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DIRGE

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Darksynth Builder

DIRGE is custom firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, by @sinscum. Open source under GPL-3.0, 2 stars on GitHub.

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DIRGE

License: GPL-3.0-only

Darksynth, noise and drone firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1.

Try it in your browser (the real firmware, no FM-1 needed) · Install it · Open the editor (edit sounds live, load samples, back up your FM-1) · Read the manual

DIRGE turns the FM-1 into a four-track instrument for drones, aggressive mono basses, noise and gritty sequences: fifteen engines, a 64-step sequencer per track with chords, ratchets, conditions and parameter locks, an arpeggiator, a song chain, a performance layer, MIDI clock in for an Elektron rig, and long, worn, dark effects over all of it.

It is built on Felucca 1.6.1 by Leo Kuroshita, Hügelton Instruments, and keeps everything Felucca is. DIRGE adds the engines, effects, scales and look for the noise and darksynth corner other FM-1 firmwares leave open.

Free and open source (GPL-3.0-only). Unofficial firmware, not made or endorsed by M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments. Install at your own risk.

What's inside

  • 4 tracks, 8 voices shared between them (12 with the second core on, beta); per track MONO, LEGATO, UNISON and glide
  • 15 engines: DRONE and BASS (DIRGE's), ANALOG, PHASE, LOFI, SAMPLE, VOICE, TRIO, WHEEL, GRAIN, PHYS, DRUM, NOISE, FM6, SLICE
  • Effects: per-track DIST, INSERT (fold, crush, fuzz, phaser, ...), SLICER (a tempo-synced gate and stutter) and DUCK (sidechain); shared DELAY, CHORUS and REVERB (ROOM, SPRING, HALL, and DIRGE's VAULT); DIRGE's TAPE page over the whole mix
  • Per track: envelope, two LFO pages, a 4-slot modulation matrix, scale and chord keys, arpeggiator (14 modes)
  • Sequencer: 64 steps per track, chance, ratchets, trig conditions, nudge, parameter locks, automation, step tools (euclid, random, reverse, shift, double, half), a drum grid
  • Song chain of patterns, and a performance layer: repeat, reverse, tape stop, freeze, octave shifts, filter sweeps, reverb and echo throws
  • MIDI: in over USB and TRS, out over USB, MIDI clock in (slaves to a Digitakt II / Digitone II), MIDI learn, a channel per track; the FM-1 is also a USB audio input for your computer
  • Projects, user presets, phrases and autosave: the FM-1 comes back as you left it

What DIRGE adds to Felucca

  • BASS engine: the darksynth mono bass. SAW / SQR / PULSE / DUO, a detuned second oscillator, a square sub, drive into a 24 dB resonant low-pass with its own velocity-driven envelope. Sounds: PERTURB, BRUT, GRAVE, SIREN, HEARSE, BONESAW.
  • DRONE engine, first in the PRESETS list: polyBLEP saws pushed apart by DTN and pulled about by DRFT (one slow random walk), a sine SUB, BRTH (noise), DRV (tanh) and a rounded resonant low-pass. WAVE: DRONE (two saws at the note, two an octave down), HIGH or SUPER (seven saws at the JP-8000 supersaw's offsets). Sounds: DIRGE, BLACK MASS, SHIVER, FURNACE, ASH WIND, GRAVEWAVE, NEON TOMB.
  • FX > TAPE, three knobs, all off by default:
    • TAPE: the whole mix through a worn cassette (wow, flutter, saturation, a high cut, hiss that follows the music)
    • ROOM: a dead channel's room tone under the mix (static, 50 Hz hum, crackle), into the reverb too
    • WEAR: the delay worn into a tape echo (wow and flutter on its read, darker, saturated repeats)
  • LATCH (after GR!MM's): GLO + G4 latches a track's keys, so a drone keeps sounding after you let go.
  • TAKE (from Skiff): play with REC off, then hold REC + C4 to keep the last loop you played (notes, holds, knob moves) in the pattern. 8 levels of undo: hold SAVE, then OCT− / OCT+ to step further back or forward.
  • FX > DUCK (ported from Skiff): a track ducks under another track's notes (a drum track's kick only), DEPTH and RELEASE: the sidechain pump for basses and drones.
  • REVERB TYPE VAULT: HALL stretched to ~32 s; at SIZE 127 INF, a freeze that holds what is in it.
  • Dark scales: PHDOM (Phrygian dominant), HUNG (Hungarian minor), DHARM (double harmonic).
  • KEYS LAYER / SPLIT (MENU > AUDIO > KEYS, SPLIT): play a second track from every key, or from the keys under a split point.
  • Power-on scenes (MENU > SYSTEM > SCENE): DIRGE (DRONE, a fat bass with a pattern, wind noise and a deep kit at 90 BPM), FELUCCA or BLANK.
  • The look: four palettes, BLOOD (the default), CRYPT, NEON and PLAGUE (the plague doctor's leather, parchment and brass), and a splash framed like a coffin lid. Felucca's palettes are all still there.

