core-fm1

Your FM-1. Your combination.

A modular firmware framework for the M-VAVE FM-1 synthesizer, inspired by Felucca, Melodee, and SLOOP. The goal: build one firmware image configured for your instrument.

Early development: the minimal firmware builds and has emulator boot tests. It displays a boot screen; audio, engine mixing, and musical workflows are still being integrated. Hardware validation is pending.

Modular by design

The aim is to configure any compatible combination of supported modules from one source tree:

• Mix your engines. Combine synthesis engines across firmware lineages in the same build, with a shared engine interface.
• Choose your workflow. Select audio, effects, sequencer, MIDI, and storage implementations as their integration becomes available.
• Build only what you need. Enable the modules you use and save your choices in a configuration you can rebuild and share.

These are the integration goals. Combinations must fit the FM-1's memory and processing budget and satisfy module dependencies. UI code stays coupled to its firmware lineage until those dependencies are separated.

Kconfig provides the configuration menus and generates the C definitions used by the build. Modules are selected when compiling the firmware. Today, only the minimal preset is buildable; the Melodee, Felucca, and SLOOP presets and engine selection are planned.

Build the current milestone

Install mise, then run from this checkout:

mise trust
mise install
mise exec -- uv sync --locked
mise exec -- task config:defconfig -- minimal
mise exec -- task build

The build downloads the SDK and JieLi toolchain when needed and writes build/core-fm1.fwsc. On first use, Task asks you to trust its remote setup Taskfiles. The compiler runs on x86-64 Linux; macOS builds use Docker, and supported ARM Linux setups use QEMU.

To inspect the build without compiling, run mise exec -- task build:dry-run. To explore the configuration menus, run mise exec -- task config. Some menu choices are placeholders: the build rejects unintegrated options. Reload minimal to return to the supported configuration.

Test and contribute

mise exec -- task test:unit
mise exec -- task test:e2e

The E2E suite builds the firmware and checks it in the browser emulator. See Testing for Chromium setup, test coverage, and screenshots.

Help integrate an engine or subsystem, define its compatibility requirements, or add tests for a supported combination. Include the configuration and test results with your contribution, and retain upstream credits and license notices. Start with the configuration, firmware entry point, and build tasks.

For playable firmware available today, explore the FM-1 community catalog.

Credits and license

Built on the work of hugelton (Felucca), keremimo (Melodee), and isod89 (SLOOP), with aroum maintaining the community firmware catalog.

GPL-3.0-only. Components with other licenses retain their notices; see Third-party components.