Install, update and the way back

Groove OS 2.0 is installed from a web page, over one USB cable, from Chrome or Edge. The same page updates the beta, puts 1.4 back whenever you like, and puts M-VAVE's own V15 or V16 back if you want it. This chapter explains what the install does, how to update, how to move between 1.4 and 2.0, what to do if an install is interrupted, and what rescue mode is.

What Groove OS 2.0 is, and what it is not

Groove OS 2.0 is firmware built new for the FM-1, not a mod on top of M-VAVE's V15. It is independent software: it is not made, endorsed or supported by M-VAVE. It goes on the way M-VAVE's own updates do, through the FM-1's updater, and a small protected starter runs first on every start. If Groove OS cannot start, the starter stays up and waits for the Install page (see Rescue mode).

There are no M-VAVE screens underneath it. V15 and V16 are separate firmware, and the way back to M-VAVE's firmware puts either on from this same page.

What you need

Installing

1. Open the beta's Install page. On the 2.0 beta page press Install the 2.0 beta, or open Install, the address with ?to=2.0 on the end, and sign in. The plain Install page is 1.4's. The beta's says at the top that you are installing the 2.0 beta, an optional early look, and offers 1.4 instead.

2. Connect the FM-1, switch it on, and close other programs that use MIDI (a DAW, an editor, another browser tab).

3. Chrome or Edge: the page says whether Web MIDI with SysEx is available, and whether the browser has allowed it for this site. If it is blocked, allow it in the site settings (the icon left of the address bar).

4. Connect FM-1: press it. The page asks only for the FM-1's identity and shows what it runs (FM-1_015 for stock V15).

5. This build: the page shows the version, its size, and the SHA-256 it will check the download against.

6. Before you start: tick the list. Most installs that stop come from one of these, so the button stays off until every box is ticked:

   • a USB data cable, straight into the computer (not a hub, not a cable that only charges);
   • a laptop plugged into power;
   • this tab kept open until the page says it is done;
   • every other program that uses the FM-1 closed: a DAW, an editor, M-VAVE's app, or an installer in another tab;
   • and last, the box that says you understand Groove OS is independent software.

   If your FM-1 already runs Groove OS, the list has one more box: your projects are exported, or you don't need them. Export all right under it saves a copy of every project to your computer as .groove files and ticks the box for you. The install does the same by itself before it writes anything, and your projects come back on the FM-1 afterwards.

   The boxes are unticked every time you open the page, and again after every install.

7. Install: press it. If your FM-1 holds your own samples or kits, the page saves them in this browser first. Then it downloads the build, checks it against the published SHA-256, and only then offers it to the FM-1.

The install runs in two steps with a restart after each, and takes about three minutes:

The page then waits for the FM-1 to come back and checks that it reports the version it just installed. The screen of the FM-1 is dark while it writes. When the two steps are done, the page adds the six Learn courses to the FM-1 and, if you had samples or kits, brings them across (see Moving between 1.4 and 2.0).

If that last part does not finish (the cable, a closed tab), Groove OS 2.0 still starts, plays and saves your songs. Connect again on the Install page: when your saved samples have not all come across, the button says Finish the install. It puts them back, adds the courses and checks them.

The list covers what keeps the install running. If the tab closes anyway, the FM-1 waits in its updater and the page offers Finish install (see below). The page keeps the screen awake where the browser allows it (Wake Lock); otherwise it says so, and you switch off sleep for the next few minutes.

When the page says Installed, the FM-1 has restarted and reports its new name. If the screen is dark, switch the FM-1 off and on. The boot logo plays, and you are on TRACKS (Getting started). The page then shows what comes next. First, one line: Six courses are on your FM-1: SETTINGS > LEARN. The install puts the six courses on the FM-1, so there is nothing to add: tap GLO (SETTINGS), open LEARN and pick one (see Learn on your FM-1). If they were not added this time, the line says so and what to do; the FM-1 works as it should in the meantime. Under it, the Start with CORE card: See sound packs opens the sound packs in Sounds, to start with CORE and add genre packs (see Right after you install).

