Chapter 7· Groove OS 2.0 beta

SAMPLER

Play along as you read: the FM-1 beside the text is a working one, running the real Groove OS 2.0, and it follows the part of the page you are reading. Tap a control's name in the text to find it on the panel, and press Start on a Try it card to be shown. Sound stays off until you turn it on.

Sample anything, then play it. Plug in your phone, press , and the sound is on a key a moment later, trimmed to where it starts, ready to chop across the keys, tune, loop and play. The SAMPLER also records the FM-1's own groove, so you can bounce a beat, chop it and play it back in a new order. All of it happens on the FM-1.

The SAMPLER opens on SAMPLES: everything you have made, kits, instruments and takes, newest first, in one list. The editor is one press of in, and comes back up (see SAMPLES).

The SAMPLER is new in Groove OS 2.0. If you are coming from 1.4, Moving between 1.4 and 2.0 says what comes with you.

Your first sample

Turn to SAMPLER, the page right after KEYS. It opens on SAMPLES: press on + NEW KIT (or on the kit you were building) to open the editor.
Plug your phone or computer into the FM-1's USB-C port, pick FM-1 Audio as its sound output and play something. On the FM-1 turn (INPUT) to USB: the meter on the top line moves with the sound.
If the meter runs into the red and the room readout turns to CLIP, turn (GAIN) down until the loudest moments stay left of the line.
Press as the sound you want starts, and again when it ends. A moment late is fine: the take still starts on its first hit.
The take lands on the pad you were on (R01 ON PAD 1) and plays back once. Press the key to play it again, turn and to trim it, turn to chop it.

The rest of this chapter is every knob and button behind those five steps.

What the SAMPLER is

The SAMPLER is a page on the SELECT wheel, between KEYS and PROJECT: TRACKS, MIX, PERFORM, KEYS, SAMPLER, PROJECT. It is not a track. It is where you record, and where your samples live. It opens on SAMPLES, your list of everything you have made, and the editor is a level in from it. goes up one level: from the editor to SAMPLES, and from SAMPLES to TRACKS, where the keys play the selected track again.

You build one of two things on it, and on the input chooses (MODE):

Mode	You are building	What the keys do
`KIT`	A sample kit: a sound on each of the 16 white keys, a pad each.	Each white key plays its own sound, like the pads of a KIT track.
`INST`	A sample instrument: one sound across the keybed.	Every key plays the sound at its own pitch, so you can play melodies and chords.

To use either in a song, put it on a track (see Kits and instruments on tracks). A kit becomes a drum track, an instrument becomes a SAMPLE track.

Reading the screen

Where	What it shows
Top line, left	The input chip (`USB`, `MAIN`, `DRY` or `T1` to `T8`) and its meter. The chip is filled while the cursor is on the input.
Top line, right	The room left for new samples. `CLIP` takes its place for a moment when the input clipped.
The picture	On a key: its waveform, with START in blue and END in green. On an empty key, or while recording: what the input has been hearing, scrolling, and the take growing as you record.
The key row	Sixteen cells, one for each white key. A cell is tinted when its key has a sound, and a chop shares the tint of the sound it was cut from. The key you are on has an outline. In INST the same cells show the one sound, and the key that plays it as recorded is marked `C`.
The hint, and the tag	One line of what to press next, and `KIT` or `INST` at its right.
The legend	K1 to K4 for whatever the cursor is on.

The lights on the panel's white keys follow the same picture: in KIT the keys that hold a sound are lit, and in INST the lit key is the C.

The cursor is , as everywhere. It stops on the input first, then on each pad (KIT) or on the one sound (INST). Playing a white key also puts the cursor on it. While the cursor is on the input, on an empty key, or while you record, there is nothing to trim yet, so the knobs are the input's.

