Free firmware for your M-VAVE FM-1

Turns the FM-1 into a six-track live groovebox: TR drums, a sampler, a bass and three synths, each with its own length and its own speed. Original code and sounds, licensed under the GPL-3.0.

Try it in your browser Read the manual See the code

HOME screen: the six tracks with their sequence

0.4.0-beta · FIRST VERSION FOR THE FM-1 It runs on the FM-1 and installs from the browser. It is a beta: tested on a single device, and an update may erase what you saved (patterns, song, settings and takes). More details.

What it looks like

The 240×240 screen, as it is

These are real firmware screenshots, generated by the automated tests. The screens are in Spanish for now.

Sampler 3.0 with the TU and SUENA rows — **Sampler 3.0.** On top what you programmed, below what the generator picked.

HOME held: the keyboard drawn with each key's job — **HOME everywhere.** Hold a button and the screen draws what each key does.

Recorder with the seconds left — **Recorder.** The seconds left, in large digits. Then, slice it.

TR drum grid — **TR drums.** 16 instruments, each with its own length.

ALGORITHM box with the target track — **ALGORITHM navigates.** A box tells you which track you are going to, and you enter by yourself.

CORTAR editor with cuts over the three bands — **Slicing.** Cuts on eighth notes or on the hits, over lows, mids and highs.

Chord grid — **Chords.** 16 chords with their function by color.

Per-track time — **Time.** The polymeter of the six tracks at a glance.

What it does

Six tracks to play live

Everything is designed around the FM-1 controls: three big knobs, four small ones, fourteen buttons and 27 keys with LEDs.

TR drums

Modeled drums (808, 909 and SINTE), computed live. Accent, repeats, flam, per-step P-Locks and steps that only play in the fill. Roll and erase while playing.

Sampler 3.0

A take in 16 slices, with a SLICER to play them and a generator that rearranges them bar by bar. A dedicated recorder and a take library.

Bass

ANALOG with glide, 303-style ACID or 6-operator FM, plus an unquantized note looper.

T4-T6

Three free tracks

ANALOG, FM, ACID, KIT (another drum machine) or MIDI. Arpeggiator, a scale per track and a chord grid that shows what goes with what.

HOME

Four gestures per button

Tap, hold (with the keyboard drawn), 2 s and HOME + button. Holding HOME is the controller on any screen.

LIVE

Scenes and effects

Four scenes with chains and song recording, automatic fills and 16 punch-in effects.

Ecosystem

Everything around the firmware

Bubba Machine is more than a file to flash. This is what already exists and what is coming.

Available

Web emulator

The full firmware in your browser, compiled to WebAssembly. Nothing to install.

Open the emulator

Available

Manual

How to play it, button by button, with the four gestures of each one.

Read the manual

Beta

FM-1 firmware

Runs on the device since 0.4.0-beta. Tested on a single FM-1; an update may erase what you saved.

Install

Available

Audio quality

44.1 kHz end to end, a floating-point mix and sounds computed live. What improved, what it costs and what is missing.

The details

Available

Interface 3.0

Four gestures per button, HOME everywhere, a sampler with a generator and a recorder with a take library. In the emulator since 0.3.0.

Why it works this way

Planned

Editor and sound packs

Load patterns, samples and loops over USB, and free kit and loop packs made by the community.

Roadmap

Free

Yours to study, change and share

Bubba Machine is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

How to contribute Report a problem

Original code, written from scratch. Only hardware facts from public FM-1 reverse engineering were used. Credits.
Original sounds. Drums and synths are computed live: the firmware ships no third-party audio.
Always with its source. Any version that is distributed, modified ones included, has to publish its code.
Tested. Over 500 automated checks run on every change.