthesizer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. It grew out of SLOOP and, like SLOOP, it is based on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita / Hügelton Instruments.

⚠️ This is an experimental release. It passes its whole test suite on a computer, but it has run very little on a real FM-1. Expect rough edges (CPU load, clicks, storage), and there is still a huge amount of work to do. Make a backup with the editor before installing. You can always go back to the official V15 firmware from the installer page.

What it is

• 23 engines, 407 sounds: HYBRID (three oscillators, two filters, a 16-slot matrix), FMX (six operators after the opsix), FM6 (DX7, loads .syx banks), DIGITAL, WAVE (wavetables, and your own), WSEQ (wave sequencing), VECTOR, JUNO (with its chorus), ANALOG (eight filter models), ACID, STRINGS, MACRO, PHASE, VPS, TERRAIN, PHYS (physical models), TRIO, LOFI, WHEEL, VOICE, NOISE, GRAIN and SAMPLE (on Clipper's own synthesized sources).
• On every engine: a 12-slot modulation matrix, LFO 2 and 3, ENV 2 (one-shot or looping), the MOD SEQ, four macros (BRITE, TIMBR, MOTN, SPACE, also on CC 16-19), SPREAD (each voice its own place in the stereo field), VINTAGE, an insert effect.
• Effects: distortion, chorus, a tempo-synced delay (mono, ping-pong, tape), room, plate, hall and shimmer reverbs, a master EQ, compressor and limiter.
• Playing: 8 voices on both cores (12 / 16 as a build option), poly unison, layer / split / multi, a 15-mode arpeggiator with a Turing machine, a step sequencer, MPE, MIDI over USB and TRS, microtuning with Scala scales; the FM-1 is a USB audio interface too.
• A web editor (Chrome or Edge, nothing to install) for every parameter, the HYBRID and FMX patches, DX7 banks, wavetables, the tuning, and full backups.

New in 1.0

SPREAD; the matrix grows to 12 slots with LFO 3 and the macros as sources; ENV 2 LOOP; four macros on every engine; HALL and SHIMMER reverbs; the delay's PING and TAPE modes; a crack of the JUNO chorus on loud chords fixed; no samples and no project page on the FM-1 any more (one instrument: the autosave keeps what you play, user presets keep your sounds). The full list is in the README.

Install

• From the browser: open the installer page (Chrome or Edge, the FM-1 on USB; the editor is next to it), make a backup with the editor first, then click Install.
• From the source, on Windows: see QUICKSTART.md (French: DEMARRAGE-RAPIDE-FR.md) — INSTALL-CLIPPER.bat builds the firmware (WSL and the JieLi toolchain, as SLOOP) and opens the installer.

What is left to do

Testing on real units (CPU, flash, RAM, clicks, storage across power cuts); room for many more SysEx banks; a sound-design pass so the presets use what 1.0 added; editor pages for the matrix and the banks; a real manual. See What is left to do.

Please report what you find in the Issues: bugs, crashes (photograph the FELUCCA CRASH screen), stuck notes, crackles, CPU readings (GLO → SYSTEM).

Clipper is not affiliated with M-VAVE. GPL-3.0.