Cursor on	K1	K2	K3	K4
The input, an empty key, or while recording	`INPUT`	`GAIN`	`MODE`	`BARS`
A pad (KIT)	`START`	`END`	`CHOPS`	`TUNE`
The sound (INST)	`START`	`END`	`LOOP`	`TUNE`
held, on a pad (KIT)	`LEVEL`	`CHOKE`	`REVERSE`	`WARP`
held, on the sound (INST)	`ATTACK`	`RELEASE`	`REVERSE`	not used

Hold and the page stays where it is: the legend shows the second row, with a HOME tag, and the panel's keys light to show their settings, F3 to B3 the bars you chose. Hold for a short help card, and tap it for SETTINGS.

Every control

Control	On the SAMPLER
	Turns to the SAMPLER (after KEYS). It opens on SAMPLES, and there opens the editor.
	The cursor: the input, then the keys or the sound.
to	The tables above. held while you turn moves a value ten at a time.
	Records sound onto the key you are on if it is empty, else the next empty key. Press again to stop.
	Captures what you just heard (see Capture what you just heard).
	A tap is undo. Hold it to delete the sound on the key; it asks first.
(turn)	Goes up to SAMPLES.
	Opens the SAMPLER menu.
	Goes up to SAMPLES. again goes to TRACKS.
, , ,	The bars of the next take: 1, 2, 4 or 8 (see Bars).
The white keys	KIT: play the pad. An empty pad chops while a long sound plays. INST: play notes.
The black keys	KIT: nothing. INST: notes.
	On a sample track: opens the SAMPLER on what it plays. again goes back to TRACKS.

Where the sound comes from

(INPUT) picks what the FM-1 records. The FM-1 has no audio input jack, so the sources are USB-C and the FM-1 itself.

Input	What it records
`USB`	What a phone or a computer plays into the FM-1 over USB-C. Pick `FM-1 Audio` as the sound output on that device.
`MAIN`	Everything you hear from the FM-1: all the tracks and the main effects.
`DRY`	The same mix before the main effects. It is the clean choice when the loop will go back through the same reverb or delay.
`T1` to `T8`	One track on its own, as it sounds with its own track effects.

The FM-1 has no microphone input of its own. To sample your voice or an instrument, record it on a phone or a computer and play it into the FM-1 over USB-C, or play it live through any app that sends its input to the output.

Samples are mono. The input changes only between takes (INPUT: AFTER THIS TAKE if a take is running). The SAMPLER listens while its page is open, so the picture always shows what the input has just heard.

Gain and the clip warning

(GAIN) sets how hot the input is. The meter shows the level after the gain: green up to the thin line, yellow past it, and a red block at the very end that lights when the sound reaches full scale. When it does, CLIP replaces the room readout for a moment. Turn the gain down until the loud parts sit left of the line, and the take will be clean.

Try it·On the FM-1

The input is clipping: turn K2 down until GAIN is back at 0.

K2

Recording

Press to start a take and again to stop it. While it runs the take grows in the picture with its length, and the hint says REC: STOP. The knobs are the input's, and INPUT and BARS wait for the end of the take.

It never overwrites. A take goes on the pad the cursor is on if that pad is empty. If it has a sound, the take goes on the next empty pad, wrapping round to the start of the row, and the toast says so: R03 ON PAD 3 · PAD 2 KEPT. Takes are named R01, R02 and so on. If all 16 pads are full it says 16 PADS FULL · HOME: NEW KIT: goes up to SAMPLES, where + NEW KIT is.

Every take is brought to a good level as it lands, so a quiet sample is not a quiet pad: your pads start evenly loud, and LEVEL (see Settings for each pad) trims from there. Every sound also fades in and out for an instant, so a key never clicks.

Try it·On the FM-1

Play the phone's clip, press REC as the voice starts and REC again when it ends.

REC

Where a take starts and stops

The FM-1 keeps listening while the SAMPLER is open, so a take can start from just before you pressed . Press a moment late and the take still starts on the first hit, not after it. A take from USB is also trimmed at the end, just after its last sound, so you do not need to be quick with the second press either.

You can trim a take afterwards (see Trim), and undo it (see Undo, retake and delete). In INST a new take becomes the instrument, and the one it replaces stays in SAMPLES: R07 ON THE KEYS · R04 IN SAMPLES.

