PIGEON — sampler firmware for the M-VAVE FM1

PIGEON is free, open-source sampler firmware for the M-VAVE FM1 (FM-1), with 500 KiB of usable shared sample storage across two song tracks and 16 drum pads. The official PIGEON website hosts the browser emulator, sample loader and firmware installer. Created and directed by The Shrimp Blimp, built on Felucca 1.5.1 and shared under GPL-3.0-only. Chop, sequence, perform and record samples over USB.

This branch contains 0.5.0-beta.1 — THE FINAL BETA. Software checks pass; the maintainer reports the hardware checklist complete. Start with the 0.5 tutorial, quick controls and hardware checklist.

What it does

Two independent songs with up to 32 chops each, plus 16 drum pads, sharing 500 KiB usable sample storage. Songs use indexed mono MP3 or IMA ADPCM; the drum kit and USB takes use ADPCM. Duration depends on encoding and the other samples loaded. Older connected firmware retains its advertised limit.
Per-chop boundaries, playback point, forward/reverse direction, semitone and cent tuning, gain, envelopes, trigger modes and 0–8 ms loop crossfade. The loader offers nondestructive normalization. Two alternate layouts share audio.
USB audio recording into the selected song or drum pad: input meter, threshold start, seconds/bar limits, audition, trim and confirmed saving. The host sends mono 16-bit PCM at 22.05 kHz. Scratch is excluded from 0.5; per-chop reverse remains. Live input monitoring and internal resampling are not implemented.
Keep selected chops on the FM1, trim unused source regions, or collect chops from multiple songs in the browser library. Space reclamation removes obsolete payloads; keep downloaded backups before replacing audio.
A step grid and piano roll with 1–64 steps per track and four notes per step: live/step entry, note length/nudge, conditions, probability, repeats, Euclidean tools, fills, quantization, metronome and count-in.
Patterns A–D, queued bar/pattern-end changes, and a 16-section arrangement with per-track pattern choices, repeats and captured mutes.
A three-track mixer, drum choke groups, FIFO chop queues, tempo tools, filter, delay, chorus, reverb, distortion and compression.
Browser tools for editing, previewing, full-session backup/restore and firmware installation. Record the FM1 master output into a computer over USB audio, or capture the emulator output as WAV and MP3.
Screen-reader support in the firmware and emulator, with optional speech or live-region output. Announcements start off until connected/enabled.

The songs share eight playback voices; drums have four additional voices. Host tests do not establish worst-case FM1 playback or flash-write timing. Synth engines are unavailable in the PIGEON product profile.

Main controls

Control	Action
K1 / K2 on a song	Chop start / end
LFO on a song	Cycle K1: start, playback point, direction, cents, gain, crossfade
K3 / K4 on a song	Waveform scroll / zoom
OCT on a song	Semitone pitch
SEQ	Step grid; press again for piano roll
ENV / LFO on the grid	Step details / timing and recording preferences
SEL	Patterns, then Arrangement
ARP	Mixer and FX sends
EDIT → FX on a song	USB sampler
ENV → FX on drums	USB sampler for the selected pad
EDIT → LFO → SEL on a song	Keep selected chops
EDIT → ARP	FIFO chop queue
SEL held + chop key	Audition the ending, then loop while held
HOME	Waveform; Settings when already on the waveform

Build, back up and install

Follow BUILDING.md, then:

PYTHON=.venv/bin/python ./build-sampler.sh

Outputs are build/pigeon.fwsc and build/pigeon.bin. Building does not flash the FM1. Save a complete .pigeon recovery archive before updating. A .kob contains samples and chop settings; it does not contain all patterns/settings.

Use the sample loader’s firmware panel for a backed-up PIGEON update, or the CLI installer for supported installation/recovery paths. Updates use M-UPGRADE over USB MIDI SysEx. When moving from another custom firmware, follow TransitFM1 and the recovery guide; do not bypass compatibility checks. Keep USB power connected until installation and restart finish.

0.5 retains the 115-parameter project layout. Public 0.3.1 cannot read these projects. Modern chop metadata requires 0.5; uploaders check capabilities before writing. A bank using the expanded flash tail must be reduced before an older layout can be installed. See flash layout.

Guides

Complete feature list
0.5 start-to-finish tutorial
Quick controls and sample workflow
Sample loader guide
Storage and transfers
Screen-reader setup
Acceptance record and hardware tests
Update safeguards and release signing
Historical 0.4 tutorial and release notes
Contributing and licensing

Human authorship and AI assistance

AI was used for menial coding. All assets, direction, conceptualization, and thought are human. Creative assets are human-created or human-sourced and credited to their creators. AI assistance supported routine implementation, conversion, testing, and maintenance under human direction.

Foundation and licensing

PIGEON is its own project, built on the work of Felucca, Leo Kuroshita, Hügelton Instruments, and the credited contributors and library authors.

PIGEON remains GPL-3.0-only. The GPL text, inherited copyright notices, and third-party licenses are preserved. The text splash is described in assets/branding/README.md. The software license does not grant rights to imported commercial recordings.

FUNA project layouts, engine/parameter IDs, and USB/update protocol identities remain for compatibility. Legacy synth project data can be retained but its engines do not sound in PIGEON; projects using replaced factory samples can sound different. The baseline build and regression fixtures remain available for compatibility checks. Internal FELUCCA_* names are implementation details.

Browser sampler tool

Run python3 tools/pigeon_gui.py to open the local GUI on macOS/Linux, or py tools/pigeon_gui.py on Windows. It manages both songs, 16 drum pads, previews, storage, device transfers, and complete session backups. It also runs directly from an HTTPS website without installing anything and works offline after Offline ready appears. Audio processing stays on your computer. See the GUI guide.

The hosted PIGEON site reports anonymous successful-install totals. Browser installers count only after the FM1 restart identity is verified; repeated installations count again, and offline reports wait in local browser storage. The counter stores a random event ID, firmware checksum, source, and day, with no sample data or device identity. These are client-reported events, not unique devices. Tracking begins with this release; earlier installs are not counted.

Project repositories

Firmware: https://github.com/TheShrimpBlimp/pigeon
Sample tool: https://github.com/TheShrimpBlimp/pigeon-tool
Website: https://github.com/TheShrimpBlimp/pigeon-website

The firmware repository is public and welcomes contributions. The sample tool and website have separate repositories. The website checkout lives at web/site/; clone it there when preparing a hosted build from this firmware checkout. The standalone sample tool checkout lives at repositories/pigeon-tool/. These independent checkouts are excluded from the firmware repository.

Try PIGEON in the browser

The browser emulator starts empty. Load your own songs and drums, or open a .kob bank or .pigeon session. The 0.5 candidate supports the 500 KiB FM1 pool or unlimited browser storage; unlimited banks must be reduced before transfer to hardware. The public emulator remains on its deployed version until release.

Connect a MIDI controller to play the selected track. Record output captures browser audio; stop and download WAV or MP3. This records emulator playback, whereas the FM1 USB sampler records audio sent from the computer to the device. Audio processing stays on your computer. The emulator credits Charles Vestal’s FM1 X0X code and the Felucca adaptation by Leo Kuroshita and Hügelton Instruments.

Screen-reader support

Standard firmware includes the FM-1 Screen Reader protocol. The emulator offers browser speech and live-region announcements; both start disabled. See setup and controls.