Bubba Machine 0.3 — Manual

Bubba Machine turns the FM-1 into a 6-track live groovebox: 3 fixed tracks (drums, sampler and bass) and 3 free ones (ANALOG, FM, ACID, KIT or MIDI). Every track has its own length and its own speed.

Interface 3.0 fits in one sentence: four gestures per button, and they mean the same thing on every button. HOME everywhere.

The firmware's screens are in Spanish for now. Names that appear on screen are written here in CAPITALS exactly as you will see them, with the English meaning next to them, e.g. BORRAR (erase).

0.3 changed the format of patterns, settings and samples. It does not read what 0.2 saved: on first boot it erases that data and starts with the demo.

Four gestures per button

Gesture	When	What it does
Tap	under 300 ms	Opens its page on the track you are on. Again: the next page of the same button
Hold	300 ms or more	Its live layer: while you hold it, the keys do that job and the screen draws the keyboard with what each key does. Let go and you are back
Hold 2 s	2 s without touching anything else	Its settings or its dangerous action. A ring fills at the top; touching anything cancels it. Only on HOME, SEQ, EDIT, SAVE and REC
HOME + button	with HOME held	The global version of the button: for the whole project, not just the track

There are never two layers at once: with a layer open, holding another button does not open its own.

Questions. Anything that erases something asks first: OCT+ = yes, HOME = no (any other button also cancels).

The knobs

Knob	What it does
ALGORITHM	The track. On HOME a box shows the target track and you enter after 400 ms. Inside a track it also shows the box and enters keeping the page; in INSTR it steps through the 16 instruments (big number, name and model) and plays the one you land on. On a list, it changes the highlighted value. With HOME held, it picks a track from any screen and you enter when you let go of HOME
SELECT	The page (the tabs at the top) or the row of a list. With a step held, its accent
PRESETS	The track's sound (kit, loop A or engine preset). On HOME, the pattern
K1-K4	Whatever the legend at the bottom says, always in the same color. With HOME held: BPM, swing, master length and drive

ALGORITHM priority: held step > list > track > HOME. The box time is set in GLO or SISTEMA (system): ENTRADA AUTO (auto enter) 0, 250, 400, 800 ms or OFF.

The screen

Top: transport, pattern (and the queued one), bar and beat, the track, BPM. Also the scene (A-D), F while the fill plays, the project pitch when transposed, the 2 s ring and the battery.
Inside a track: its tabs below the status bar. The active one is underlined in the track color.
Bottom: what each knob K1-K4 does, in its color and in its physical order.
Red border: the mix is clipping.

The 14 buttons

Button	Tap	Again	Hold (layer)	2 s	HOME +
HOME	HOME: the 6 tracks and the bank	MEZCLA (mixer) › ESCENAS (scenes) › CANCION (song)	Controller (see below)	SISTEMA (system)	(it is the modifier)
SEQ	The track's steps	Notes: LOOP · sampler: RETRIG	Length and speed	TIEMPO (time) of the 6 tracks	Song
EDIT	SONIDO (sound)	Drums: INSTR · TOMAS: CORTAR (slice)	Erase	Sampler: TOMAS (takes) · others: initial sound	Copy the track to another
ENV	ENV (notes) · INSTR (drums)	ENV page 2	Accent	—	—
LFO	LFO (next version)	—	Repeat (grids) · tie (notes)	—	—
FX	The track's MEZCLA (mix)	—	Punch-in	—	Global delay and sidechain
SCL	The track's ESCALA (scale)	ACORDES (chords)	Live chords	—	Project scale
ARP	The track's ARP	—	Arpeggio (notes) · roll (grids)	—	—
SAVE	Save menu	Run it	Copy pattern	Quick save	Save as
GLO	Global list	Close	Pitch and TAP tempo	—	—
REC	Record (on the sampler: the recorder)	Looper: overdub › play	Record only while held	Clear the track (asks)	SONG REC
PLAY	Play / stop	—	—	—	Back to step 1 without stopping
OCT − / +	Octave · step page · on questions OCT+ = yes	—	—	—	Undo / redo

HOME everywhere

The FM-1 has no SHIFT, so HOME does three jobs:

Home screen: the 6 tracks with their sequence and the bank of 16 patterns. Again: MEZCLA (the 6 levels; ALGORITHM picks a track and K1-K4 mix it), ESCENAS and CANCION.
A controller that follows you: holding HOME brings the controller to any screen. You edit the bass and, without leaving, mute or queue the next pattern.
Modifier: HOME + button = its global version (table above).