Quality: HIGH or LONG

The first row of the SAMPLER menu () is QUALITY. It trades a little sound for room: HIGH · BEST SOUND, the default, or LONG · 2× TIME, which gives about twice the recording time, with a little grain. Turn right for LONG and left for HIGH. The value says what you get, so there is no message when it changes.

It applies from the next take. A take that is running keeps the quality it started with, and every take keeps its own, so switching later never changes a sample you already have.
The room follows it. With LONG the room left is about twice what it was: the readout at the top right of the SAMPLER and SAMPLES show it.
The FM-1 starts listening afresh when you change it. The look-back before a take, and what captures, begin from nothing again, so play a moment before you record.
It is remembered. The FM-1 keeps your choice with the session, so a restart that brings the session back brings it back too, and loading another project does not change it.

Try it·On the FM-1

The first row of the SAMPLER menu is QUALITY, on HIGH. Turn K1 right: LONG gives about twice the recording time.

K1

Bars

(BARS) on the input is OPEN, 1, 2, 4 or 8. , , or sets 1, 2, 4 or 8 too, and the toast says BARS 2 · THE NEXT TAKE. Bars make a take land in time with the song:

`BARS`	While the music plays	While it is stopped
`1`, `2`, `4`, `8`	waits for the next bar (the picture says `NEXT BAR`), records exactly that many bars and stops by itself. The take loops in time.	starts at once and still stops after that many bars.
`OPEN`, from `MAIN`, `DRY` or a track	The take starts on the bar line just passed, and again ends it on the next bar line: `IT STOPS ON THE BAR LINE`.	starts a take and again ends it.
`OPEN`, from `USB`	starts a take and again ends it. A take of at least half a bar lands in time too, at the nearest whole bars.	starts a take and again ends it.

A press of during a take ends it early. Press it while the picture says NEXT BAR and it calls the take off.

Pro tip: to sample the FM-1 itself, set INPUT to MAIN, set BARS to 2 and press while the groove plays. It starts on the next bar and gives you two clean bars, in time, that loop with the song.

Capture what you just heard

You do not have to be recording to catch something good. The hint line offers it (HOME+SAVE: CAPTURE): captures what the input just heard, onto an empty pad the way a take goes:

With the groove playing and the input not on USB, it captures the most recent whole bars it has heard, cut on the bar line and in time (a short while after the SAMPLER opens it has heard only the last bar), and the toast says how many, ending IN TIME. The pad loops in time with the song.
Otherwise it captures the last stretch the input heard.

If nothing has come in yet it says NOTHING HEARD YET. It works only while the SAMPLER is open, because that is when the FM-1 is listening.

Trim: START and END

(START) and (END) set where a sound starts and ends. You hear each edge as you turn: a turn of START plays the sound from the new start, and a turn of END plays the end of the sound, up to the new end. You stop turning when the next word, or the next hit, has gone.

The picture marks START with a blue line and END with a green one. The number under START is how far into the sample the sound starts, and the number under END is how long it plays.
A turn moves the edge by a small step that fits the length of the sound. Hold while you turn to move in tens.
Each edge lands on a smooth point in the sound, so a trimmed sound never clicks.

Chops

Turn (CHOPS) on a key and the sound splits on its hits into 2 to 15 pieces. Each piece goes on one of the empty keys after it, and the whole sound stays whole on its own key, so you can chop it again. Turn down below 2 and CHOPS is OFF: the pieces go away.

The toast says what happened: 2 CHOPS · ON THE KEYS AFTER IT, NO CHOPS · PAD 1 WHOLE, or ROOM FOR 4 · HOME: NEW KIT if the empty keys ran out. Each chop is a key of its own, with its own TUNE, LEVEL, CHOKE and REVERSE. Press the keys and finger-drum them.