Pro tip: to see what is installed without installing, press Connect FM-1 and read Your FM-1 runs. Nothing is written until you press Install.

Coming from V15 or V16

If your FM-1 still runs M-VAVE's own firmware, Connect FM-1 shows it (FM-1_015, or FM-1_016 · M-VAVE's V16) and Install is one click that runs two parts, one after the other:

You press nothing in between. It takes a little longer than an install over 1.4, and the page shows which part is running. Going through 1.4 is how 2.0 keeps your FM-1's own Bluetooth calibration. Afterwards the page says which one Bluetooth uses: Bluetooth uses your FM-1's own radio calibration. Rarely, it says Bluetooth works, with a generic radio calibration rather than your FM-1's own. Bluetooth still works; it is tuned for another FM-1.

M-VAVE's V16. V16 puts its own data in the four preset banks (A to D) and in the FM-1's factory copy of them. The page puts the FM-1's factory sounds back in A to D on the way and says so in one line: Your presets were restored to the FM-1's factory sounds. Leave RESET BANK (SETTINGS > STORAGE) alone on a unit V16 ran on, because the factory copy itself cannot be rewritten from the page. V16 also clears the Bluetooth setting: if the computer or phone does not list the FM-1, turn BLUETOOTH on in SETTINGS.

If it stops part-way, connect again: the page reads what the FM-1 runs and offers what is left, as in If an install is interrupted.

Updating

When a newer 2.0 build is published, open the beta's Install page again. The page reads what the FM-1 runs, says that it updates the beta, and that what you made stays: it saves your samples and kits in this browser before it writes anything, and puts them back at the end. The list has the extra box about your projects. Export all saves a copy to your computer first, as .groove files, and ticks it. Your projects come back on the FM-1 after the update.

Careful: the page puts every project back after an update and checks it, and keeps a copy in your downloads. Keep those files anyway, even if you think nothing important is in them.

If putting the samples back stops, they stay safe in this browser, and the page says what to press when you connect again.

Moving between 1.4 and 2.0

2.0 is a beta you can try, and 1.4 stays the default. Install with nothing added installs 1.4, and Install with ?to=2.0 installs the beta. Moving either way is an install on the same page. Moving between 1.4 and 2.0 in the SAMPLER chapter says the same from the sound side.

Going to 2.0. Follow Installing. Your 1.4 samples and kits are put on the FM-1 at the end of the install, and the page says how many came along.

Going back to 1.4. Open Install without ?to=2.0. With a 2.0 FM-1 connected, the page says that it puts 1.4 back on it, and that your samples from the copy this browser kept go with it. The page names every step before it writes anything, and your projects come back on the FM-1 afterwards. Three things differ on 1.4: Bluetooth is off, so turn it on again in SETTINGS; the unsaved session does not come back, but it is in your downloads; and 1.4 can't play 2.0's sample tracks, so a project that uses them opens without them playing. If it asks for M-VAVE's V15 file on the way, it is the same file as in the way back to V15. When it says Installed, 1.4 has its own six courses on it.

To try the beta again later, use the beta link again: your 2.0 samples and kits come back with you.

Coming from another custom firmware

The beta installs over M-VAVE's V15 or V16, or over Groove OS. If your FM-1 runs another custom firmware (for example FM-1+VA), Connect FM-1 shows the version it reports, for example FM-1_093 · another custom firmware, and the Install step offers two steps, one after the other:

1. M-VAVE's V15 goes back on, from M-VAVE's own file. Download FM-1.fwsc straight from M-VAVE's server, or from M-VAVE's download page: open its PC Firmware tab (the page opens on another one), find FM-1, Version V15, and press Download. Then choose it on the page or drop it on the box. The page checks it is exactly V15 before the FM-1 is offered a byte.
2. Groove OS installs over V15, straight after, as from any stock FM-1. You do not press anything in between.

Tick the list (the same four boxes as an install, one that says you have backed up what you want to keep from the other firmware, and the box that says you understand), press Put V15 back, then install, and leave the cable and the tab alone for both steps (about twice the usual time). The page shows the progress of each step, and V15 is confirmed (FM-1_015) before Groove OS is offered to the FM-1.

