Groove OS · Perform
Play the song live.
Drop the drums, build some tension and bring the beat back. Launch song sections, play effects and shape the whole mix from the keys and knobs.
$29, once. 1.4 and 2.x updates included. Already own it? Update to 2.0
01 · Perform
Your song, ready to perform.
Turn a finished pattern into a performance. Drop parts in and out, switch song sections and play effects over the mix, all while the music keeps going.
02 · Drop
Drop it out. Bring it back on the bar.
Pull out the bass for a few bars, leave the melody on its own, then bring the drums back. Track mutes land on the bar so the groove stays together.
- Tap to mute. A key mutes or unmutes its track on the bar. Only as many keys act as you have tracks.
- Bring one part forward. Hold a track key to hear that part on its own. Release it and the other parts return.
- Drop a group together. Queue several track mutes and bring them in or out together, ready for a bigger change.
- Read it at a glance. On this page the key lights are the stage display: lit is playing, dark is muted, blinking is waiting for the bar.
Choose changes on the bar, on the beat or immediately.
03 · Pads
Kick out, hats on.
Leave the hats running while you drop the kick, or take out the snare for a build. Individual drum mutes let you change the groove inside a kit.
- Mute individual drums. Take out the kick, snare or hats without losing the rest of the kit.
- On the bar. A pad mute lands on the launch line, as a track's does. Tap several keys in one hold and they land together.
- Reach the whole kit. Move between two pages of drum pads to work with every sound in your kit.
- Kept with the song. A pad mute is the pad's own MUTE: it stays when you leave PERFORM and is saved with the project.
04 · Punch in
Hold a key to punch in an effect.
Add a fill, throw in an echo or dive through a filter for a moment. Hold an effect for as long as you need it, or latch it on.
- Dive and lift. DIVE closes the filter down. LIFT opens it up, with resonance.
- Echo and wash. ECHO repeats every note three times. WASH pours on more reverb.
- Stutters. 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16 repeat the current slice of the music in quarter notes, eighths or sixteenths.
- A fill, on demand. Bring in a drum fill for a transition, then let go to return to the original groove.
Latch an effect to keep it going without holding a key. Stopping the song or leaving the performance view releases it.
05 · Throw
Four knobs. The whole mix.
Sweep the filter, flood the mix with reverb, throw in a delay or push the drive. These performance moves leave your saved song settings intact.
- Shape the whole mix. Four knobs put the master filter, reverb, delay and drive under your fingers while you play.
- A tick to come back to. The white tick on each bar is your project's own value, so you can always see where you started.
- Ease back into the song. Return all four performance controls to their saved values with a smooth glide over one bar.
- Your song stays as it is. A throw is never saved, so nothing you do with the knobs changes the song.
Performance controls work on effects enabled in your mix.
06 · Tempo
Tap along. The song follows.
Tap along with a drummer or another musician and bring the song to their tempo. The music keeps playing while you find the pulse.
- Find the pulse. Tap along to set the tempo while the music keeps playing, without opening a menu.
- Quick, then steady. The second tap sets the tempo, and the average of the last three gaps keeps it steady.
- Pad mutes never move it. Holding SEL to mute pads is no tap, so you can mute as many pads as you like in one hold.
- Dial it in. Adjust the tempo by hand when you want a precise BPM instead of tapping along.
Tempo ranges from 40 to 240 BPM. When following MIDI clock, the other device sets the pace.
07 · Keys
Then play right over it.
Play a melody or some chords over your arrangement. If an idea is worth keeping, capture it and make it part of the song.
- Always in key. Set a key and a scale once, and every wrong note becomes a right one.
- One finger, one chord. Play chords that fit your key, then try different voicings or turn them into an arpeggio.
- Made for playing live. A stray turn of the wheel is guarded while you perform, so you stay in control of the song.
- Keep a new idea. Capture the last loop you played and add it to the track, without having to record first.
A kit track's keys play its pads, and the SAMPLER's keys play your samples as they are, with no scale and no chords
08 · Set
Move from verse to chorus.
Keep a verse, a breakdown and a chorus ready to launch. Each scene recalls the patterns and mutes across your tracks, changing together on the next bar.
- Save a section. Store the patterns and mutes you are hearing as a scene, ready to bring back later.
- Launch on the bar. Tap a black key and the scene lands on the next bar, its key blinking until it does. Tap it again before the bar to cancel.
- Room for a set. Keep up to eleven scenes ready on the black keys, with lights showing what is playing or queued.
- Saved with the song. Scenes are saved with the project, each with its tracks' patterns in it.
Loading another project pauses the music briefly. Scenes switch sections within the current song without stopping.
09 · Questions
Questions before you play.
Do I need to prepare anything?
PERFORM plays what is already in your song, so build the parts in the other views first. Store their patterns, mute what should not play in each section, and capture it into a black key. On stage you launch, throw and punch in.
Does it record what I do?
Not the stage moves. REC on PERFORM is the ordinary record: it records the notes you play, and it does not record scene changes, mutes or throws. To keep a part you play on the keys, record it, or press HOME + SAVE as the loop comes round.
Can I knock something by accident?
PERFORM guards itself while the music plays. Nothing destructive works (HOME + REC says LOCKED: PERFORM), a knocked SELECT toward KEYS asks you to turn again, and a throw is never saved.
A throw does nothing. Why?
A throw only works on an effect that is switched on. Switch it on in MAIN FX and the knob moves it.
How do I change songs in a set?
Load the next project from PROJECT between songs. Loading needs a short silence, because the FM-1 reads its flash and changes every sound, and it asks first if the music is playing.
Do scenes change my patterns?
A scene remembers which stored pattern, A to P, each track played, and brings it back on the bar with the mutes. A track whose SEQ was off when you captured it, a kit track and the notes you recorded play on as they were.
Does it cost anything?
PERFORM 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, a USB data cable for the install, and Chrome or Edge on Mac, Windows, Linux or ChromeOS.
Play it like an instrument.
Drop parts out, throw the mix, launch sections and play over the top, on the FM-1 alone. Included for every Groove OS owner.
Installs from Chrome or Edge over USB · your samples, projects and pairings are kept · 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.
- ConnectPair a phone with no code, play tracks from your music program and put effects on your controller's faders.