Panel & big ideas

Our own schematic of the FM-1 running SLOOP 2.8.5, from GUIDE.md §2, §5, §9 and §15 · not to scale

• The three synth tracks draw on one pool of eight voices (Polyphony and voice modes). The drum track has its own six.
• Each track’s colour matches a knob: blue KNOB 1, green KNOB 2, yellow KNOB 3, orange KNOB 4. Where a layer gives each track a knob — levels in the GLO layer, for instance — the colours tell you which is which.
• Two colours always mean the same thing: white is whatever you are touching right now, and red means recording.

The seven layers

• FX — punch-in effects (Punch-in effects)
• EDIT — erase notes and sounds (Erase as it plays)
• ARP — note repeat (Note repeat)
• SEQ — the steps (The SEQ layer: steps under your fingers)
• SEL — key and chords (Key and scale)
• GLO — the mix: mutes, solos, fills, levels (Mutes, solos, fills and tap tempo)
• SAVE — song sections and chains (Saving and playing sections)

Inside any layer

• PLAY still starts and stops.
• SELECT always sets the tempo.
• ALGORITHM and PRESETS wait: turning them in a layer doesn’t make the track or sound jump when you let go.
• The first key of each row — KEY 1, KEY 5, KEY 9, KEY 13 — glows faintly to mark where each row starts, which lets you find a tile by feel. A key lit at full brightness means that tile is active.

Key combinations

Any layer button + HOME

Locks that layer open, so you can let go of its button.

Tap HOME or the layer’s button

Releases the lock and does nothing else.While a layer is locked

While a layer is locked

• PLAY, REC, OCT- and OCT+ keep working as usual.
• Any other button — HOME, the layer’s own button, ENV and the rest — releases the lock, and that press does only that.

Key combinations

Tap PLAY

Starts or stops all four tracks; in song mode, plays the song. Works inside every layer.

Tap REC

Arms recording while stopped, records at once while playing, and closes a free take.

Tap SAVE

Opens the SONG screen from TRACKS or DRUMS, saves the song on the SONG screen, and opens the SAVE pages anywhere else.

Tap HOME

Goes to the TRACKS screen.

Hold HOME

Opens the menu after 0.7 s; hold it again to leave.

Tap ENV

Opens the envelope pages.

Tap LFO

Opens the LFO pages.

Tap FX

Opens the effect pages: sends, filter, slicer, insert, delay, reverb and chorus.

Tap SEL

Opens the key, scale and chord pages.

Tap EDIT

Opens the engine pages of the selected synth track, then its voice pages.

Tap ARP

Opens the arpeggiator pages.

Tap SEQ

Opens the NOTES page and then PATTERN on a synth track.

Tap GLO

Opens the global pages: tempo, master, system, drums, texture and MIDI.

Turn ALGORITHM

Selects track 1–4, on every screen.

Turn PRESETS

Picks the selected track’s sound, or the kit on the drum track.

Turn SELECT

Sets the tempo.On the TRACKS screen or inside a layer

Turn KNOB 1–4

Changes whatever the four dials at the bottom of the screen show.

Turn MASTER

Sets the output volume for headphones and line out.

Where the rules bend

• On the drum track, EDIT or SEQ tapped on TRACKS opens the DRUMS screen instead (The DRUMS screen), and holding OCT- or OCT+ while you play gives ghost or hard hits (Ghost notes, hard hits and ratchets).
• On the NOTES page, a tap on EDIT deletes the note under edit (The NOTES page: a piano roll for synth tracks).
• On a synth track OCT- and OCT+ shift the keys an octave at a time, both together back to 0 (Playing the synth tracks). Holding REC for about two seconds clears the selected track (Undo, clear and start again).
• ALGORITHM does nothing during a free take, on the SONG screen or in the menu.
• PRESETS lists your favourite sounds first, then the factory sounds by kind, then your user presets (The sound bank, User presets).
• On a page, SELECT steps through pages instead of setting the tempo (Pages, the SELECT knob and GO values). On the TRACKS screen, HOME tapped again opens the The visualiser.

Key combinations

Turn SELECT

Steps to the previous or next page of the same button, stopping at the ends.On a page

Turn KNOB 1–4 one click, then one more

Arms a GO value with the first click, showing AGAIN: …, and carries it out with the second within about 1.5 s.On a GO value

Which pages each button opens

• Global pages — DLY, REV/CHO, GLOBAL, MASTER, SYSTEM, DRUMS — are the same whichever track is selected.
• On the drum track, pages that don’t apply to drums show DRUM TRACK.
• The SONG screen that follows PATTERN is a screen of its own, not counted in the page number.
• Most sound parameters on these pages can be locked to a single step — not the pattern, arpeggiator, key or voice-mode ones (Parameter locks).

Key combinations

Tap HOME

Opens the visualiser.On the TRACKS screen

Turn SELECT

Shows the next or previous style; its name appears for a second.In the visualiser

GLO + SELECT

Sets the tempo.In the visualiser

Tap HOME

Closes the visualiser; any page button does too.In the visualiser

The twelve styles

Reading the sound

OSCILLOSCOPE, a frozen trace of the waveform · SPECTRUM, 32 frequency bands with caps that drop slowly · SPECTROGRAM, the spectrum scrolling downwards from black through blue, green and yellow to white · LISSAJOUS, the stereo picture: the wider the cloud, the wider the mix.

Meters

VU METERS, one per track in its colour plus the mix, with peak holds · TAPE, two turning reels with the level, bar and tempo · LCD, the tempo in seven-segment digits with bar, beat and four track meters.

Playful

CIRCLE, the wave wrapped round a ring that swells with each kick · BOUNCE, a ball for each track, knocked up by its notes · ORBIT, four planets taking 1, 2, 4 and 8 beats to circle a central sun that throbs with the music · WIRES, a string per track set swinging by its notes · SLOOP, the logo come alive, its sail’s four bands the tracks, the boat rocking on a wave.

Key combinations

Turn SELECT

Moves to the previous or next section.In the HOME menu

Turn PRESETS

Moves the cursor between rows.In the HOME menu

Tap OCT+

Steps the setting under the cursor, or opens it.In the HOME menu

Tap OCT-

Closes; from ABOUT, goes back to the section.In the HOME menu

Hold HOME

Leaves the menu.In the HOME menu

What the lights always tell you

• PLAY flashes on every beat.
• REC blinks while armed and stays lit while recording.
• The button whose page is on screen is lit.
• In a layer, KEY 1, KEY 5, KEY 9 and KEY 13 glow dimly as landmarks; whatever is switched on is fully lit.
• OCT- or OCT+ lights when the octave isn’t 0.
• A locked layer’s button blinks (Locking a layer open).