LSDj on the M-VAVE FM-1
Play LSDj from the FM-1's keys and knobs, with effects, themes and MIDI sync.
New here?
- Install LSDJ Burrito with your own LSDj ROM file.
- Connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable.
- Shape the sound live, back up songs, pick colours.
- Play notes: press HOME on the FM-1 for note mode. LSDj needs PROJECT › SYNC = KEYBD; the FM-1 sets it for you (LSDj 9.3.9, SYNC OFF).
Use Chrome or Edge on a computer. This is experimental, unofficial firmware: back up your songs before installing.
Connect your FM-1
Turn the FM-1 on with LSDJ Burrito running, plug it in with a USB data cable, then press Connect and allow MIDI access.
If it doesn't connect
No FM-1 found? Use a data cable (some charge-only cables don't carry data), check the FM-1 is on and close other music apps that may hold its MIDI port. Installing firmware is done from Install, not here.
Perform
SetupScreen
Wiring
tap a block for its pageMaster · FX button
Channels · knobs, SELECT
Songs
Back up
Save all the FM-1's songs to this computer as lsdj.sav.
Load songs
Replace the FM-1's songs with a 128 KiB .sav file. If it fails, the FM-1 keeps its songs.
Installed LSDj
Read the LSDj installed on the FM-1 back as lsdj-installed.gb, for your own use (web installs from FM-1_974 on).
Effects
Every effects page and channel as lsdj-burrito-effects.json, or load one back.
Everything
Songs, installed LSDj and effects as three separate files in one .zip.
About .sav files
Files with exactly 16 extra bytes at the end can be imported after you confirm using the first 131072 bytes. The format of those extra bytes isn't checked, and your original file is never changed.
Colours
Custom theme
Start from a preset, change any colour, then send it. The FM-1 uses it as THEME: CUSTOM.
Settings
Autosave (FM-1_981): once nothing has changed for 5 seconds, the FM-1 saves the song and the effects, at most as often as you choose, without stopping the music. SAVE still saves at once. The FM-1 has it too: GLO › SETTINGS, the last line.
MIDI
What the MIDI options do, and every effect's CC
Clock in, Transport, Sync delay: with LSDj's SYNC set to MIDI, LSDj follows the incoming clock. Note in: with SYNC = KEYBD, LSDj plays incoming notes, like the FM-1's keys in note mode. Clock out: with SYNC = LSDJ, the FM-1 leads and sends MIDI clock, Start and Stop. CC to effects: the first MIDI channel controls PU1, the next PU2, then WAV and NOI. From FM-1_979 a CC change shows on the FM-1's screen (FX and lights › Show effects moved by MIDI CC) and is kept by SAVE like a knob turn.
FX and lights
What these do
SELECT goes round: off, turning SELECT past the last effects page stops there, so turning back always reaches FILTER (Channel FX). FX knobs: Channels: SELECT picks one effect and K1-K4 set it for PU1, PU2, WAV and NOI. Black keys show the page: in the effects panel, a soft light on the channel page's key: C#4 FILTER, D#4 DRIVE, F#4 LFO, G#4 LO-FI (the master pages light none, as C4-F4 show the mutes there); otherwise C#4 D#4 F#4 G#4 A#4 C#5 for LSDj's SONG, CHAIN, PHRASE, INSTR, TABLE and GROOVE screens (LSDj 9.3.9). FX knobs send their MIDI CC: on the CC to effects channels (channel 1 if that is off). The same switches are on the FM-1: GLO › FX+LIGHTS.
Backup
Settings, effects and custom colours in one file. Songs are backed up separately, in Songs.
Install or update
Four steps. Nothing is sent to the FM-1 until the last one.
- Get LSDj
- Sample kits
- Prepare
- Install
Step 1: choose your LSDj .gb file.
Where should LSDj come from?
LSDj can't be shared, so the firmware is built here from your own copy. It stays on this computer: nothing is uploaded. No copy yet? Get LSDj from littlesounddj.com.
Choose my LSDj ROM file
Your lsdj.gb. Needed the first time.
Use the LSDj already on my FM-1
For updates. Needs FM-1_974 or newer, plugged in over USB (it connects by itself). Takes a few minutes.
