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Chapter 16

SETTINGS

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.

SETTINGS is how the machine behaves: the synth's bend and glide, MIDI, the controls' timing, the hints, startup, USB audio, Bluetooth audio, storage, your samples and the about page with the crash log. It is also where Learn opens. Tap to open it, and tap it again to go back to where you were.

The top level lists:

RowWhat it is
PLAY ▸Bend range, glide, poly and mono.
MIDI ▸Channels, clock, where the clock comes from, effects over MIDI.
CONTROLS ▸The timing of the controls.
HINTSThe hint line: ON or OFF.
STARTUPRESUME or NEW.
USB AUDIOWhat the FM-1 offers a computer over USB: IN+OUT, OUT ONLY or OFF.
BLUETOOTHBluetooth from a phone or computer: OFF, ON (CONNECTED once one is linked), or PAIRING to let a new one in.
STORAGE ▸Free space, put a sound bank back to factory, erase all projects.
SAMPLES ▸Your samples (SAMPLES).
ABOUT ▸Version, rescue mode, the battery, crash log.
LEARN ↵Opens Learn: the five courses, to start one.

edits a value row; opens a ▸ row or does a ↵ row; goes back.

PLAY

RowValuesWhat it sets
BEND UP1 to 24 semitonesThe range of the pitch bend, upwards.
BEND DOWN1 to 24 semitonesDownwards.
GLIDEFULL, FINGERWhether glide always slides (FULL), or only when you play legato (FINGER).
GLIDE TIME0 to 100How long a slide takes.
POLY / MONOPOLY, MONOWhether the FM tracks play chords or one note at a time.

These are the synth's own settings, so they apply to every FM track (the same as the PLAY group of the sound editor). They are saved with the project.

Try it·On the FM-1

The cursor is on PLAY, the first row. Press SEL to open its page, then tap HOME to come back.

SELHOME

MIDI

RowValuesWhat it sets
MIDI CH1 to 16, shown as a range (1-4)Every track's channel at once.
CLOCKINT, OUT, EXTWhether the FM-1 runs on its own tempo, sends its clock or follows one.
FX CC CHOFF, 1 to 16The channel on which control changes 0 to 23 drive the effects.
SYNTH CHALL, 1 to 16Has no effect on how a sound hears bend or controllers: they always follow the selected track's channel.

See MIDI and sync for every row.

CONTROLS

RowValuesWhat it sets
HOLD TIME200 to 400 msHow long can be held and still count as a tap (back). Held longer, or with anything pressed or turned meanwhile, it is a HOME hold. It also sets when the HOME tag and the key lights come in (the keys themselves are HOME keys from HOME's press).
WHEEL SETTLE150 to 400 msHow long the wheel must rest before the keys take on the new view's role, so a quick spin past a view never changes what the keys do on the way.
PREVIEWON, OFFWhether the sound browser plays a short preview note as you move through it.

HINTS, STARTUP

  • HINTS switches the hint line at the bottom of each view (ON or OFF). It is on by default and stays as you set it. The tag that says what the keys do stays either way.
  • STARTUP is what happens at power-on: RESUME (the default) brings back the session as it was, from the autosave; NEW starts a blank session (four empty tracks, in C major with IN KEY off) and keeps only your favourite and recently used sounds. See PROJECT.

USB AUDIO

USB AUDIO chooses what the FM-1 shows a computer or phone on its USB-C cable. The names follow the computer's: an input is sound coming from the FM-1, an output is sound going to it.

ValueWhat the computer seesThe SAMPLER's USB input
IN+OUTAn audio input and a playback outputWorks
OUT ONLYAn audio input only, no playback outputHas nothing to listen to
OFFNo audio at all, only MIDIHas nothing to listen to

USB MIDI stays on in all three, so the website, remote control and the Learn pages keep working. A change applies after a restart: until then the value carries a star (OUT ONLY*) and the toast says RESTART TO APPLY (for OUT ONLY it starts TO COMPUTER ONLY). Choosing the one that is already running says what it is: AUDIO BOTH WAYS, TO COMPUTER ONLY or USB MIDI ONLY. The choice is kept by the autosave, so stop the music and give it a moment before you switch off.

Note: USB AUDIO has not yet been proven on a unit in all three settings. If your computer does not show the FM-1's audio, check this row first.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn K1 one click right: OUT ONLY. The value gets a star until you restart the FM-1.

K1

BLUETOOTH

BLUETOOTH lets a phone or a computer play its sound through the FM-1 over Bluetooth, and lets the SAMPLER record it: see Where the sound comes from. It is a value row: turn right to go OFF, ON, then PAIRING, and left to go back. There is no action. The toast says what you chose: BLUETOOTH OFF, BLUETOOTH ON: FM-1 GROOVE or PAIRING: SELECT FM-1 GROOVE.

The value saysWhat it means
OFFBluetooth is off. Nothing can find or link to the FM-1, and a device that was linked is let go.
ONThe FM-1 waits for a phone or computer. A device you paired before links again by itself. A new one can pair now, as long as nothing is linked.
CONNECTEDA device is linked. It is the only one: while it is, the FM-1 does not take another.
PAIRINGThe FM-1 is letting a new device in (see Switching to another device).
RADIO ERRORThe radio did not start. Switch the FM-1 off and on again.

