GHOULBOX

GHOULBOX 2.4: change the scene live, sleep timer, FREEZE, the sequencer to your DAW, and three fixes.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) (updated for 2.4; printer-friendly) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Video lessons · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's new in 2.4

• SCENES: change the music live. Tap HOME on the home screen until SCENES shows (after DREAM). Its first five white keys switch to DUNGEON (F3), CRYPT (G3), TAVERN (A3), CHAPEL (B3) or BLANK (C4) while the music plays: a short fade out, the scene's four sounds, patterns and tempo, a fade back in. Made for game masters: the party walks into the tavern, you press one key. A scene replaces your four tracks, so save first if you want to keep them.
• SLEEP. MENU › SYSTEM › SLEEP: OFF, 30, 60 or 90 minutes. After that long without touching the FM-1 (or playing it over MIDI), the music fades out over two minutes and stops. Touch anything to bring the sound back. For game nights, study and sleep.
• FREEZE: keep the pass you liked. DREAM's notes each have a chance, so every pass is a little different. When one sounds right, hold SEQ and press F4: the selected track's steps become exactly what that pass played, and EVOL turns off so the piece stays put. Hold SAVE to undo.
• SEQ OUT. MENU › MIDI › SEQ OUT ON sends what the sequencer plays (DREAM's parts too) out over USB MIDI, each track on its own channel, so the FM-1 can play your DAW's instruments. OFF by default. In the DAW, don't send that MIDI back to the FM-1, or every note plays twice.

Fixed

• The CRYPT kit's shaker no longer cuts off its jingles (they were treated as a hi-hat pair).
• Letting go of the FX layer now puts a MIDI CC74 filter back where your controller left it, instead of opening it.
• The web editor names a CRYPT kit's lanes: FRAME, ROPE, SLAP, SHAKR, JINGL, TIMP, STICK, GONG.

Removed

• MENU › SYSTEM › USB SERIAL and the developer console behind it (off by default since 1.2). That made room for the above, and a Mac now always finds the FM-1's USB audio.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings load and sound as before.

Notes

• 2.4 has not been tested on an FM-1 yet. Its full test suite and the browser emulator (the same firmware) pass. Save a backup first, and install at your own risk; you can always go back to 2.3.2 or the official firmware with the installer.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.4.fwsc from this release.

A quick fix release for 2.3's RING, and ten new video lessons.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) (updated for 2.3.2; printer-friendly) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Video lessons · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's fixed in 2.3.2

• RING and mutes. With RING on, muting a GURDY track (GLO's mute keys, the MIXER's MUTE, or DREAM's) left its drones ringing until the transport stopped. A mute now silences them, with the sound's own release, as with RING off.

New lessons

Ten new video lessons, 6 to 15, are on the playlist: Your Own Tune, The Harp Arpeggio, Ritual Drums, Sound Design, The Living Pattern, Two Hands, The Old Ways, With a MIDI Keyboard or DAW, Keep and Share Your Music, and The Whole Piece. Like the first five, each is the real GHOULBOX firmware running, its own sound and screen.

Everything new in 2.3 (DREAM, RING) is in the 2.3 release.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings load as before.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.3.2.fwsc from this release.

A quick fix release for 2.3's DREAM, and the web editor's groups back.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) (2.3's; still accurate) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's fixed in 2.3.1

• DREAM and loaded projects. With EVOL on, a project loaded after a dream could be changed using the earlier dream's key, chords and parts. DREAM now starts again from what the loaded project's tracks actually hold, and after you change a track's sound it follows the new sound.
• The web editor's groups are back. Since 1.2 the editor had shown GHOULBOX's controls as one long list. It now groups them again under Sound, Sequencer and Settings, including RING (on a GURDY track), KEYS and DREAM, and nothing from the old list is missing.

Everything new in 2.3 (DREAM, RING) is in the 2.3 release.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings load as before.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.3.1.fwsc from this release.
• Thanks to an automated review by Codex for catching both.

