Groove OS · Sounds
A sound for every track.
Put warm analog-style basses beside bright FM keys. Start with an included sound, shape it with four knobs, or build something of your own.
$29, once. 1.4 and 2.x updates included. Already own it? Update to 2.0
01 · Sounds
Two engines, and a library behind them.
Bright FM keys, warm analog-style basses, drums and pads. Start with a sound that fits your idea, then shape it as the song comes together.
02 · FM
Bells, keys and basses with bite.
From soft electric keys to metallic bells and cutting basses, FM has a character all its own. Explore different algorithms to hear how far one sound can go.
- The algorithm, drawn. The VOICE editor shows the wiring: carriers on the bottom row, modulators above what they modulate, and the feedback loop.
- Shape every layer. Adjust the level, tuning and envelope of each FM operator to build your own sound.
- Bring your favourite patches. Load individual six-operator FM sounds or whole banks from a computer or compatible sound editor.
- Live from an FM editor. Move a slider in an FM sound editor and the selected FM track follows while the music plays. A note you are holding keeps the sound it started with.
A few FM settings, such as keyboard scaling, curves and fixed frequency, are kept as loaded but can't be edited from the panel
03 · VA
Big, warm sound, ready to play.
Round basses, wide pads and singing leads are ready to play. Start with a preset, then go deeper into oscillators, filters and envelopes when you want to.
- From simple to huge. Start with a classic oscillator shape, then add detuned voices and a sub for a thicker sound.
- Shape the tone. Choose from four filter types, add resonance and drive, and see the response as you turn.
- Envelopes and an LFO. A filter envelope and an amp envelope, each from ATTACK to RELEASE, and an LFO that moves the pitch or the cutoff.
- Poly, mono or legato. Ten voices, shared by every VA track and VA kit, with glide.
04 · Shape
Four knobs, named for the sound.
Each sound has four controls chosen for it. Open it up, soften the attack or add some movement without digging through an editor.
- Controls that make sense. Shape a kick with tune and decay, or give a bass more width and growl.
- Explore either side. Turn each control either way from the preset, with the original sound waiting at the centre.
- Play the move back. With REC on, a macro you turn is recorded onto the track and replays every loop.
- Always ready to shape. Imported sounds get their own useful controls too, so you can start changing them straight away.
FM macro changes are heard on the next note. You can reset the controls to return to the original preset.
05 · Presets
Find the sound that fits.
Listen through the library while your track keeps playing. Try a new direction without changing the sound in your song until you are ready.
- Play the keys while you browse. The keys play the highlighted sound, so you can try a chord or a bass line through each one before you pick.
- Find it again. Browse by sound type, mark favourites or return to the sounds you chose most recently.
- Change with the music. Choose a new sound while the track plays and it takes over on the next bar.
- Right engine, automatically. Take a VA sound on an FM track and the track switches engine. A kit on an empty track makes it a drum track.
06 · Library
Sound packs for every genre.
Find a starting point for the music you make. Eleven included packs cover a range of styles, with room for four packs on the FM-1 at a time.
- Keep a library onboard. Four banks hold thirty-two sounds each, separate from your projects and ready for the next idea.
- Find your style. Start with CORE, or explore ten genre packs from lo-fi and boom bap to techno and drum and bass.
- Songs inside. Every sound pack comes with two or three songs made only with its own sounds. Add one to an empty project slot and start from it.
- Add a pack from your browser. Connect over USB and choose a pack on the Sounds page. Your previous bank is backed up first.
- Safe against a cut. A pulled cable or a power cut never leaves a bank half loaded: it is the old one or the new one.
- Your songs never change. A track keeps its own copy of its sound, so loading a bank, or putting one back, never changes a song.
07 · Kits
Whole drum kits on one track.
Build a beat with analog-style drums you can tune and shape individually. Try a different kit under the same pattern to hear a new groove.
- Two flavours of drums. Switch between warm analog-style drums and classic FM percussion while keeping the same beat.
- A kit for the groove. Choose punchy, dusty or metallic drums, plus two sets inspired by classic analog drum machines.
- Hear the kit first. Try the drum sounds on the keys while you browse, before you choose a kit for the track.
- More to choose from. Every sound pack brings a drum kit of its own, listed under KITS, and your own kits from the SAMPLER are in the same list.
A built-in kit you try in PRESETS sounds as it will on your track; a sound pack's kit plays its own FM drums
08 · In time
A wobble that stays on the beat.
Keep a wobble bass, tremolo or filter sweep locked to the beat. Tempo-synced modulation follows the song even when you change its speed.
- Slow to fast, in time. From 4 BARS down to 1/32, dotted (1/8.) and triplet (1/8T) included. 1/4 is one sweep a beat, and 1/8 is two.
- On the bar. PLAY starts it on the bar line, so the wobble lines up with the beat, bar after bar. Stopped, it keeps going at the tempo, so you can shape it before you play.
- It follows the tempo. Change the tempo and the LFO follows. With MIDI CLOCK on EXT it follows the other device's tempo and bar.
- Let it drift. Use a tempo-synced rhythm or let the modulation run independently. Your choice stays with the sound.
FM tracks share one LFO; virtual-analog tracks have their own.
09 · Questions
Questions before you start.
What is the difference between FM and VA?
FM is the FM-1's own engine, good for electric pianos, bells, mallets, glassy keys, basses with bite and metallic hits. VA is Groove OS's own analog-style synth, the big, warm sound of classic synthesizers: deep basses, wide pads and strings, leads, brass, stabs and plucks. You don't need to switch anything to hear it: pick a VA sound in the browser and the track plays it. A track remembers both, so switching its engine in the TRACK menu and back loses nothing.
Can I use classic FM sounds?
Yes. The factory banks hold classic FM voices, and you can send a single voice or a bank of 32 from a computer or an FM sound editor. A 32-voice .syx bank also goes into a letter from the classic FM banks card on the Sounds page. An FM sound editor can edit the selected FM track's sound live, too.
How many sounds can play at once?
The FM engine has 12 voices, shared by every FM track and FM kit; all kits together use at most six of them, so a busy beat never steals your bass. The VA engine has ten, shared by every VA track and VA kit. A project holds up to eight tracks.
Do the sound packs cost anything?
The eleven sound packs are part of Groove OS. A new purchase is $29, once, including Groove OS 1.4 and 2.x updates.
Do I need a computer to change sounds?
No. Browsing, trying, taking and shaping sounds all happen on the FM-1. A computer is only for putting a sound pack or a bank of FM voices into a bank letter, over USB in Chrome or Edge.
Will loading a sound pack change my songs?
No. A track keeps its own copy of its sound, and the project saves it, so a song plays the same whatever the banks hold, on any FM-1. What a letter held is also backed up in your browser before a load.
Why is a sound silent while I browse?
A VA sound auditions only while a track slot is spare, so with eight tracks a VA row is silent while you browse, on the keys too. Taking it still works. A kit row plays nothing as you turn to it; play the keys to hear its pads.
Can I make my own sounds?
Yes. The SAMPLER makes your own kits and instruments, and they sit in the same browser as every other sound. The FM and VA editors shape the engines' sounds, and the four knobs shape any of them.
Pick a sound. Make it yours.
FM and virtual analog on every track, from soft keys to hard bass. Included for every Groove OS owner.
Sound packs load from Chrome or Edge over USB · your songs keep their own sounds · 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.
- Mixer and effectsLevel, pan and effects for every track, then reverb, delay and chorus for the whole mix.
- PerformDrop parts out on the bar, punch in effects, throw the mix and launch scenes.
- ConnectPair a phone with no code, play tracks from your music program and put effects on your controller's faders.