Do this	What happens
on a sound, or on any of its chops	Chops the whole sound again, on its hits. Turn it to try a different number.
on a sound that is warped in time	Chops on the sixteenth-note grid of its bars instead of on its hits.
Tap an empty key while a sound longer than a second plays	A chop starts there, a hair before your tap so a late finger still catches the hit. The toast says `CHOP ON PAD 4`, and the hint says `EMPTY PAD: CHOP HERE`.
Put the cursor on a chop and turn (`START`)	Moves where that chop starts. It plays as you turn, and the chop before it ends where this one begins, so nothing overlaps and nothing is missing.

Short sounds never chop by accident: tapping an empty key only chops while a sound longer than a second is playing, so finger-drumming on short hits is safe.

Pro tip: to chop a loop in time, warp it first (see WARP) and then turn CHOPS: the pieces fall on the sixteenth-note grid of its bars, not on its hits.

A chopped kit comes with all its chops when you put it on a track.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn K3 to chop the break on its hits.

K3

Settings for each pad

Every key keeps its own settings. Most are on the knobs, in the table under Reading the screen; the rest are in the SAMPLER menu ().

Setting	Where	What it does
`TUNE`		Plays the sound higher or lower, two octaves either way. It plays the key as you turn, so you hear it.
`REVERSE`		Plays the sound backwards. The key's name line says `REV`.
`LEVEL`		How loud the key plays, from quiet to a little louder than it landed. `0DB` is where it landed.
`CHOKE`		`OFF`: the key plays on its own. `SELF`: pressing the key again cuts its own last sound, so it never stacks. `A` and `B`: keys in the same group cut each other, like a closed hat cutting an open one.
`PLAY`	The menu	`ONE-SHOT` plays the whole sound each press. `GATE` plays it only while you hold the key. `LOOP` loops it until you press the key again.
`WARP`		Fits a loop to the song's tempo (see WARP).
`ON THE KEYS`	The menu	See KIT and INST.

On the key row, a key set to GATE has a small line under its number, and a key set to LOOP has a small square in its corner.

KIT and INST

KIT: a kit on the white keys

In KIT the 16 white keys, from the lowest F, are 16 sounds: your own kit. Pressing a key plays its sound and puts the cursor on it. The black keys do nothing. Record a hit, record the next one, and each lands on the next empty key until you have a kit. Chop one long sound across the keys, or mix: some takes, some chops.

ON THE KEYS in the menu plays the sound on the key you are on across the whole keybed, pitched up and down from C, as a quick way to try a sound as an instrument. Hold several keys and you have a chord. Choose it again and the keys are pads again (THE KEYS ARE PADS AGAIN). It is for trying, and INST is for keeping.

INST: one sound across the keys

Turn on the input to INST and, if you have no instrument yet, the sound you were on comes with you as the instrument. Every key, black and white, plays it at its own pitch, so melodies and chords are one key press away. The key that plays it exactly as recorded is marked C on the screen and lit on the panel.

Knob	What it does in INST
`LOOP`	While you hold a key, the sound loops between START and END, so it sustains. A yellow bracket under the picture shows the loop.
`TUNE`	Moves the `C`: which key plays the sound as recorded.
`ATTACK`	How slowly the sound fades in when you press a key.
`RELEASE`	How long it rings out after you let go.
`REVERSE`	Plays it backwards.

A sample from your voice, a loop on, a slow attack and a long release is a soft pad.

When you change back to KIT, your kit is as you left it. A new kit is + NEW KIT on SAMPLES, and a new instrument is + NEW INSTRUMENT. The ones you replaced stay in SAMPLES.

Try it·On the FM-1

Put the cursor on the input and turn K3 to INST: the sound becomes an instrument.

ALGORITHMK3

WARP: fit a loop to the tempo

WARP ( on a key, or the menu's WARP) makes a loop play in time with the song, whatever tempo it was recorded at. The FM-1 works out how many bars the sound is, the nearest of 1, 2, 4 or 8 at the song's tempo, and says so: TONES · 2 BARS AT 96 BPM. A warped key loops, and pressing it again stops it.

`WARP`	What it does	Good for
`OFF`	Plays as recorded.	One-shots and drum hits.
`PITCH`	Fits the bars by playing faster or slower, so the pitch moves with the speed.	A loop close to the song's tempo, or when you want the tape effect.
`BEATS`	Stretches the gaps between the hits and keeps every hit whole.	Drum loops and breaks.
`TONES`	Stretches the sound and keeps its pitch. TUNE then transposes without changing the length.	Melodies, chords and vocals.