GHOULBOX can now compose. DREAM writes slow ambient music for your four sounds and keeps it changing; RING keeps a hurdy-gurdy's drones sounding through the rests.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's new in 2.3

• DREAM: let the FM-1 compose. Tap HOME on the home screen until DREAM shows (after MIXER, CLOCK and KEYS), pick a MOOD (minor, Dorian, Phrygian, harmonic minor, major, Mixolydian) and press a key. The FM-1 writes a slow piece in that key for your four tracks and plays it. Each track gets a part that suits its sound: a drone holds the key note, a bass walks the chords, a pad or choir holds them, a harp or lute breaks them into notes, a melodic sound sings a phrase and answers it, drums play a slow ritual. Choose your sounds first: different sounds, a different piece.
  • EVOL on: the piece keeps changing by itself, a new chord, a new phrase, a part resting or coming back, while the drone and the opening phrase stay.
  • DENS sets how busy it is, DRFT how often it changes.
  • What DREAM writes is ordinary patterns: play along in key, edit them, save the project. It replaces all four tracks' patterns (the first time it asks).
• RING: drones through the rests. On a real hurdy-gurdy the drones sound as long as the wheel turns. A new RING page on GURDY tracks (EDIT, after DRONE and WHEEL) keeps the drones sounding when the sequencer reaches a rest; they stop when you stop. On for HURDY GURDY, DRONE WHEEL and BAGPIPE. Thanks to the owner on Reddit who asked for it.
• The guide has both (53 pages).

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings from earlier versions load as before, with RING off, so they sound as they did. Projects saved with 2.3 show as EMPTY on older firmware.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.3.fwsc from this release.

A housekeeping release: GHOULBOX makes room for what comes next. The firmware had about 4.5 KB of space left; 2.2 frees it up to 23.8 KB without changing what you see or hear, so future fixes and features have somewhere to go.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) (2.1's; still accurate) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's new in 2.2

• More room inside. The boot and ABOUT artwork and the button labels are stored compressed. They look exactly as before, pixel for pixel.
• FM6 math refined. The 6-operator FM engine uses a smaller, more precise pitch and level table. The sounds are the same to the ear.
• USB audio is 44.1 kHz only. The FM-1 still shows up on a computer as a stereo USB audio input, at 44.1 kHz. Computers convert to 48 kHz on their own. A DAW using the FM-1 directly as its audio interface needs a 44.1 kHz project (or an aggregate device) now. The headphone/line output is unchanged.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings from earlier versions load as before.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.2.fwsc from this release.

Three things owners asked for: two sounds from the keys at once, the names of the notes and chords you play, and your music back when you switch on.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Watch the 2.0 demo

What's new in 2.1

• Two sounds at once (KEYS). Tap HOME on the home screen until KEYS shows (after MIXER and CLOCK). LAYER plays every key on the selected track and a second track together: a recorder doubled by strings, a pad under a melody. SPLIT divides the keyboard: the keys below the split play the second track, the rest the selected one, so a drone or bass goes in your left hand and the tune in your right. KNOB 2 picks the second track, KNOB 3 the split point, KNOB 4 its octave. Saved with the project.
• Note and chord names. While you play, the top of the screen names what you're playing: D4, Dm, A7, Gsus4, C/E. It never covers another message. MENU › CONTROL › NOTE NAMES turns it off.
• Your music comes back at power-on. RESTORE LAST is ON again: the FM-1 wakes up with what you were playing (stop for a few seconds before switching off, so it can save). A new FM-1 still starts with the power-on scene, and RESTORE LAST OFF gives you the scene every time. Updating switches it ON once; whatever you choose after that is kept.
• The installer and the editor now match the site's dungeon look, and the installer shows the version it installs.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings from earlier versions load as before; older projects load with KEYS off.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.1.fwsc from this release.

