SOUND

SOUND shapes the selected track's voice: four macros for quick changes, the voice's algorithm and LFO, and each of its six operators. The PRESETS knob, on any page, opens the preset browser that picks the voice in the first place.

Opening SOUND

SOUND always shows the selected track. It is not on the SELECT wheel.

The screen

MACROS

SOUND opens on MACROS. Four knobs shape any voice without touching its operators one by one. Every macro runs from -50 to +50 in steps of 2 (4 when you spin the knob fast). At 0 you hear the voice exactly as it was loaded.

The macros never silence a voice. The loudest carrier is never turned down, operators that are off stay off, and attack and decay stop at safe limits. Turn a macro back to 0 and you get the loaded voice back byte for byte, however far you went.

Each track keeps its own voice and its own four macro values. Loading a new preset sets all four back to 0.

Automation. The macros are performance knobs: with REC on, turning one records its move onto the selected track, and without REC, SAVE captures the last loop's moves with the notes. An automated macro has a dot by its legend circle (red while it records), and its value follows the lane while the tape plays. Each note takes the macro's value at its note-on. Hold SEL and turn it to clear its lane: the held legend says CLEAR over every macro, and the toast says T1 TONE CLEARED. UNDO brings the lane back. A macro without a lane says NO AUTOMATION and doesn't move: on a macro, hold SEL never means x10. A knob that carries an assigned value (see Knob assignment) is not a macro and is not automated. See Automation.

Pro tip: Macros sit on top of the voice. Edits on VOICE and OP1-OP6 change the voice underneath and keep your macro settings, so you can change the algorithm without losing the TONE you dialled in.

The pictures

The three pictures follow the knobs and ease into place as you turn.

In the algorithm, carriers are white. Modulators are blue, brighter the louder they are. An operator with level 0 is only outlined. The feedback loop is orange and gets brighter with more feedback. On an OP row, the cursor's operator is outlined.

VOICE

Move the cursor to VOICE for the voice's global values.

Hold SHIFT for the second row: the stock LFO.

SPEED, PITCH MOD and AMP MOD move 4 per detent when you spin the knob fast.

Careful: The FM-1 has one LFO. Its wave and speed follow the selected track's voice, so selecting another track changes them for every track.

VOICE actions

Press SEL on VOICE to open its actions. ALGORITHM picks a row, SEL does it, HOME goes back. The voice's values stay on K1-K4.

Operators OP1-OP6

Move the cursor to OP1 ... OP6 to edit one operator. It is outlined in the algorithm drawing.

Hold SHIFT for the operator's envelope.

All operator values move 4 per detent when you spin the knob fast. SEL on an operator opens the deep editor on that operator (next section).

The deep editor

The deep editor is every value of the voice, in groups. It lives under SOUND, not on the EDIT button (which still opens the stock editor), and it edits the same voice your macros sit on: turn anything here and your TONE, ATTACK, DECAY and CHARACTER stay where they are.

Getting in and around

The black keys

Inside the editor the black keys do what their printed legends say, like the stock EDIT page. The key of the open group is lit, and the line over the legend reminds you: BLACK KEYS: OP1-OP6 PIT GLO.

Inside a group a black key switches straight to the other group; HOME still takes you to the list. On the list it moves the cursor to that group; press SEL to open it.

The groups

Values show as the DX7 shows them. Ranges are the DX7's own.

VOICE (key GLO): one row. The algorithm is drawn as the DX7 manual draws it, with a strip showing where it sits among the 32.

OP1-OP6 (keys OP1-OP6): six rows. The picture is the operator's envelope (one colour per stage, the dotted part is the key held, the line the key-up), its frequency (1.00, 100HZ), whether it is a CARRIER or a MODULATOR, and the algorithm with this operator outlined. On the list each operator shows its frequency and level (1.00 LV 74), or OFF.

ON switches the operator off without losing its LEVEL: it plays at 0 until you switch it on again. The switch is part of the sound and is saved with the project.

PITCH EG (key PIT): RATES (RATE 1-4, 0-99) and LEVELS (LEVEL 1-4, -50 to +49; 0 = no bend). The picture draws the bend around the centre line.

LFO: LFO (WAVE TRI, SAW-, SAW+, SQR, SIN, S&H; SPEED 0-99; DELAY 0-99; SYNC ON/OFF) and DEPTH (PITCH MOD 0-99, AMP MOD 0-99, PITCH SNS 0-7). The picture draws the wave, with a line where the DELAY ends, and says KEY SYNC ON or FREE RUNNING. The FM-1 has one LFO: it follows the selected track's voice (ONE LFO FOR ALL).

NAME: the voice's ten characters. ALGORITHM moves along the name, K1 picks the character (space, A-Z, 0-9 and - . ! # % ' ( ) + , / : = ? _; the legend shows SPACE for a space). HOME when you are done. The track's name follows at once.

KNOBS: see Knob assignment.

POLY/MONO and the effects are not in the voice's edit buffer, so the deep editor can't reach them. VOICE says so on screen (POLY/MONO AND FX: THE STOCK FULL EDITOR): use the stock editor for them.

Knob assignment

SOUND > MACROS normally gives you TONE, ATTACK, DECAY and CHARACTER. Any of the four knobs can instead carry one value of the voice, for example OP2's LEVEL or the FEEDBACK, so the thing you tweak most is one detent away on SOUND.

