Chapter 2
Panel & controls
Every knob, button and key — and the modes they switch between.
The front panel
The panel has three zones. On the left, the knobs you reach for while playing: volume, page, preset and algorithm, with the octave keys below. In the middle, the screen. On the right, four parameter knobs over twelve buttons that choose what those knobs edit. The keyboard runs along the bottom.
Tap any key, knob or socket. Switch on EDIT mode to see the keyboard’s second job.
Pick a control to see what it does.
All 28 controls, from the left panel to the rear edge. In EDIT mode, ten of the black keys stop playing notes and choose what to edit instead.
Redrawn from the manual’s panel drawings (§1–4, §7) · not to exact scale
Reading the display
The screen is small but always laid out the same way, so you learn where to look.
| Area | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Top bar | The loaded preset’s number and name, such as 032 BRASS 1, and the battery icon on the right. |
| Middle | Whatever the current mode needs: the oscilloscope, parameter boxes, the effect grid or an algorithm diagram. |
| Bottom bar | The mode and page, such as 1/2 LFO, and the exact value of the knob you are turning. |
Pop-ups cover the middle for about a second when something changes, then the mode comes back by itself.
Pop-ups
| When you… | You see |
|---|---|
| Turn PRESETS | The preset list, with the current one highlighted (about three seconds on V16) |
| Turn ALGORITHM | The algorithm diagram |
| Press OCT- or OCT+ | Octave and the offset |
| Hold an OCT key and turn ALGORITHM | Transpose and the value |
| Turn MASTER | Volume and the level |
| Save | Preset Saved, or on V16 what was saved, such as Pattern Saved |
| Run the battery nearly flat | LOW BATTERY — this one stays until you charge or switch off |
The home screen
The home screen is an oscilloscope: a yellow trace on grey that follows the FM-1’s output in real time. It is more than decoration — watch it while you turn a modulator’s level and you can see a sine wave fold into something more complex.
Key combinations
- HOME
- Returns to the home screen from any mode.
- Hold HOME
- Turns Bluetooth MIDI on or off.
Pressing FX, LFO, EDIT or GLO a second time also brings you home. ENV, ARP and SEQ are switches as well as modes: pressing them again turns that function off.
Modes: what the knobs are editing
The FM-1 has one set of four knobs and seven places to point them. Press a button to switch mode; press it again, or press HOME, to leave.
| Button | Mode | Pages | Covered in |
|---|---|---|---|
| FX | The effect chain | One per effect slot | The effect chain |
| ENV | Quick ADSR envelope (also switches it on) | 1 | The quick envelope (ENV) |
| LFO | The LFO | 2 | The LFO |
| EDIT | Operators, pitch envelope and voice settings | Up to 6 per section | EDIT mode: getting around |
| GLO | Global settings | 2 (5 on V16) | Global settings (GLO) |
| ARP | Arpeggiator (also switches it on) | 2 | The arpeggiator |
| SEQ | Sequencer (also switches it on) | 3 on V15 | The step sequencer |
Pages and the SELECT knob
With only four knobs, most modes spread their parameters over pages. The bottom bar shows where you are, for example 1/2 Arpeggio or 2/2 Arpeggio.
Key combinations
- Turn SELECT clockwise
- Goes to the next page.
- Turn SELECT anticlockwise
- Goes back a page.
- Turn SELECT
- Moves between the six effect slots.In FX mode
- Turn SELECT
- Steps through the pages of the selected operator or section.In EDIT mode
The four parameter knobs
Whatever page you are on, KNOB 1 to KNOB 4 edit its four parameters from left to right. The bottom bar shows the exact value as you turn, such as CutOff: 1004Hz or Mix: 70%. Some pages draw values as bar graphs instead.
The parameter explorer, in the guide’s menu, lays out every page knob by knob, so you can find a parameter without hunting through the modes.
The keyboard
The 27 keys are laid out like a piano, from F to G: sixteen white keys and eleven black. With octave and transpose at 0 they cover roughly F3 to G5. Every key has an LED that lights when you press it.
What the keys do
| When | The keys… |
|---|---|
| Normally | Play the synth, in poly or mono (see Mono and poly). |
| The arpeggiator is on | Feed notes to the arpeggiator. |
| The sequencer is on | Enter notes into steps, and show the 16 steps on their LEDs. |
| In EDIT mode | The ten labelled black keys choose what to edit (see EDIT mode: getting around). |
Octave shift
Each press of OCT- or OCT+ moves the keyboard an octave, down to −3 or up to +3, and an Octave pop-up shows where you are. The LED on that side tells you at a glance.
| Octave offset | LED |
|---|---|
| 0 | Both off |
| ±1 | Blinks slowly |
| ±2 | Blinks fast |
| ±3 | Stays on |
Key combinations
- OCT-
- Shifts the keyboard down an octave.
- OCT+
- Shifts the keyboard up an octave.
- OCT- + OCT+
- Resets both octave and transpose to 0.
Transpose
Transpose shifts every note by semitones, so you can play in another key with the same fingering. It is separate from the octave shift, and the FM-1 remembers it in the global settings automatically.
Key combinations
- Hold OCT- + turn ALGORITHM
- Transposes down, from 0 to −12 semitones.
- Hold OCT+ + turn ALGORITHM
- Transposes up, from 0 to +12 semitones.