What's new

The newest version first. Install it with the web installer; the manual covers everything in detail.

1.2.0 · 1 November 2026

• Tap tempo. Hold HOME and tap SEQ in time, from any screen, playing or stopped. From the third tap in a row it sets the tempo and follows the last four taps; playing, each tap also puts the beat on your tap. One or two stray taps change nothing. Thanks @TomPeak.
• MIDI CC in and out. A controller turns X0X's knobs: each part on its own channel, the mixer, the effects and the master on MIX MIDI CH (1). The map is fixed and matches CTL-1's, so CTL-1 plays X0X as it comes. GLO > CC OUT sends the knobs you turn (KNOBS), or also what knob motion and p-locks play (ALL), never at the cost of a note. Section 16 of the manual has the map.
• A new reverb, ROOM: smoother and wider, with less fizz on low tails such as a tom's. It replaces the old one; your DECAY and TONE settings carry over. Thanks @luchak.
• PING WIDTH (FX, in SEL's list) sets how far apart ping-pong's echoes sit: 0 is off, 127 hard left and right, and between, closer together. A new project starts at 20. It replaces the PING-PONG switch. Thanks @luchak.
• Turning SWING while playing no longer pushes parts off the beat, and a random or reverse 303 with swing stays on its grid. Thanks @luchak.
• A BD's pan motion in a project from before 9 October now stays on the pan when it loads, instead of moving to the reverb send. Thanks @luchak.
• The 303, 909 and 808 use less of the processor for exactly the same sound, after Optimist's speed-ups (henri): the busiest test pattern's peak went from 102% to 99%.
• The installer takes M-VAVE's stock firmware V16 as well as V15.
• The emulator and the site's pages work with a screen reader and the keyboard.
• Releases are now built and signed on GitHub, so the Firmware Hub can check where a package came from. Thanks @keremimo.

1.1.0 · 15 October 2026

• X0X works with a screen reader. Plug the FM-1 into a computer and open the FM-1 Screen Reader in Chrome or Edge. It reads out what the screen shows: each page and its knobs, a knob's value as you turn it, list rows with their place, help cards, questions, steps you put on or off, play and stop, and every message, in words ("bass drum tune 37"). It can speak with its own voice or pass the words to your own screen reader (VoiceOver, NVDA, JAWS). The FM-1 stays silent until the page connects, so a DAW never sees it.

1.0.9 · 15 October 2026

• A new backup page saves your project to a file and puts it back, so you can keep several projects or try another firmware and come back. The FM-1 asks before a restore replaces anything. Break loops aren't included; load them again from their WAVs.
• The break has a filter. Press EDIT on the break and turn SELECT to SOUND. Turn FILTER left for a low-pass and right for a high-pass; the middle is off. A high-pass leaves a loop's hats under your own kick and snare.
• X0X runs the processor at 1.38 / 1.60V, the voltages M-VAVE's own firmware uses. Some FM-1s crashed with both cores at the lower voltages custom firmware inherited. GLO > PERFORMANCE shows them.
• After a crash, GLO > PERFORMANCE keeps its numbers in red until you switch off, so you can photograph them.
• A save cut off by switching off loads the save before it, instead of an empty project.

1.0.8 · 14 October 2026

• Hold ENV and turn a knob to put it back to its default.
• In safe mode, hold OCT- and OCT+ for 5 seconds to reach the update mode.
• GLO > 2ND CORE says AT THE NEXT POWER-ON when you change it.

1.0.7 · 14 October 2026

• GLO > 2ND CORE turns the second core on or off from the next start. It's on by default. If X0X crashes with both cores running, it turns the second core off by itself and carries on with one. After a crash while starting, it starts on one core, once.
• X0X raises one of the processor's supplies from 1.40V to 1.50V when it starts. At 1.40V, some FM-1s misread their memory when both cores are busy, and crash.
• Thanks to the testers who measured their FM-1s, and to Jangada and Melodee for theirs.

1.0.6 · 11 October 2026

• The 303s have free play. Press SEQ, turn SELECT to the KEYS page and set FREE PLAY to ON. The keys play the 303 on every 303 screen without writing anything, so you can try lines and shape the sound first; REC still records.
• The song plays from the SONG screen. Press PLAY there and the song plays from the selected bar, and keeps playing wherever you go. PLAY anywhere else plays the patterns. The MODE setting is gone.
• Set GLO > USB AUDIO to FULL to keep USB audio at full level whatever the MASTER knob says, so you can record over the cable with the speaker turned down. FOLLOWS KNOB is the default and works as before.
• GLO is in sections: MIDI, AUDIO, KEYS AND SCREEN, PROJECT, SYSTEM.

1.0.5 · 10 October 2026

• X0X checks the second processor core more sharply. On an FM-1 whose second core misreads, it now also catches the one misread 1.0.4 could miss, and carries on with one core. Nothing changes on an FM-1 whose cores both work.

1.0.4 · 10 October 2026

• On FM-1s whose second processor core doesn't work reliably, X0X notices and carries on with one core, instead of clicking or stopping in the middle of an update. GLO > PERFORMANCE says 2 CORES, or 1 CORE: BAD READS on such a unit. Thanks to Jangada's maintainer for the measurements and the fixes.
• A crash on the second core no longer freezes the FM-1.

1.0.3 · 10 October 2026

• GLO > BATTERY shows the battery's charge: FULL, 2/3, 1/3 or EMPTY, or USB POWER while a computer powers the FM-1.

1.0.2 · 10 October 2026

• Probability cycles count from the first pass again when the 909 changes pattern, as the other parts already did. Switch patterns and a 1:4 step plays on the new pattern's first bar.

1.0.1 · 10 October 2026

• A step's probability can be a cycle. Hold a step and turn SELECT down past 5% for 1:2, 2:2, 1:3 … 8:8. A step at 1:4 plays on the first of every four passes of its pattern, 2:4 on the second.

1.0 · 10 October 2026

Highlights

• X0X uses both of the FM-1's processor cores, so there are no dropouts, even on the most complex patterns. The busiest test pattern went from about 115% to 68% load. Thanks @keremimo (Melodee)
• Navigation is simpler. HOME is for the pattern and song, SEQ for the selected part's steps, EDIT for its sound. Press a button again, or turn SELECT, for the next page.
• Screens are clearer. Each knob row says whose knobs they are, a hint line shows what the keys do, holding any button explains it, and labels are clearer throughout.
• Each part has up to 64 steps, and there are 32 patterns.
• A step can have p-locks and a probability. On EDIT, hold a step and turn a knob for a p-lock. Hold a step and turn SELECT for its probability.
• The drums have a mixer with per-track mutes, sends and hit meters.
• A new break tool loads and manages your own loops from the browser (BR1, BR2…).

Sequencing

• 303 note entry is new. REC turns the keys into a keyboard, and ties show as one long note. Hold a step and press OCT to move it an octave.
• Hold SAVE and press a white key to copy and paste a whole pattern.
• Song bars can repeat, ×1 to ×8.
• A break step can have its own slice. Hold the step and press black keys 1–8.
• The break's COMPLEXITY now eases ROLL and FILL in gently.

Sound and mix

• Both kicks have reverb and delay sends.
• The 909 snare has DECAY.
• The master has one-knob COMP and FILTER, and the MASTER page shows the output level.
• The factory reverb is calmer.
• OUTPUT LOUD is for quiet headphones.
• The 808's hats always choke like the 909's. The CHOKE setting is gone.

MIDI

• Each part has a MIDI channel, in and out, or OFF.
• The tempo readout is steady when following an external clock.

Feel and fixes

• Knobs no longer miss or double clicks, and small turns are exact.
• Key lights have two brightness levels. A chosen key is bright, an available one dim.
• Saving waits until you stop, so the audio never cuts out.
• B CHANCE works without PHRASE.
• CLEAR PATTERN no longer leaves a bar showing on HOME.
• The keys no longer trigger steps or slices on the MASTER and FX screens.

Projects saved with 0.10 load as they were.

Earlier versions