About reading from the FM-1
Reading copies the installed LSDj back to this page; it writes nothing to the FM-1. All installed sample kits start ticked. Untick kits to make room (a newer firmware can hold fewer kits); an unticked kit, or one left out of an earlier install, only comes back from your original ROM file. It does not back up songs or settings. FM-1_973 and older can't do this: install once using your ROM file first.
Sample kits
All kits are ticked. If they don't all fit, untick some: songs that use a removed kit lose those samples.
Prepare the firmware
What's in this version (0.9.96)
New in 0.9.96: LSDJ Burrito has a normal version number, 0.9.96, and is published as a GitHub release for The Firmware Hub (its firmware number is now FM-1_537000996; your FM-1 and this page still call it FM-1_996, the one after 995). An FM-1 with LSDJ Burrito but no LSDj in it now shows how to add your LSDj with this page, instead of a blank screen, and stays ready for updates. The splash shows the version.
From FM-1_995: note mode just works. The FM-1's keys (press HOME for note mode) and MIDI notes reach LSDj only when LSDj's PROJECT › SYNC is KEYBD. With LSDj 9.3.9 and SYNC OFF, the FM-1 now switches it to KEYBD by itself the first time you use note mode, and says LSDJ SYNC SET / TO KEYBD FOR NOTES. It leaves SYNC alone when it is MIDI or LSDJ (MIDI clock in and out need those) and tells you to set KEYBD yourself, as with other LSDj versions. The setting is part of the song: SAVE keeps it.
From FM-1_994: Bluetooth is gone. The Bluetooth build was never part of the normal firmware (it only fitted with a smaller sound buffer, which crackled), so for the firmware you use nothing changes, except that Settings no longer lists BLUETOOTH and MIDI clock in is USB or TRS, clock out USB. My FM-1 connects over USB only. (FM-1_993 was a private test build.)
Also new on this page: My FM-1 notices when the cable is pulled or the FM-1 is turned off, goes back to Not connected, and connects again by itself when the FM-1 is plugged in again. The pictures-a-second line beside the FM-1's screen is gone.
From FM-1_992: LSDJ Burrito has its own firmware number, FM-1_5370992 (FM-1_537 and the version), so updaters and The Firmware Hub can tell it apart from other FM-1 firmwares; the 9NN numbers were shared with others. Your FM-1 and this page still call it FM-1_992. Nothing else changes.
From FM-1_991: more sample kits fit. A kit often uses only part of its 16 KiB bank; the rest is empty filler, which is no longer stored, and the FM-1 reads it back as before. A stock LSDj 9.3.9 now fits with all 21 kits (17 before), with room to spare for your own. Songs and save space are unchanged.
From FM-1_990: the FM-1 sends each new picture of its screen to this page by itself, so the screen here keeps up with the FM-1 at SCREEN RATE 30 (before, the page asked for each picture and waited, and skipped some). USB only.
From FM-1_989: SCREEN RATE, on the FM-1 under SETTINGS / DISPLAY (under CPU METER) and here in Settings: the FM-1 draws its screen 10, 15, 20 or 30 times a second (10 before), and the screen on this page follows. More pictures take CPU time from the sound: turn on the CPU meter and go back a step if U shows underruns or the sound clicks.
Also new on this page: My FM-1 › Perform puts the live controls on one 16:9 screen without scrolling: the FM-1's screen, the wiring, Master with the mutes, and the channel effects with PU1, PU2, WAV and NOI side by side. ⇱ opens a panel in its own window (a second monitor or a projector); closing that window puts it back. Full screen hides the rest.
From FM-1_988: the FM-1's screen on this page keeps up with the FM-1's own screen. The FM-1 sends the changed rows back to back instead of one at a time, and the line under the screen shows how many pictures a second the FM-1 draws and how many the page shows.
From FM-1_987: the FM-1's screen on this page no longer shows torn or missing effects panels and menus, and it updates up to 30 times a second over USB. Read from my FM-1 connects over USB by itself. The page now shows the screen a whole picture at a time (no rows sweeping down), with a pictures-a-second line under it.
From FM-1_986: the effects follow LSDj's cursor on more LSDj versions. LSDj 9.3.9 with custom palettes or kits now counts as LSDj 9.3.9 (everything works). LSDj 9.4.0, 9.2.L, 9.1.C, 8.4.9, 8.4.2 and 4.6.2: the effects follow the cursor and the LFO follows the tempo; SEQ live mode, tempo editing, cues and MIDI sync still need LSDj 9.3.9. Choosing your LSDj says which it is.