If you used HOME as a modifier, letting go does not take you to the home screen: HOME only navigates on a clean tap.

Keys with HOME (on the HOME screen, on MEZCLA or while holding HOME):

Key	What it does
White 1-16	Queue that pattern (when stopped: switches right away). Hold one and tap another: chain from the first to the second
Black 1-6	Tap: mute T1-T6. Hold: solo while you hold it
Black 7-10	Launch scenes A-D
Black 11	FILL while you hold it

Tracks: 3 fixed and 3 free

Track	Type	What it is	Tabs
T1 BATERIA (drums)	Fixed	TR grid of 16 modeled instruments (computed live): kits 808, 909 and SINTE	SEQ · SONIDO · INSTR · MEZCLA · MAS
T2 SAMPLER	Fixed	A loop in 8 slices that a generator rearranges	SEQ · SONIDO · RETRIG · TOMAS · MEZCLA · MAS
T3 BAJO (bass)	Fixed	ANALOG (one voice, with glide), ACID or FM	SEQ · SONIDO · MEZCLA · ARP · LOOP · MAS
T4-T6	Free	ANALOG, FM, ACID, KIT (another drum machine) or MIDI (sends notes over MIDI)	depends on the engine

A free track's engine (and T3's: ANALOG, ACID or FM) is picked in MAS › MOTOR (more › engine) with ALGORITHM. Between note engines (ANALOG, FM, ACID, MIDI) the notes stay; switching to KIT or back from KIT asks, because the track starts empty.

MAS (more) is the list with everything about the track: engine, accent, length, speed, transpose, MIDI channel and initial sound (on the sampler also: use the loop's BPM, and interpolation). SELECT picks the row and ALGORITHM changes it.

Black keys follow a single grammar in SEQ: 1-8 are the track's elements, 9 and 10 modify them and 11 breaks the pattern (FILL on drums and notes, STUTTER on the sampler).

The sound engines

Engine	What it is	K1-K4 on SEQ	PRESETS
ANALOG	Virtual analog: two variable-shape oscillators (SAW, SQUARE with pulse width, TRIANGLE, folded SINE, 3 SAWS), sync, ring, sub and noise; LP 24/12, BP or HP filter with resonance and drive; filter and amp ADSR, LFO and POLY, MONO or LEGATO with glide	CORTE (cutoff) · RESO · ENVOLV (filter env) · FORMA (shape)	16 presets
FM	6 operators, DX7-compatible (msfa, the core of Dexed)	BRILLO · REALIM · DECAY · ALGORITMO	16 original patches
ACID	303-style mono: 4-pole ladder filter, accent opens the filter, slide with LIGA (tie)	CUTOFF · RESO · DECAY · ENV MOD	Saw or square
Drums	16 modeled instruments, each with its own model: BD 808, BD 909, SD 808, SD 909, HAT 808, METAL (hats and cymbals), clap, TOM (and congas), cowbell, RESON (rim, clave, block), noise (maracas) or FM (zaps, metal)	TONO · AFINA · DECAY · COLOR	Kits 808, 909 and SINTE

Since 0.4 everything is computed live: no recorded sounds are left (only the sampler's factory loops). Kicks, snares and hats are the Plaits models (Mutable Instruments).