The biggest GHOULBOX yet: a new Felucca underneath, 12 voices, a drone latch, a crank for the hurdy-gurdy, medieval tunings and a cave's ambience.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) · Hear every sound · Play it in your browser · Watch the 2.0 demo

What's new in 2.0

• Built on Felucca 1.4.1 (it was 1.0.5.2), with everything Felucca has added since: see Felucca's releases.
• 12 voices shared by the four tracks (it was 8), so chords on one track cut fewer notes on another.
• Drone latch. Hold GLO and press the top-row key for a track: OP6 (track 1), PIT (2), GLO (3) or MONO (4). A chord you play keeps sounding after you let go, so you can switch tracks and play over it, or crank the hurdy-gurdy with both hands. A new chord replaces it; pressing one of its notes stops it. Other tracks never steal its voices.
• Turn the hurdy-gurdy's crank. Set GURDY's COUP to CRANK and the SELECT knob becomes the wheel: the faster you turn, the louder and brighter the strings; stop and they fall silent; a flick of the wrist kicks the trompette's buzz.
• Medieval tunings. TEMP (press SCL twice for the CHORD page, KNOB 3) tunes a track in Pythagorean, meantone or just intonation from its ROOT: pure fifths and drones that ring without beating.
• Cave ambience. AMB and CRKL (FX › TAPE, KNOB 3 and 4) lay a low cave wind and a torch's crackle under everything, even with the song stopped, using no track and no voice. Off by default; it saves with the project.
• Three dungeon scales: Phrygian dominant, Hungarian minor and double harmonic.
• A USB rescue. If GHOULBOX fails to start twice in a row, or you hold OCT− while switching on, the FM-1 starts in a rescue mode (no sound, no menu) where the installer still works.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings from earlier versions load as before. Projects from before 2.0 load with the ambience off and every track in equal temperament, so they sound as they did.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.0.fwsc from this release.

Choose what your FM-1 plays when you switch it on, and the hurdy-gurdy gets an icon of its own.

Install or update: open https://jasonpersinger.github.io/ghoulbox-fm1-dungeon-synth/ in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, and press Install. The installer backs up your music, sounds and settings first.

User guide (PDF) · Hear every sound

What's new in 1.4

• Power-on scenes. Hold HOME for the menu, then pick SYSTEM › SCENE. Your choice plays from the next time you switch the FM-1 on:

  Scene	What plays
  DUNGEON	The default and the scene up to now: hurdy-gurdy, crypt pad, monks, drone. 72 BPM.
  CRYPT	Low drone, crypt choir, cave wind, slow tomb drums. 60 BPM.
  TAVERN	Dance gurdy, harp arpeggio, lute, a light drum kit. 96 BPM.
  CHAPEL	Cathedral organ, monks, a recorder lament, the vielle. 66 BPM.
  BLANK	DUNGEON's four sounds with no notes, for starting from nothing.

  The web editor's Settings tab has it too.

• A hurdy-gurdy icon. The GURDY engine now has its own icon, with the wheel, keybox and crank, instead of borrowing the string-pluck icon.

Your saved music

Nothing changes: projects, user presets and settings load as before, and the FM-1 keeps starting with DUNGEON unless you choose another scene.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• If the installer stops after "update mode", replug the USB cable and press Install again.
• ghoulbox-1.4.fwsc is the same package the installer writes. SHA-256: 8ccda7bbcd88a4b50e87e26dee23ed08fbbf59119acbe5f276f9ee756bfd4dab
• Going back: install Felucca from https://hugelton.github.io/Felucca/ and restore your backup in its editor.

Built on Felucca 1.0.5.2 by Hügelton Instruments. GPL-3.0-only. Please support the original: GitHub Sponsors, itch.io. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments.

A stronger hurdy-gurdy, MIDI control of the effects and the LFO, a 48-page user guide, and a demo in four styles. Thank you again to the Reddit thread for the requests.

Install or update: open https://jasonpersinger.github.io/ghoulbox-fm1-dungeon-synth/ in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, and press Install. The installer backs up your music, sounds and settings first.

User guide (PDF): 48 pages, from "what is a filter" to every page and setting, with hands-on exercises, a first piece built step by step and a chord cheat sheet.

Hear every sound before installing.

