Groove OS · Connect
Your phone. Your gear.
Sample from your phone, play from a MIDI keyboard or keep time with the rest of your studio. The FM-1 fits into the way you already make music.
$29, once. 1.4 and 2.x updates included. Already own it? Update to 2.0
01 · Connect
Bluetooth, MIDI and your music program.
Bring sounds in from your phone, play from a MIDI keyboard or make the FM-1 part of a bigger setup. Connect over USB or Bluetooth and keep making music your way.
02 · Channels
Every track on its own channel.
Play different parts from your sequencer or music software. Each track responds on its own MIDI channel, with its own sound, and can record the notes you send.
- Play any track. Notes on a track's channel play it at once with its own sound, like the keys, and record into it while REC is on.
- On a cable, or without. Notes arrive from a computer on the USB-C cable, or from a phone or a computer over Bluetooth.
- Choose sounds remotely. Use MIDI Program Change to select a bank sound for a track from your controller or sequencer.
- Play other gear. A MIDI OUT track sends everything it plays to another instrument, as notes on a channel you choose.
03 · Faders
A fader strip for every track.
Mix from a controller you already know. Map its knobs and faders to each track’s pan, effects and sends for hands-on control of the whole song.
- Pan and sends. Each track's pan and its reverb and delay sends, on their own controls.
- TRACK FX. Drive, crush, filter and slicer answer too: one control sweeps the filter from a low pass, through open, to a high pass.
- At once. A value works the moment it arrives, without a click, just like turning the knob on the FM-1.
- Record the move. With REC on, moving the selected track's sends or filter is recorded as automation, as the knobs do.
Control synths, samples and kits from the same controller. MIDI assignments are listed in the manual.
04 · Live edits
Move a slider. The sound follows.
Explore an FM sound from an editor on your phone or computer. Hear each change on the FM-1 as the pattern plays.
- Go deep into FM. Edit operators, envelopes, algorithms and modulation from a compatible FM editor while the pattern plays.
- Heard on the next note. A note already held keeps the sound it started with. Play it again to hear the change.
- Drag as fast as you like. The FM-1 takes the latest value of each setting.
- Yours to keep. Nothing is kept until you save, and the project shows unsaved, as after a knob turn.
Live FM edits apply to the selected FM sound. Held notes keep their original sound; the next note uses the change.
05 · In time
A wobble that stays on the beat.
Keep filter sweeps, tremolo and wobble basses in time with the rest of your setup. Tempo-synced modulation follows the song or an incoming MIDI clock.
- Slow to fast. From 4 BARS down to 1/32, dotted and triplet values too: 1/4 is one sweep a beat and 1/8 two.
- On the bar. PLAY starts it on the bar line, and it stays locked from then on, bar after bar.
- Follows the tempo. Change the tempo, or follow a MIDI clock on EXT, and the LFO goes with it. Stopped, it keeps going at the tempo.
- Part of the sound. The song saves it with the track's sound, and COPY SOUND takes it along.
FM tracks share one LFO; virtual-analog tracks have their own.
06 · Sync
Keep time with the rest of your studio.
Let the FM-1 lead your setup or follow another device. MIDI clock keeps the beat together with your music software and other instruments.
- OUT. The FM-1 runs on its own tempo and sends its clock, with a Start when you press PLAY and a Stop when it stops.
- EXT. It follows an outside clock, with Start, Continue, Stop and Song Position, and shows the leader's tempo.
- Stays with the leader. Every clock moves it on, so there is no drift, even when clocks arrive unevenly, as they often do from a computer over USB.
- Holds on. If the clock stops, it keeps the last tempo, and falls back in step when the clock comes back.
07 · Bluetooth
Your phone, with no cable.
Play audio from your phone over Bluetooth and sample it on the FM-1. Try a voice memo, a drum break or a sound you found while listening.
- Pair once. The FM-1 remembers the devices it has paired with, so they link again by themselves.
- A speaker for your phone. Whatever the phone plays is heard from the FM-1, so you can play along with a track from your phone.
- Make it part of a beat. Record your phone’s audio wirelessly, then chop it and play it alongside your tracks.
- MIDI too. A linked device sends notes, controllers, clock and live sound edits, and gets MIDI and the clock back from the FM-1.
Bluetooth connects to one device at a time. You can switch to another phone or computer when needed.
08 · Music files
Take your song to your music program.
Start an idea on the FM-1 and develop it in your music software, or bring a MIDI file onto the FM-1. The Projects page handles both in your browser.
- Keep working elsewhere. Export your tracks as MIDI with their notes, timing, velocity, levels, pan and sends.
- Drums on the pads. Kit hits sit on the pad notes, pad 1 on note 36 as in a drum rack, or on channel 10 as General MIDI drums.
- In as a song. Choose a MIDI file and the page sorts its parts into drums, bass, keys, pad and lead, and builds a song from it.
- Move between the two. Send an imported song to the FM-1, or export a project already on it, over USB.
MIDI carries the musical parts, not the audio. Sounds, detailed effect settings and recorded knob movements stay on the FM-1.
09 · Questions
Questions before you plug in.
Do I need a computer?
Not for a phone: it pairs over Bluetooth with no code, and whatever it plays comes out of the FM-1. A computer connects with a USB-C cable.
Who keeps the time, the FM-1 or my music program?
Either one. Set MIDI CLOCK to OUT and the FM-1 leads, or to EXT and it follows. If another device does not follow the FM-1, make the FM-1 the follower instead.
Can I play music from my phone through the FM-1?
Yes. Pair the phone over Bluetooth and whatever it plays comes out of the FM-1, whatever the SAMPLER's input is set to. One device is linked at a time.
What happens to my pairings when I update?
They stay. The installer saves your Bluetooth pairings, your projects and your samples first and puts them back afterwards.
Does it cost anything?
Connecting is part of Groove OS. A new purchase is $29, once, including Groove OS 1.4 and 2.x updates.
What do I need?
An FM-1, and whatever you want to connect: a phone for Bluetooth, a USB-C cable for a computer. The website's installer and transfers use Chrome or Edge on Mac, Windows, Linux or ChromeOS.
Play along, wired or wireless.
Your phone or your music program, in time with the FM-1. Included for every Groove OS owner.
A phone pairs with no code · MIDI over USB and Bluetooth · your pairings are kept when you update · Already own it? Update to 2.0
More of Groove OS
- SamplerPlay a sound in from your phone or the FM-1 itself. Chop it, play it and build your song on the spot.
- Tracks and sequencerWrite notes step by step, tap out a beat or play a part in, and build a song track by track.
- SoundsFM and virtual analog on every track, with sound packs for every genre to add.
- Mixer and effectsLevel, pan and effects for every track, then reverb, delay and chorus for the whole mix.
- PerformDrop parts out on the bar, punch in effects, throw the mix and launch scenes.