1. Open KNOBS (SEL on MACROS, then SEL).
2. SEL on ASSIGN MODE: it shows ON, the toast says ASSIGN: HOLD SEL + TURN, and the foot of the screen says ASSIGN: HOLD SEL + TURN A KNOB on every editor page while it is on.
3. Go to the value (HOME, a group, or a black key), hold SEL. The legend now says ASSIGN under every value that can go on a knob.
4. Turn the knob you want to use. The toast confirms: K2 = OP2 LEVEL. The value itself doesn't move.

Every value in VOICE, OP1-OP6, PITCH EG and LFO can go on a knob. The NAME's characters and the macros can't: turning one says NOT A VALUE FOR A KNOB.

The value goes on the same knob you turned: turn K2 to put it on K2. Back on SOUND > MACROS that knob's legend names it (2 LEVEL = OP2's LEVEL) and edits it; the other knobs keep their macros.

On the list, KNOBS shows MACROS, 2 ASSIGNED or ASSIGN ON. Assignments belong to the track's sound and are saved with the project. Loading another sound (a preset, a SysEx, the stock editor's changes) clears them, with the macros. The macro under an assigned knob keeps working on the sound; it is only off the knob.

Pro tip: Put an operator's LEVEL on a knob to play a modulator like a filter, or FEEDBACK next to TONE for grit on demand. Record while you turn: it is still the voice changing from the next note on.

COPY, PASTE, ERASE

The three actions sit at the end of the list, under NAME.

Copy on one track, select another (SHIFT + ALGORITHM), paste: the same sound on two tracks, to vary one of them.

SOUND on a KIT track

On a KIT track the list shows VOICE and then the eight pads (1 P.KICK ... 8 RIDE). The pad under the cursor is the one the KIT page has selected, and the name and pictures show that pad's voice with its TUNE, DECAY and LEVEL applied.

The pad values are the same as on KIT; see KIT.

ENV, LFO and EDIT

The stock editor pages

The LFO page and the full editor are the FM-1's own screens. While one is open, the stock firmware draws the screen and owns the knobs and SELECT (which steps through its groups). PLAY, REC, ARP, SEQ and HOME stay with Groove OS.

When you come back, SOUND takes whatever you changed:

• If you changed only the algorithm, LFO, transpose or name, the change goes into the voice and your macros stay.
• Any other edit makes the edited voice the new voice. The macros go to 0, with what they did baked in.

The preset browser

Turn PRESETS on any OS page to browse sounds for the selected track. The browser opens over the page you are on.

The line over the list shows the BANK and the TYPE. The filled row is the sound loaded now. The line under the list reminds you: SEL: KEEP HOME: BACK TO <the old sound> (its first six letters). A dot at the right marks the sound the track had when you opened the browser.

Audition, keep or revert

1. Select the track (SHIFT + ALGORITHM).
2. Turn PRESETS one detent. The browser opens on the track's sound.
3. Turn PRESETS or ALGORITHM. Each detent loads the next sound and, with PREVIEW on, plays it.
4. Play the keys to try it in context, even while the loop plays.
5. Press SEL to keep it, or HOME to go back to the old sound.

Banks

The list runs through all banks in order: KITS, GROOVE, then A to D (and SYSEX after D while a received bank is open). Turning past the end of one bank goes into the next.

Types

TYPE filters by each sound's role. Only KITS and GROOVE carry roles, so any TYPE other than ALL hides banks A to D and SYSEX.

PREVIEW plays each sound at the pitch it was designed for, for 0.3 s: basses and the DUO sounds on C3, VIBES and SOFT LEAD on C5, the rest on C4. Banks A to D preview on C4. Kits do not preview: play their pads. While 11 or more notes are sounding, the preview waits.

Why a row is dimmed

A sound and a kit use a track's notes differently. So a track that already holds notes cannot switch between a single voice and a kit. When the highlight lands on such a row, the row is outlined instead of filled, nothing loads, and the reason shows in red:

On a KIT track, another KITS row always loads: it swaps the pad sounds under the pattern and keeps the notes.

Pro tip: Turn TYPE to DRUM, BASS or KEYS before you browse. The list shrinks to the sounds for that part and skips the 128 factory presets.

Loading sounds over SysEx

The GROOVE bank is built in; you don't need to send anything to use it. To bring in other DX7 sounds, send them over MIDI (USB, Bluetooth or the MIDI input) from any SysEx tool: Dexed, SysEx Librarian, fm1-editor.com.

In the SYSEX tab the rows are S 01-S 32, the bank reads SYSEX, and TYPE is set to ALL (SysEx voices carry no roles). Turning back past S 01 walks into the other banks, as usual. The question waits while a stock page, another question or the browser is up, and shows when you leave it.

A sound from SysEx is a sound like any other: the macros shape it, EDIT changes it, and a project SAVE keeps it with the session. It is never written into the FM-1's own presets (banks A to D). HOME in the browser brings back exactly what the track had. The details, and what gets refused, are in MIDI: Sounds over SysEx.

Careful: A voice can't go onto a KIT track (KIT TRACK: NO SYSEX VOICE), and a voice sent while the browser is open is refused (CLOSE PRESETS FOR SYSEX). In the SYSEX tab a KIT track follows the usual rule: a voice loads only on an empty KIT track, which then becomes a synth track.

Troubleshooting