Careful: putting V15 back replaces the other firmware on your FM-1. Treat anything it saved on the FM-1 (presets, patterns, settings) as lost. If you want to keep something, back it up with that firmware's own tools first: this page does not copy it out.

If it stops part-way, connect again. If the FM-1 waits in its updater while V15 was going on, the page asks for the V15 file again and finishes V15 first, then installs Groove OS. If V15 is already on, the page offers the normal Install.

If an install is interrupted

An install can stop: a cable pulled, a tab closed, a computer asleep. The updater is part of the FM-1 and is always there, so it can be finished.

A dark screen after an interrupted install is normal: the updater has no picture. It is waiting, not broken.

If the page stops the same way twice, or the FM-1 shows nothing on USB at all after a power cycle, write to us before trying anything else: we will get it back with you.

The way back to V15

The page can put M-VAVE's own firmware back, V15 or V16, at the bottom, under The way back. Read this part before you use it.

Careful: there is no backup of the stock firmware on the FM-1 or on the page. Going back needs M-VAVE's own file, and it erases your saved Groove projects: M-VAVE's firmware uses the flash where Groove OS keeps them. Export them first. Installing M-VAVE's firmware the same way is also how you get back from a build you do not want.

You need M-VAVE's FM-1.fwsc, straight from M-VAVE's server, or from M-VAVE's own download page: open its PC Firmware tab, find FM-1, and press Download. M-VAVE offers V16 there now; V15's file works too, if you kept it. Only M-VAVE's own V15 and V16 files are accepted: the page checks the file, and says so if you choose another.

1. Export your projects, if you want to keep them: export all on the Projects page. Going to V15 does not put them back.
2. Under The way back, choose M-VAVE's FM-1.fwsc in the file box.
3. Tick the list: the same four boxes as an install, the one that says your Groove projects are exported or you don't need them, and the box that says you understand they will be erased.
4. Press Go back to M-VAVE's firmware. It runs the same two steps, in about the same time, from any state, including a unit waiting in its updater.
5. When it says Back on M-VAVE's V15 (or V16), the FM-1 reports FM-1_015 (or FM-1_016). Groove OS can be installed again from the same page, and your exported projects are on your computer.

Putting V16 on replaces the four preset banks and the FM-1's factory copy of them with V16's own data: the page says so when you choose V16's file.

Your samples and kits don't come to M-VAVE's firmware, which stays exactly as it was. They are saved in this browser first and wait there until you install Groove OS 2.0 again.

There is no stock screen under Groove OS 2.0 to switch to for a while, so the way back is the only way to M-VAVE's own screens.

Rescue mode

Groove OS 2.0 starts through a small protected starter that runs before it. If Groove OS cannot start (it is missing or damaged, or it has failed to start three times in a row), the FM-1 stays in rescue mode instead. The screen says GROOVE OS RESCUE, says why, and asks you to connect USB and open the installer page. Open the Install page and follow what it offers. Rescue mode lists every reason the screen can give.

The simulators

Install and Projects have a demo mode, with ?sim=1 added to the address, that runs the page against a simulated FM-1. Nothing is sent to any device. It is useful to see what the page does before you try it for real.

Last resort: USB download mode

If the FM-1 stays dark after a power cycle, and the Install page cannot see it or cannot finish, there is one more route, used by the developers: JieLi's USB download mode. It rewrites the flash from a computer, without the firmware running. It needs the project's command-line tools (tools/fm1_enter_uboot.py and tools/fm1_uboot_recover.py, Python 3 with pyusb), a .fwsc package (a Groove OS build, or M-VAVE's V15), and on macOS sudo.

OCT- and OCT+ held while you switch on put the FM-1 in this mode: Groove OS does not start, the screen stays dark, and the Install page cannot see the FM-1. SETTINGS > ABOUT lists it as RESCUE: OCT- + OCT+ AT POWER-ON. To leave it, switch the FM-1 off, wait about ten seconds and switch it on again without touching the keys.

Careful: download mode is for a unit that cannot start any other way. Write to us before you use it: we will go through it with you.

Troubleshooting