Every DIRGE addition is off, or bit for bit Felucca, until you turn it on: Felucca's projects and sounds open and play as they did.

Install

Back up first: the installer saves your FM-1's music, sounds, samples and settings before it changes anything.

In the browser (Chrome or Edge on a computer): open the DIRGE installer, connect the FM-1 over USB and follow it. The same page takes the FM-1 back to the official V15 firmware (Return to official V15).

With Python 3: download the .fwsc package (CI artifacts now, GitHub Releases from the first release), then:

pip install mido python-rtmidi
python3 tools/fm1_install.py dirge-X.Y.fwsc

If something goes wrong: hold OCT− while switching the FM-1 on for the USB rescue mode, then install again. Before the first install of any custom firmware, a full flash backup with M-Flasher or MvaveFM1Unbricker is a good idea.

Learn it

  • The manual: every button, page, layer and setting, and what DIRGE adds.
  • Quick start: switch on. Turn ALGORITHM to pick a track, turn PRESETS to pick a sound, play the keys. Press PLAY to hear the power-on scene. Tap a page button (ENV, LFO, FX, SCL, EDIT, ARP, SEQ) for its pages; hold one for its quick layer. Hold HOME for the MENU. Hold SAVE to undo (OCT− for further back).
  • MENU > SYSTEM > HELP ON shows a short hint on every page.

The editor and the demo

Both run in Chrome or Edge on a computer, nothing to install.

  • The editor: connect the FM-1 over USB and edit every track's sound, steps, mixer and automation; every move plays on the FM-1 at once. Browse the factory sounds, keep a library of your own, edit FM6 operators, load WAVs into the sample slots, manage projects, and back up or restore everything. Without an FM-1, try it with a simulated one.
  • The demo: the FM-1's panel on screen, running the same firmware compiled for the browser, with a live oscilloscope. Play it with the mouse, a touch screen or the computer keyboard.

Your own samples

Open the editor, connect the FM-1 and go to Samples: drop a WAV on one of the three user slots (USR1..USR3, about 7 s each) and upload it. Then pick the SAMPLE or SLICE engine on a track. From a command line:

python3 tools/fm1_sample_upload.py info
python3 tools/fm1_sample_upload.py load 1 GRIT "your-sound.wav:48"   # slot USR1, root note C3

Building from source

Linux x86-64 (or Docker on macOS): the JieLi toolchain and Python 3 with Pillow (with libraqm) and fontTools; the three JieLi SDK files are in sdk/ac79. Full guide: BUILDING.md.

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/sinscum/DIRGE.git
AC79_SDK=sdk/ac79 ./build.sh              # build/felucca.fwsc: identity FM-1_660 (releases: --release X.Y, FM-1_6XY)
AC79_SDK=sdk/ac79 sh tests/run_tests.sh   # every host test: Felucca's suite and DIRGE's (tests/dirge/)
web/emu/build.sh                          # the browser emulator (Emscripten): build/emu/

CI (.github/workflows/ci.yml) builds, runs every test, builds the emulator and, on main, publishes the site.

Contributing and roadmap

Bugs and ideas: Issues (see CONTRIBUTING.md); please report DIRGE's behaviour here, not in Felucca's tracker. Where DIRGE goes next (from Skiff: a 12-voice budget, six tracks and a pattern pool, GR!MM-style HOME and latch): docs/MERGE_PLAN.md. The chip's rules and the project's conventions: CLAUDE.md.

Upstream

DIRGE is a fork with Felucca's history in it (git remote add felucca https://github.com/hugelton/Felucca.git), so Felucca's fixes merge in. Felucca's author has stepped back from active development (occasional maintenance); Felucca-Engines, the MIT engines in firmware/engines/ (a submodule), is still maintained. DIRGE's changes to Felucca's own files are kept small and marked DIRGE.

Credits and licence

GPL-3.0-only, as Felucca: LICENSE, with the credits and third-party parts in LICENSING.md and CREDITS.md.

  • Felucca and Felucca-Engines by Leo Kuroshita, Hügelton Instruments: the platform, the engines, the editor, installer and emulator
  • GHOULBOX by jasonpersinger: TAPE (ported), ROOM and KEYS after its tape, cave ambience and keyboard layer
  • GR!MM by GRiMMBIENT: VAULT and DRONE's SUPER after its long reverb and supersaw; the shape of this README and the manual
  • Skiff by illuminus5: the reference for the features planned next

"M-VAVE" and "FM-1" are trademarks of their respective owners; DIRGE is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Like Felucca, DIRGE never enables the hardware's Bluetooth / Wi-Fi radio.