What's new in 1.3

• The hurdy-gurdy, reworked. The trompette's buzz now cuts through the drones instead of hiding under them. The six GURDY sounds were redesigned so each has its own character:

  • HURDY GURDY, the all-rounder;
  • DRONE WHEEL, a wall of drone;
  • DANCE GURDY, a fast bright rattle;
  • TROMPETTE, a constant snarl;
  • VIELLE, a clean bowed fiddle;
  • BAGPIPE.

  Each now suggests a dungeon pattern.

• More MIDI CC control. These are new, on top of 1.2's level, pan, envelope, sends, engine knobs, CRSH, TAPE and the master filter (CC 74):

  CC	Control
  92	distortion send
  76 · 77 · 78	LFO rate · vibrato depth · LFO fade-in
  110 · 111	LFO to filter · LFO to loudness (tremolo)
  102 · 103	reverb size · damping
  104–107	delay time · feedback · tone · mix
  108 · 109	chorus rate · depth

  The full table is in the guide (chapter 20).

• A new user guide for beginners and old hands alike, with dark pages.

• A demo: a 2½-minute piece in four styles (crypt, tower, tavern, crypt again), rendered with the firmware's own sound and screen code. The video is attached below.

Your saved music

Projects and user presets load as before. One thing changes: the hurdy-gurdy engine's buzz is louder, so saved projects and user presets that use a GURDY sound with BUZZ turned up will buzz more strongly than in 1.2. Turn BUZZ down a little if you preferred it before. The power-on scene's hurdy-gurdy and drone also sound a little different.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• If the installer stops after "update mode", replug the USB cable and press Install again.
• ghoulbox-1.3.fwsc is the same package the installer writes. SHA-256: 9f3a6803fbef1eca997a844492b8d9828983dff35e625adbc0e37a180bb2c1d7
• Going back: install Felucca from https://hugelton.github.io/Felucca/ and restore your backup in its editor.

Built on Felucca 1.0.5.2 by Hügelton Instruments. GPL-3.0-only. Please support the original: GitHub Sponsors, itch.io. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments.

Dungeon drums, MIDI control, more patterns, and a page to hear every sound. Much of it was asked for in the Reddit thread: thank you.

Install or update: open https://jasonpersinger.github.io/ghoulbox-fm1-dungeon-synth/ in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, and press Install. The installer backs up your music, sounds and settings first.

Hear every sound before installing: all 59, rendered by the firmware's own sound code.

User guide (PDF), updated for 1.2.

What's new in 1.2

• Drums are back, built for the dungeon. The DRUM engine has a new CRYPT kit: a low frame drum, a rope snare, a hand slap, a shaker, jingles, a timpani, a wooden stick and a gong. Two sounds use it, CRYPT KIT and TOMB DRUMS, with a slow TOMBBEAT pattern.

• MIDI CC control. A keyboard, controller or DAW can now turn the FM-1's controls:

  • track level and pan;
  • the envelope;
  • the reverb, chorus and delay sends;
  • the four engine knobs;
  • CRSH and TAPE;
  • a filter on the whole mix (CC 74).

  The guide has the full CC table.

• Five new dungeon patterns (SEQ › PHRASES): MARCH, LAMENT, ARPEGGIO, ANTIPHON and TOMBBEAT.

• Two new sounds: LOW DRONE, a deep sung drone (VOICE), and SHAWM, a medieval double reed (TRIO).

• USB SERIAL is off by default. The FM-1 shows up as plain USB audio and MIDI, which avoids trouble on some computers. Updating turns it off once. If you use Felucca's developer console, turn it back on under MENU › SYSTEM.

• 59 sounds across 13 engines in all.

Your saved music

Nothing saved on 1.0 or 1.1 changes:

• projects and user presets play the same sounds as before, including old drum and percussion parts;
• your own samples (USR1–USR3) keep their slots.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• If the installer stops after "update mode", replug the USB cable and press Install again.
• ghoulbox-1.2.fwsc is the same package the installer writes. SHA-256: 927c100aa3691f7c4c37054eaaaf22ece4fbea642f82122071d0592e2395fedc
• Going back: install Felucca from https://hugelton.github.io/Felucca/ and restore your backup in its editor.