Two voices at once. At most two warped sounds (BEATS or TONES) play at the same time. The key's name line counts them (TONES 1/2). A third plays as PITCH, and says so: 2 WARPED ALREADY · THIS ONE REPITCHES. PITCH has no such limit.

The other way round. SET TEMPO in the menu sets the song's tempo from the loop on the key, so a break recorded at 92 BPM makes your song 92 BPM instead of bending the break. The toast says TEMPO 92 BPM. A key that is not warped is switched to PITCH so it keeps playing in time; a key that is already warped (BEATS or TONES) keeps its warp, and the warp follows the new tempo. It needs a sound of at least half a bar (it says FOR LOOPS: HALF A BAR OR MORE).

An instrument can be warped from the menu as well.

Try it·On the FM-1

Hold HOME and turn K4 to BEATS: the loop locks to the song's tempo.

HOMEK4

opens the menu (the figures under Quality: HIGH or LONG show it). A row that cannot act says why instead (RECORD FIRST while the key is empty). Making a new kit and giving room back are on SAMPLES now, not in this menu.

Row	What it does
`QUALITY`	`HIGH · BEST SOUND` or `LONG · 2× TIME` for the next take (see Quality: HIGH or LONG).
`PLAY`	`ONE-SHOT`, `GATE` or `LOOP` for the key you are on. KIT only.
`ON THE KEYS`	The key's sound pitched across the keybed. KIT only.
`WARP`	The same as : `OFF`, `PITCH`, `BEATS` or `TONES`.
`SET TEMPO`	Sets the song's tempo from the loop.
`RENAME`	Renames the sample on the pad: the keys type the letters. The new name shows everywhere the sample does. It says `SAVES WHEN YOU STOP` until the sample is saved.

SAMPLES

SAMPLES is the SAMPLER's front page, and the place everything you have made lives: your kits, your instruments and your takes, newest first, in one list. Turning to SAMPLER opens it, and so does SAMPLES in SETTINGS. The editor from the sections above is one level in: opens the highlighted item there, comes back up, and again goes to TRACKS.

The rows

+ NEW KIT and + NEW INSTRUMENT come first. opens an empty one in the editor, so starting something new is one move. The kit or instrument you were on stays in the list.
The kit you are building is marked OPEN. One that is not saved yet says NOT SAVED YET, so nothing ever seems lost.
Then everything on the FM-1, newest first. A kit is KIT 2, an instrument is INST R04 (named after its sample) and a take is R03.
DELETE UNUSED is the last row (see DELETE UNUSED).

Each row says who uses it, then how big it is:

Row	What it says
A take	Who uses it: a track of this project (`T5`), saved projects (`2 PROJECTS`, `1 PROJECT`), a key on the SAMPLER (`PAD 3`), a kit you kept (`KIT 2`), or `UNUSED`. Then its length.
A kit	`OPEN` if it is the one you are building, else the tracks that play it, then how many pads it has (`2 PADS`).
An instrument	`OPEN` or the tracks that play it, then the length of its sample.

Where you left off. The cursor waits on the kit or instrument you were building, so carries on where you stopped.

The room

The bar at the top is the room: grey is used, red is what DELETE UNUSED would give back. The legend under the list:

Knob	Shows
`TYPE`	`ALL`, `KITS`, `INST` or `SAMPLES`: turn it to show just those.
`ITEMS`	How many kits, instruments and takes the list holds.
`FREE`	The room left, with a ring. SAMPLES is where to see how much room you have left for new takes.
`TO`	Where a take would go if you pressed on it: `PAD 3`, or `INST`.

After you delete something the room readout holds its figure and catches up a moment later, once the FM-1 has the freed room ready. It does not dip to 0 while that happens.