Editing ANALOG: SONIDO is a paged editor (OSC 1, OSC 2, CRUCE, FILTRO, FILTRO +, ENV FILTRO, ENV NIVEL, LFO, VOZ). K1-K4 change the 4 settings of the page, SELECT changes page (at the edges it moves to the next tab), EDIT again = next page, ENV jumps to the envelopes and LFO to the LFO. PRESETS loads a whole preset.

Editing a drum instrument: INSTR has two pages: GOLPE (TUNE, DECAY, TONE and COLOR, named after what it does in that model) and INSTRUMENTO (MODEL, LEVEL, choke group and line LENGTH).

Drums (T1 and KIT tracks)

The SEQ screen is a matrix: 16 instruments × the 16 steps of the page. Each line shows its own playhead, because each instrument can have its own length.

Control	Does
White keys	Steps of the selected instrument: tap = set or clear
Black 1-8	Select (and play) an instrument of the section
Black 9	Switch section (1-8 / 9-16)
Black 10	MUTES screen: a tap keeps it open (white keys mute or unmute each instrument; leave with black 10 or HOME); hold = only while held. A muted instrument turns red
Black 11	FILL screen: while open the fill plays and the white keys set a hit only for the fill (again: removes it). K1 = automatic fill (every 2, 4 or 8 bars). Tap = stays open; hold = only while held
OCT − / +	Page

Hold a step + turn: K1-K4 = P-Lock of TONE, TUNE, DECAY or START on that step only · SELECT = accent · ALGORITHM = repeat ×1 to ×4 or FLAM · PRESETS = condition (SIEMPRE = always, SOLO FILL = only in the fill, SIN FILL = not in the fill).

INSTR (EDIT again, or ENV): level, tuning, decay and line length of each instrument. For example, a 12-step hi-hat against a 16-step kick.

SONIDO (sound): the kit's 16 pads; K1-K3 = tone, tuning and decay, K4 = how much the accent stands out.

Sampler 3.0 (T2)

The idea comes from X0X's BREAK (a loop in slices that a generator reorders), with a screen that shows what is going on.

Slices: loop A cut in 8. The bars show each slice's energy; K and S mark where the kick and the snare are.
TU row (yours, what you programmed): empty = silence, outline = the generator picks, filled with a number = pinned slice. White line on top = accent.
SUENA row (plays): the slice the generator picked for each step of this bar. Orange line = retrig, < = reverse, H = half speed, - = a silence from ROMPER.

Control	Does
White key	Silence ↔ generator. On a pinned step, gives it back to the generator
White key held	The loop plays from that step, whole and looping, while you hold it (the sampler's sequencer goes quiet). Useful to hear where you are before pinning a slice
White held + black 1-8	Pins that step to that slice
Black 1-8	Play that slice. With REC held they are written as pinned steps
Black 9 · 10 · 11	Reverse · half speed · STUTTER, while held
K1-K4	VARIAR (vary: how much the order changes) · ANCLAR (anchor: keeps the strong beats, using K and S) · REPETIR (repeat: retrigs) · ROMPER (break: reverse, half speed, silences and repeats)
EDIT held + black 4	CAPTURAR (capture): what plays in this bar becomes pinned. HOME + OCT− undoes it

The generator decides each bar with a seed: the SUENA row is exactly what is going to play, and it changes while you turn the knobs. With everything at 0, the loop plays in order.

RETRIG (SEQ again): when the generator repeats, it picks 2X, 3X, 4X or 8X with these weights.

SONIDO (sound): K1 = LOOP A, K2 = LOOP B, K3 = how many bars use B, K4 = PITCH. The loop follows the tempo: it plays at BPM / the loop's BPM, and the screen says how many semitones it moved. MAS › USAR BPM DEL LOOP (use the loop's BPM) sets the project tempo to the loop's. PRESETS also picks loop A.

Factory loops: the ROM has BUBBA 160 and BUBBA 128, synthesized in the repository. They don't use take memory.

The drawing shows three lanes by frequency: lows at the bottom (orange), mids (grey) and highs at the top (cyan). With heavily compressed music the waveform is a solid block; by bands you can see the kick, the rumble and the hats.