From FM-1_985: the FM-1's screen above Effects updates several times faster over USB. The page asks once and the FM-1 sends back only the rows that changed, packed small, instead of the page asking for each row. With FM-1_983 or FM-1_984, the screen updates as before.
FM-1_984: two effects areas. Turning a knob or SELECT pops up the channel pages (FILTER, DRIVE, LFO, LO-FI) for the channel under LSDj's cursor, for a moment, as before. The FX button opens the master pages (MASTER, ECHO, ECHO MOD; C4-F4 mute there) and keeps them open until you press FX again.
From FM-1_983: the FM-1's screen shows on this page, above Effects (My FM-1), exactly as its display shows it, effects panels included. It is view only; fold it away to stop it reading. Older firmware says it needs FM-1_983.
From FM-1_982: the master pages are apart from the channel pages. FX opens the effects panel on FILTER, DRIVE, LFO, LO-FI; FX again shows MASTER, ECHO, ECHO MOD (C4-F4 mute there); FX a third time closes it. SELECT turns the pages of the list shown.
From FM-1_981: autosave (GLO › SETTINGS, the last line; every minute at most by default): once nothing has changed for 5 seconds the song and effects are saved, without stopping the music. The battery shows as 3/3 .. 0/3 (or USB): a full battery used to look like LSDj's background.
From FM-1_980: MASTER K3 / K4 set the echo mix and time (the ECHO page keeps them too); FX THEME sits under THEME in GLO › DISPLAY; and a fix: a long knob turn that opened a settings page could change its first setting (it switched PAGE WRAP on, so SELECT went round the effects pages).
From FM-1_979: the echo send on FILTER K2, next to Channel FX (filter type on LO-FI K3); SELECT stops at the first and last effects page; a muted channel's effects panel goes grey and says why when you turn it; effects moved by MIDI CC show on screen, and the FX knobs can send their CCs; GLO › FX+LIGHTS switches for knobs-as-channels, black-key page lights, a light sweep on HOME and a battery indicator; the effects panel's own colours. 30 sample-kit banks fit (31 before FM-1_979).
The master pages: All FX, compressor and echo mix / time on MASTER, then ECHO and ECHO MOD; keys C4-F4 mute PU1-NOI with a channel strip on screen. With LSDj 9.3.9: SEQ switches live / song mode, and EDIT tempo, ARP song cues, MIDI clock and KEYBD sync and the PLAY beat light work in web-installed builds; effects follow the cursor. Also: MASTER page with All FX bypass (K1) and compressor (K2); Channel FX on FILTER K1; reading LSDj back from the FM-1; theme-coloured bars.
Other LSDj versions are unverified: their effects act on all channels, and SEQ, tempo, song cues and MIDI sync stay off. Sample banks keep their numbers. Save compatibility between LSDj versions isn't guaranteed.
Install
Use a different .fwsc file
The downloaded file can also be installed with M-VAVE's M-UPGRADE app. A file you prepared contains your LSDj: keep it private.
Install log
Risks
Installing firmware always carries some risk. If the transfer is interrupted (the cable comes out, the computer sleeps, the power drops) or the firmware has a fault, the FM-1 may not start until a working firmware is installed again; usually it can be recovered by reconnecting it in update mode, but that isn't guaranteed. This firmware is experimental and unofficial, and isn't supported by M-VAVE. The page checks the file before sending it, but that can't prove it will run correctly on your FM-1. Back up your songs first, and install at your own risk.
Virtual FM-1 Experimental
Runs an FM-1 firmware file right here, using Joakim Eriksson's FM-1 emulator. Nothing connects to a real FM-1.
Controls
Click the instrument's keys; drag knobs up and down or scroll over them. With the instrument focused: arrows = directions, Z/X = B/A, Shift/Enter = Select/Start. Switching tabs pauses it.
View and speed options
Limits
Stop, restart or reload throws away virtual songs and settings, even ones saved inside the virtual FM-1. My FM-1 controls the real device, not this one. Emulating LSDj inside the FM-1 is heavy and may run below real-time, so sound and timing may be off. Regular Chrome or Edge works best; one VS Code browser tab crashed in testing.
The firmware is free software (GPL-3.0), based on GameDude. Source: lsdj-burrito-src; matching 0.9.96 template source. Not affiliated with M-VAVE or LSDj's author, Johan Kotlinski.