Built on Felucca 1.0.5.2 by Hügelton Instruments. GPL-3.0-only. Please support the original: GitHub Sponsors, itch.io. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments.

Real instruments for the dungeon, a bagpipe, a quieter power-on, and a user guide.

Install or update: open https://jasonpersinger.github.io/ghoulbox-fm1-dungeon-synth/ in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, and press Install. The installer backs up your music, sounds and settings first.

New: the user guide (PDF): installing, a five-minute start, the panel and pages, all 55 sounds, the hall and tape, the sequencer, the menu, dungeon recipes and troubleshooting.

What's new in 1.1

• Four real instruments on the SAMPLE engine, recorded by Versilian Studios and released into the public domain (CC0):

  • a bowed psaltery, a medieval zither played with a bow;
  • a Renaissance chamber organ;
  • a baroque tenor recorder;
  • a folk harp.

  The first three sustain for as long as you hold a note. GRAIN can use all four as sources, too.

• BAGPIPE, a new hurdy-gurdy-engine sound: a reedy chanter over drones on the root and fifth.

• SAMPLE is back in the engine list. Its SET knob shows the new instruments first, then your own samples.

• The power-on is silent again. The few seconds of music under the skull splash are gone. The dungeon scene is still loaded, so press PLAY to hear it.

• 55 sounds across 12 engines in all.

Your saved music

Nothing saved on 1.0 changes:

• projects and user presets play the same sounds as before;
• your own samples (USR1–USR3) keep their slots.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• If the installer stops after "update mode", replug the USB cable and press Install again.
• ghoulbox-1.1.fwsc is the same package the installer writes. SHA-256: 065a751fba1aaf0b915bb04fbc8a15c31061408e052aa56884ecb119e87b209b
• Going back: install Felucca from https://hugelton.github.io/Felucca/ and restore your backup in its editor.

Built on Felucca 1.0.5.2 by Hügelton Instruments. GPL-3.0-only. Please support the original: GitHub Sponsors, itch.io. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments.

Dungeon-synth firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, built on Felucca 1.0.5.2 by Hügelton Instruments.

Install: open https://jasonpersinger.github.io/ghoulbox-fm1-dungeon-synth/ in Chrome or Edge on a computer, connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, close other music apps, and press Install. The installer backs up your music, sounds and settings first.

What's in it

• A dungeon at power-on: a hurdy-gurdy melody, crypt pad, chanting monks and a drone in D minor at 72 BPM. A few seconds play under the skull splash (any key skips them); press PLAY for the rest.
• HALL reverb (1.5 s chamber to 12 s cathedral) and a TAPE / CRSH stage (worn cassette, cheap sampler).
• GURDY, a hurdy-gurdy engine with drones and a buzzing trompette.
• 36 dungeon sounds, including seven new 6-operator FM patches: French horn, virginal, glass choir, dark strings, lo-fi flute, pipe organ, tuba.
• 50 curated sounds across 11 engines. Felucca's pop, techno and percussion presets and the SAMPLE, DRUM and SLICE engines are retired from the menus. Projects and user presets that use them still load and play them.
• An old-RPG screen: pixel type, stone windows, a sword cursor, torches, the CRYPT palette.
• Everything new in Felucca 1.0.5: ratchets, breathing LEDs, the tabbed menu and more.

Going back

Install Felucca from https://hugelton.github.io/Felucca/ and restore your backup in its editor. Its "Return to official V15" returns to M-VAVE's firmware.

Notes

• Tested on one FM-1. Install at your own risk.
• If the installer stops after "update mode", replug the USB cable and press Install again. The FM-1 stays in update mode until the install is finished.
• ghoulbox-1.0.fwsc is the same package the installer writes, for installing by hand. SHA-256: f3dfba116f1cbb51e1491b747e9bc0df592483adf2739bbe4c2852c9641e453e

GPL-3.0-only, like Felucca. Please support the original: GitHub Sponsors, itch.io. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments.