Roadmap

Everything planned for Bubba Machine. All of it will be done, step by step, with no dates: each step ships when it has been tested on the FM-1. The order inside each list is the order that matters today and may change.

Items marked ✓ are already in the current version (0.4.0-beta). Until v1, any version may erase what you saved (see install).

Audio

The goal is the best quality the FM-1 allows. What improved, what it costs and what limits it today: audio.

Done

• ✓ Engines and mix at 44.1 kHz, floating-point bus, 16-bit delay and effects capture.
• ✓ Modeled drums (Plaits), ANALOG with polyBLEP, 6-operator FM (msfa) and ACID.
• ✓ 32 KiB data cache and audio compiled for speed.

Planned

1. Audio on both cores. The second core gives 1.83× (measured): more voices and room for effects.
2. Master effects: reverb and chorus (from Mutable Instruments), tape delay, compressor and leveler.
3. ACID 2.0: Open303 in floating point, with an acid line generator.
4. A higher-quality sampler with more seconds, within what the flash allows (today it records at 16 kHz and 8 bits).
5. A/B morph per drum instrument: two versions of each hit and a knob that moves from one to the other.
6. CUERDA (string) and MODAL engines (Plaits physical modeling): they already have a place in the format, they just aren't selectable yet.
7. Oversampled clipper, so high DRIVE doesn't alias.
8. Faster screen: SPI at 30 MHz (2.2× measured) and DMA transfers, which frees processor time for audio.
9. Measure the FM-1's analog output (noise, distortion, response) with an audio interface.

Interface: Live 0.5

0.5 organizes the FM-1 into two places: playing live (HOME and its pages) and working on a track (inside a track). The key lights are white only and don't say what each key does, so every screen shows it on the key strip.

Done

• ✓ Key strip on screen: the 11 black and 16 white keys with a short name and the same intensity as their light.
• ✓ SLICER: a take in 16 slices played with the white keys.
• ✓ MUTES and FILL screens, and drums in sections of 8.

Planned: playing live (HOME again = the next page)

1. PERFORM: K1-K4 as show macros that never move (DJ FILTER, DELAY, REVERB, MORPH). On every HOME page, the same black keys: 1-6 mutes (hold = solo), 7-10 scenes, 11 FILL.
2. MORPH A·B: move from one sound state to another with a knob.
3. FX MASTER: the master effects on one page.
4. SCENES AND SONG: build and play the song with the scenes.

Planned: working on a track (the button again = the next page)

1. SEQ › LOOP › DICE: controlled random variations, and the ACID generator for bass lines.
2. EDIT › SOUND › INSTR: the A/B drum instrument.
3. LFO › MOTION: a modulation sequencer and knob-movement recording.
4. FX › TRACK: per-track mix and effects.

Other

• Pattern banks: more than 20 patterns, by growing the flash map or shrinking the patterns.
• Ghost notes on drums: a level P-Lock or a bigger format.

Tools and ecosystem

• Back up what you saved from the browser (patterns, song and takes), so nothing is lost when updating.
• Web editor: load and download patterns and takes over USB (today takes are uploaded with tools/fm1/toma.py), and DX7 .syx FM banks.
• Free kit and take packs (CC0 or GPL), made by the community.
• Bluetooth MIDI, if the hardware and processor allow it (no promise: no free firmware has shown it yet).

Done

• 0.4.0-beta: the first version for the FM-1, sounds computed live and 44.1 kHz audio. See the changelog.
• 0.3: interface 3.0, with four gestures per button and HOME everywhere. The design is in DESIGN_3.0.md.

This page is generated from docs/en/ROADMAP.md. Spotted a mistake? Edit the file and send a pull request.