What each control does here

Control	Does
(or )	Moves down the list. Hear it before you open it: each row plays once as the cursor reaches it, a take whole, a kit's first sound, an instrument's sample.
The white keys	On a kit, play its pads. On an instrument, play its notes.
	Opens the row in the editor. A kit or instrument opens as it is. A take opens the editor and goes on the kit's next empty pad (across the keys, for an instrument). `+ NEW KIT` or `+ NEW INSTRUMENT` opens an empty one. `DELETE UNUSED` asks.
	Records into the highlighted kit or instrument (or into a new one on a `+` row): the editor opens and the take starts, so you see it land. On a take, or on `DELETE UNUSED`, it records into the kit you are building. Press it again to stop.
	Captures what you just heard, as in the editor (see Capture what you just heard).
Hold	Deletes the highlighted row, with a question first. A tap of is the editor's undo.
	`TYPE`, as above.
	Goes to TRACKS (to SETTINGS, if you came from there).
held	A short card for the page.

Your kit is never lost. Opening another kit, or + NEW KIT, while the kit you are building is not saved yet says SAVING THE KIT FIRST (SAVING THE INSTRUMENT FIRST for an instrument), and starts saving at once: press again to open the other. While the music plays it says STOP TO SAVE IT FIRST.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn ALGORITHM down to a take and press SEL: it opens in the editor on the kit's next empty pad.

ALGORITHMSEL

Make room safely

Hold on a row, wait for the ring to fill, and it asks before it deletes, and says what uses it:

Row	The question
A take	`DELETE R03?` with `USED: PAD 2 · THEY LOSE IT` (or `T5`, `2 PROJECTS`), or `NOTHING USES IT · IT LEAVES THE FM-1`.
A kit	`DELETE KIT 1?` with `ITS SAMPLES STAY`, or `PROJECTS KEEP THEIR COPY` if a track plays it. The takes on it stay in the list, and become `UNUSED` if nothing else uses them.
An instrument	`DELETE INST R04?`, the same two lines.
`+ NEW KIT`, `+ NEW INSTRUMENT`, a row not saved yet	`NOTHING TO DELETE HERE`. Open it and clear its pads instead.

CANCEL is the default: keeps everything, and then deletes. Deleting the kit you are building empties the editor to a new kit.

DELETE UNUSED

The last row of SAMPLES gives room back in one move. It deletes the samples made on the FM-1 that nothing needs: not on a key of the SAMPLER, not on a track of this project, not in any saved project and not in a kit you keep. It also deletes the kits and instruments you are not building whose sounds are all like that. Its row shows how many and how much room that gives back, or NONE.

It checks your saved projects first (CHECKING THE PROJECTS for a moment), then asks once: DELETE 6 UNUSED?, with a line that says how many samples and kits go and how much room that gives back. When it is done a toast says how many it deleted and how much room is free. If there is nothing to delete it says EVERY SAMPLE IS IN USE.

Saving samples, deleting, renaming and DELETE UNUSED need the music stopped. While it plays, they say STOP TO SAVE.

Try it·On the FM-1

DELETE UNUSED is asking. CANCEL is the default: turn ALGORITHM to DELETE and press SEL.

ALGORITHMSEL

On your computer

Your samples have a home on the website too: the Samples page. Manage your samples from your computer: add any sound, back up, tidy up. It works over the same USB cable as the Install page, in Chrome or Edge, and what you add or change there is on the FM-1 afterwards, in SAMPLES. If a project plays samples the FM-1 does not have, the FM-1 points you to the same page (GROOVE-OS.COM/SAMPLES).

Kits and instruments on tracks

A kit or an instrument you built becomes a sound in PRESETS, next to every other sound, and you play it from a track.

On TRACKS, put the cursor on + ADD TRACK, press and choose SAMPLE. The toast says NEW SAMPLE TRACK.
PRESETS opens on the type KIT (the row says KIT USER), or on INST if the SAMPLER holds an instrument. Turn to the one you want: your kits are called KIT 1, KIT 2 and so on, and an instrument is called after its sample (R01). Each turn plays it once, so you can hear it first.
puts it on the track.