Only the choice of on or off is kept. PAIRING is not: after a restart the row is ON again.

Pairing a phone or computer

  1. Turn BLUETOOTH to ON.
  2. On the phone or computer, open its Bluetooth settings and pick FM-1 Groove. It is listed as an audio device, a speaker to play to.
  3. That is all: there is no code or PIN to enter. The row changes to CONNECTED.

Now whatever the phone plays comes out of the FM-1, and the SAMPLER can record it (set INPUT to BT). Pair once: the FM-1 remembers the devices it has paired with, so they link again without pairing again.

Switching to another device

One device is linked at a time, and while it is, the FM-1 does not show up for others. To hand the FM-1 to a different phone or computer, turn right from CONNECTED to PAIRING.

  • The device that was linked is let go, and the FM-1 refuses its reconnects while PAIRING lasts, so the new device gets in. Any other device can link, including one you paired before.
  • If nothing was linked when you chose PAIRING, it lets any device in, including a phone you have just forgotten on its side.
  • PAIRING waits up to two minutes. It ends by itself when a device links (the row reads CONNECTED), or when the two minutes pass (the row reads ON again).
  • Turn left to cancel: the row goes back to ON, and the device you let go can link again. Another turn left switches Bluetooth OFF.
  • Going to another page does not cancel it.

Your pairings stay: switching does not forget the device you let go. To forget one, remove FM-1 Groove in that device's own Bluetooth settings and pair it again.

STORAGE

RowWhat it does
FREEHow many of the project slots are free, as 2 OF 3 SLOTS.
RESET BANK ▸Pick BANK A to BANK D: puts that bank's 32 sounds back to the FM-1's factory presets (asks). Otherwise only a bank loaded from the website changes them: see Loading banks from the website.
ERASE ALL ↵Erases all three project slots (asks). The music stops.

SAMPLES

SAMPLES ▸ opens SAMPLES, the list of every sample on the FM-1, newest first, with where each one is used. The row shows how many samples there are and how much room they take. It is the same page the SAMPLER opens on, so you can hear, open, start and delete from here too: goes into the SAMPLER's editor on the row, and comes back. See SAMPLES.

LEARN

LEARN lists the five courses that come with Groove OS. Turn to one and press : it asks first, with the course's name and THE MUSIC STOPS; turn to START and press . The course starts on a fresh song and uses no song slot until you save it. With unsaved changes it says SAVE YOUR PROJECT THEN OPEN LEARN first. If the courses are missing, it shows one dimmed row, ADD THE COURSES FROM THE WEBSITE: run the install again from the Install page. See Learn on your FM-1.

ABOUT

RowWhat it shows
GROOVE OSThe version and the name of this build (2.0 and the FM-1's build name). The boot screen shows the version too.
BUILDThe build's own code. Quote it when you write to support.
RESCUEA reminder: OCT- + OCT+ AT POWER-ON starts rescue mode.
SOUNDSWhere the sound banks come from (GROOVE-OS.COM/SOUNDS): the website loads them into banks A to D, and PRESETS lists them.
BATTERYThe battery as the FM-1 measures it: volts and the raw reading (3.92 V 608), and CHG while it reads as charging. NO READING until the first reading, a second after power-on. The header's battery shows the same reading as bars.
CRASH LOG n ↵How many crash reports the FM-1 keeps. (SEND OVER USB) sends them over USB.
CLEAR LOG ↵Erases the crash reports (asks).

See Crash log for what a report holds and what to do with it.

Try it·On the FM-1

Turn ALGORITHM down to ABOUT and press SEL: the version and build of this FM-1.

ALGORITHMSEL

Troubleshooting

What happensWhy, and what to do
There is no brightness settingThe FM-1's backlight is wired always on, so no setting could change it.
The header shows no batteryThe battery shows on the views, not on menus, and only once there is a reading, about a second after power-on. Until then SETTINGS > ABOUT > BATTERY says NO READING.
The battery shows fewer bars than I expectThe bars follow the voltage, which drops while the FM-1 plays loud and rises at rest. SETTINGS > ABOUT > BATTERY shows the reading itself.
Holding shows a card, not SETTINGSA hold is the card; a tap is SETTINGS. In a course the card is the step to do (see Learn on your FM-1).
Power-on does not bring my session backSTARTUP is NEW. Set it to RESUME.
USB AUDIO shows a starThe saved choice differs from the one the FM-1 is running. Restart the FM-1 to apply it.
The phone or computer does not list FM-1 GrooveBLUETOOTH is OFF, or the FM-1 is already linked to another device. Turn it to ON, or to PAIRING to let a different device in.
Another device will not linkThe FM-1 takes one device at a time. Turn BLUETOOTH right to PAIRING.
BLUETOOTH says RADIO ERRORThe radio did not start. Switch the FM-1 off and on again.