Recorder (REC on the sampler)

Recording, keeping and slicing are three screens, one job each.

GRABAR (record): REC on T2 opens the recorder armed. It starts at the next bar (K1 = INICIO: COMPAS = bar, or YA = now). A big number says the seconds left: the smaller of the recording RAM (3 s) and the free take memory. White lines mark how many bars fit and the amber one is the limit. REC again = stop; it also stops by itself at the limit. Holding REC on the recorder records only while held.
- Below the number: the free take memory in seconds and KB, and the maximum per take (3 s).
- While recording the keys are silent and the delay and buffer-based punch-ins pause (they share the memory).
- The take stays SIN GUARDAR (unsaved) and already plays as loop A. It is saved when you stop the transport, because writing flash stops the audio. HOME = discard.
TOMAS (takes; EDIT 2 s on T2, or the tab): the library, with the factory loops (FAB) first. ALGORITHM picks; K1-K3 = the take's BPM, bars and gain; white keys 1-8 play its slices. N1 = use as loop A, N2 = as loop B, N11 = delete (asks). At the bottom, the free memory out of 7.4 s.

How much fits: each take, up to 3 s (the recording RAM, 48 KB); all together, about 7.4 s (116 KiB of flash, 8 bits at 16 kHz = 16 KB per second). Factory loops don't use that space. The emulator shows the free memory next to the button for loading audio.

CORTAR (slice; EDIT on a take): white keys set or remove a cut on that eighth note, black 9 puts the cuts on the hits and black 10 goes back to 8 equal parts. Black 1-8 play each slice. SELECT or K1 pick the cut, K2 moves it, K3 = zoom, K4 = snap to 1/16 or 1/8. It is saved when you leave.

Note tracks (T3, ANALOG, FM, ACID, MIDI)

SEQ: the page is only about this track. On top, the page's 16 steps as a piano roll: each note at its pitch and with its length; white keys are those steps (up to 4 notes per step). Below, the track's bars and the dotted tempo follower. Hold a step and play black 1-8 to write those notes of the track's scale (the same one again removes it). Black 9 and 10 move their octave down or up; 11 = FILL.
Free recording, like a looper: on an empty note track, REC records with no fixed length (the screen says REC LIBRE and counts the bars). REC again closes it: the track keeps the whole bars you played (1 to 4) and every note keeps how long you held it (up to 4 bars). If the track already has notes, REC records over it with its length.
Length in bars: SEQ held + black 7-10 = 1, 2, 3 or 4 bars.
Held step + knobs: K1-K4 = P-Lock · SELECT = hit (NORMAL › ACENTO = accent › FANTASMA = ghost) · ALGORITHM = probability or fill · PRESETS = length or LIGA (tie, glide).
SONIDO (sound): on ANALOG, the paged editor (above). On FM and ACID, K1-K3 = the engine macros and K4 = accent; their envelopes are in ENV.
LOOP (SEQ again): unquantized looper. K1 ON/OFF · K2 bars (1, 2 or 4). REC arms (starts at the bar) › when the loop closes it goes to PLAY › REC again: OVERDUB › REC: PLAY. REC 2 s erases the loop.
MIDI: the MIDI engine makes no sound inside: it sends its notes over MIDI on its channel. Its page has channel, program and two CCs (1 and 74).

The layers (hold)

While you hold, the screen draws the keyboard with what each key does and its LEDs. The sequence keeps playing.