You can also pick the type KIT or INST for any track from PRESETS ( is TYPE, or turn while holding ), the way you pick any other sound. A kit goes on a drum track, or on an empty track, which becomes one. A track of another kind that already has notes says CLEAR THE TRACK FIRST.

You put on a track	You get
A kit	A drum track with your 16 sounds on its pads (`PADS A` and `PADS B`, switched with ). Play them from the keys and the step grid, as with any kit.
An instrument	A SAMPLE track that plays the sound as notes. The sequencer, and the arpeggiator work on it as on any track.

REC records notes there. On the TRACKS page, records your playing into a sample track as it does for any track. Sound is recorded on the SAMPLER only.
A kit's keys come with their TUNE, LEVEL, CHOKE (A and B), REVERSE and LOOP. WARP stays with the SAMPLER's keys and instruments: on a drum track a key plays at its own speed. An instrument keeps its warp.
EDIT reopens the SAMPLER, inside your song. Press on a sample track and the SAMPLER opens on its kit or instrument, the top line naming the track (T5 · INST). What you change goes straight onto the track. Press again to go back to TRACKS ( goes up to SAMPLES instead). If the SAMPLER has a kit that is not saved yet it says STOP TO SAVE THE SAMPLER'S KIT FIRST.

A project holds up to 32 samples. A kit or instrument that would go past that says PROJECT FULL: 32 SAMPLES.
The kit you are building is saved for you. The SAMPLER saves its kit and instrument on the FM-1 whenever the music is stopped and you have paused for a moment, and puts the cursor on it in SAMPLES the next time.

Try it·On the FM-1

Put your kit on a track: HOME to TRACKS, ADD TRACK, SAMPLE, then SEL on your kit.

HOMEALGORITHMSEL

Undo, retake and delete

has two jobs, as everywhere in Groove OS: a tap is undo, and a hold is the destructive verb.

Undo is one step. Tap and the keys go back to how they were before your last take, capture, chop, warp, tempo change, mode change, new kit, sample you put on a pad, or sound you took off a pad, and the toast says which: UNDO TAKE. Tap again and it says NOTHING TO UNDO. A take you undo stays in SAMPLES, so it is never lost.
Retake. Press again. The new take goes on the next empty pad and the old one stays (R02 ON PAD 4 · PAD 1 KEPT), so you can compare them. To replace a sound on its pad, delete it first.
Delete. Hold on a key and the ring fills. It then asks DELETE R03? and says what happens. If something else uses the sample (T5 USES IT · IT STAYS THERE) it only comes off the key. If nothing does (NOTHING ELSE USES IT · IT LEAVES THE FM-1) the sample goes.

Careful: deleting a sample that nothing else uses takes it off the FM-1, and undo cannot bring it back.

Try it·On the FM-1

Tap HOME + REC to undo the last take.

HOMEREC

What the SAMPLER holds

Limit	What to know
Pads	A kit has 16 pads. One sound chops into up to 15 pieces.
In the SAMPLER	One kit and one instrument at a time. Earlier ones are in SAMPLES, and in PRESETS.
Warped sounds	At most two `BEATS` or `TONES` at once. A third plays at `PITCH`.
Samples in a project	Up to 32.
Tracks in a project	Up to eight, as ever (`8 TRACKS: NO MORE`).
Takes waiting	While the music plays, takes wait to be saved at the next stop. Three can wait, and then it says `3 TAKES WAIT · STOP TO SAVE THEM`.
Room	SAMPLES shows the room left, and `QUALITY` `LONG` gives about twice as much for new takes. `TOO LONG FOR THE ROOM` means the bars you chose will not fit, and `STORE FULL` means the take or kit would not fit. `DELETE UNUSED` gives room back.
Channels	Samples are mono.
Sources	USB-C, `MAIN`, `DRY` or one track. There is no audio input jack and no microphone input.
Saving	Saving, deleting and renaming need the music stopped.

Moving between 1.4 and 2.0

2.0 is a beta you can try, and 1.4 stays the default on the Install page. The beta comes from the 2.0 beta page, and the way back to 1.4 is one click on the same page.