Hold	Layer	The keys
HOME	Controller	White = queue pattern · black 1-6 = mute / solo · 7-10 = scenes · 11 = FILL. ALGORITHM = go to a track when you let go
SEQ	Length and speed	White = track length (1-16; OCT−/+ = 17-64) · black 1-6 = speed ×2 to ×1/4 · black 7-10 = 1-4 bars
EDIT	Erase	Playing: holding a white key erases what passes under the playhead; stopped: erases the line or the step · black 1-3 = copy, paste, clear the track · sampler: black 4 = CAPTURAR · OCT−/+ = undo / redo
ENV	Accent	White = accent on / off (empty step = new one with accent; on notes: NORMAL › ACENTO › FANTASMA). K1 = how much accent
LFO	Repeat · tie	Grids: white = ×1 › ×2 › ×3 › ×4 › FLAM. Notes: white = tie the note to the next one (K1 = glide)
FX	Punch-in	White = 16 effects quantized to 1/16 · black 1-6 still mute
SCL	Chords	White = 16 chords · black 1-4 = +7, +9, SUS2, SUS4
ARP	Arpeggio · roll	Notes: what you play is arpeggiated · grids: white = roll that instrument or slice (K1 = rate; with REC it is recorded as repeats)
SAVE	Copy pattern	White = paste the pattern there · black (1-6) + white = only that track. If the target has notes, it asks
GLO	Pitch	The whole keyboard transposes the project (C4 = 0) · PLAY = TAP tempo without stopping

Time (SEQ 2 s)

Shows the 6 tracks as bars of their real duration, each with its playhead: polymeter at a glance. SELECT or ALGORITHM pick the track; K1 = length (1-64); K2 = speed (×2, ×3/2, ×1, ×3/4, ×1/2, ×1/4); K3 and K4 (grids): an instrument and its length.

The master length (HOME + K3: 16, 32, 48, 64, 128 or INF) restarts all tracks together. That is where patterns and scenes change.

Scales and chords

ESCALA (scale, SCL): each note track can have its own scale (K2: PROYECTO = project, or one of 9 scales; K1 = root). HOME + SCL changes the project scale, used by tracks without their own.
ACORDES (chords, SCL again): 16 chords on a 4×4 grid with their degree and name. The color tells their function: blue rest (I, iii, vi), green preparation (ii, IV), orange tension (V, vii). K1 = set (DIATONICO, PROGRESIONES, NEO SOUL), K2 = voicing (closed, open or voice-led), K3 = octave, K4 = strum.

Scenes and song

ESCENAS (scenes; HOME, HOME, HOME): a scene = pattern + mutes. White 1-4 launch A-D at the next master cycle (when stopped: right away); 5-8 store what is playing into A-D; hold one of 1-4 and tap others for a chain. From any screen, with HOME, black 7-10 also launch them. REC on ESCENAS (or HOME + REC) = SONG REC.

CANCION (song; HOME + SEQ): a white key adds a pattern, black 9 deletes; K1 = step, K2 = repeats, K4 = song ON/OFF.

Effects

Each track's MEZCLA (mix; FX): level, pan, delay send and duck (sidechain from the T1 kick; the sampler can duck too).
HOME + FX: delay time, feedback and mix, and sidechain release.
FX held: 16 punch-ins (stutter, reverse, tape stop, gate, sweeps, bitcrush, SR down, delay throw, echo freeze, kill low/high).
DRIVE (HOME + K4): saturation of the mix.

Saving

The flash is only written when stopped (writing pauses the audio for a moment).
Autosave: when stopped, after 10 s without touching anything.
SAVE: save · save as · save song and scenes · erase pattern (SAVE twice) · count events. SAVE 2 s: quick save. HOME + SAVE: save as.
Copying: SAVE held + white key copies the pattern; HOME + EDIT copies a track onto another one in the same pattern (ALGORITHM picks the target, OCT+ pastes; a free track changes engine if needed).

System (HOME 2 s)

Internal or external clock · Split Sync (L = pulse, R = mono mix) · pulse PPQN and latency · autosave · idle LED brightness · the box's auto enter time · saved patterns · takes and free memory · version.

MIDI

Input (USB and TRS): channels 1-6 = Bubba Machine's tracks. On grids, the note picks the instrument (0-15); on the sampler, the slice.
External clock: follows MIDI Clock and Start/Stop.
Output: MIDI Clock when the clock is internal, and the notes of tracks with the MIDI engine.

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