Your samples and kits come with you. The sounds and kits you put on in Your own sounds come to 2.0 with you. Going back to 1.4, the ones you made in 2.0 wait in this browser until you return.
Your projects come back on your FM-1, with a copy in your downloads. Whenever you switch, the installer saves them as .groove files first, then puts each one back in its own slot and checks it. Going back to 1.4, Bluetooth is off (turn it on in SETTINGS) and 1.4 can't play 2.0's sample tracks.

Troubleshooting

What happens	Why, and what to do
The meter does not move	Check `INPUT` (). For `USB` the phone or computer must be plugged into the FM-1's USB-C port, with `FM-1 Audio` as its sound output, and playing. For `MAIN`, the music has to be playing.
`CLIP` shows	The input is too hot. Turn (`GAIN`) down until the loudest moments stay left of the line.
`16 PADS FULL · HOME: NEW KIT`	All 16 keys have a sound. Press to go up to SAMPLES and choose `+ NEW KIT`, or hold on a key to delete one.
`NOTHING HEARD YET`	captures only what the SAMPLER heard while its page was open. Play something and try again.
`INPUT: AFTER THIS TAKE` or `BARS: AFTER THIS TAKE`	A take is running. Press to end it first.
`STOP TO SAVE`, `STOP TO SAVE IT FIRST` or `STOP TO SAVE THE TAKE FIRST`	These need the music stopped. Stop it () and try again.
`3 TAKES WAIT · STOP TO SAVE THEM`	Takes are saved when the music stops. Stop it, then record.
`TOO LONG FOR THE ROOM`	The bars you chose will not fit. Choose fewer bars, or give room back with `DELETE UNUSED`.
`RECORD FIRST`	The key is empty. Record, or put a sample on it from SAMPLES.
`2 WARPED ALREADY · THIS ONE REPITCHES`	Two `BEATS` or `TONES` sounds are already playing. Stop one, or choose `PITCH` for this one.
`FOR LOOPS: HALF A BAR OR MORE`	`SET TEMPO` needs a sound of at least half a bar.
`CHECKING THE PROJECTS`	`DELETE UNUSED` is looking at your saved projects first. It takes a moment.
`SAVING THE KIT FIRST`	You opened another kit while the one you are building was not saved yet. It is saving now: press again.
I cannot find `NEW KIT` or `DELETE UNUSED` in the SAMPLER menu	They are on SAMPLES, the SAMPLER's front page: `+ NEW KIT` at the top and `DELETE UNUSED` at the bottom. Press in the editor to get there.
`NOTHING TO DELETE HERE`	The row you held on is a `+` row or not saved yet.
`EVERY SAMPLE IS IN USE`	Nothing can be deleted: each sample is on a key, a track or a saved project.
Tapping an empty key does nothing	It chops only while a sound longer than a second is playing. Otherwise it only moves the cursor there, and the next take goes there.
A black key is silent in KIT	In KIT only the 16 white keys play. INST uses all of them.
`REC: RECORD · PRESETS: A SAMPLE` on an INST pad	INST has no instrument yet. Record one, or turn and put a sample on it.
`CLEAR THE TRACK FIRST`	A kit can go on an empty track, or on a drum track. Clear this track's notes and try again.
`PROJECT FULL: 32 SAMPLES`	The project already uses 32 samples. Put something else on a track to make room.

SAMPLER

Your first sample

What the SAMPLER is

Reading the screen

Every control

Where the sound comes from

Gain and the clip warning

Recording

Where a take starts and stops

Quality: HIGH or LONG

Bars

Capture what you just heard

Trim: START and END

Chops

Settings for each pad

KIT and INST

KIT: a kit on the white keys

INST: one sound across the keys

WARP: fit a loop to the tempo

The SAMPLER menu

SAMPLES

The rows

The room

What each control does here

Make room safely

DELETE UNUSED

On your computer

Kits and instruments on tracks

Undo, retake and delete

What the SAMPLER holds

Moving between 1.4 and 2.0

Troubleshooting