Fantasma

A ghostly, ambient synth firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1
drones · bells · rain · Omnichord chords · in a neon skin

Install · Try it in your browser · Website · Download 1.1

Fantasma is custom firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. It keeps everything Felucca does (thirteen engines, a 64-step sequencer, songs, effects) and adds an instrument for slow, warm, drifting music: a Pad that writes its own chords, bells that grow like a garden, an endless noise of sea, rain or vinyl, and an Omnichord on the keys. In a neon skin, with a ghost.

What's inside

The ambient machine	SEQ › AMBIENT: OCT+ picks the sounds, a scale and a key, switches the Pad's progression and the bells on, and sets long envelopes and reverb. It keeps playing with the transport stopped.
AMBI, the noise engine	Sea, surf, storm, wind, stream, fire, vinyl, rain, cave drip, crickets. REL at its top means INF: a drone that never stops.
BELL and the garden	Soft FM bells that play themselves: four loops of 13, 17, 23 and 29 steps drifting apart; the keys choose the notes.
A Pad that writes chords	DENS, BARS, CHORDS, SEED: a progression of its own in the key, never the same twice.
OMNI	The black keys are chord buttons, the white keys strum. ENV makes it minor, LFO adds the seventh, OMNI H holds the chord.
AMBI reverb	Tails from 7 s up to about 90 s.
Four parts	PAD, LEAD, ECHOES and NOISE, each with its own colour and warm sounds made for it.
The neon look	The ECTO palette, an animated ghost at power-on, and one on the AMBIENT page.
Tape sounds (1.1)	NOSTALGIA, HAZY LEAD, TAPE EP, FADED CHOIR, MUSIC BOX and VHS HISS, with a slow wow on the pitch, like a worn cassette. Hear every sound.

On the screen

Install

1. Open the web installer in Chrome or Edge on a computer.
2. Connect the FM-1 with a USB data cable, straight into the computer.
3. Follow the five steps: the checklist, a backup, the build, connect, install. About two minutes.

From a terminal instead: python3 tools/fm1_install.py Fantasma-1.1.fwsc (needs pip install mido python-rtmidi).

If something goes wrong: switch the FM-1 on while holding OCT−. It starts FANTASMA USB RESCUE, with only USB, ready for a new install (it also starts by itself after two failed starts). The firmware never writes the FM-1's boot code, and the installer can put the official M-VAVE firmware back at any time.

The code

main	the latest release, now 1.1
next	the work on the next version
Releases	every version: its notes and its package
gh-pages	the website: project page, installer, emulator, package

• The manual: every page, engine and control
• What changed, version by version · How a version is released
• Building: BUILDING.md (./build.sh --release 1.1); the tests: sh tests/run_tests.sh

Credits

Fantasma is by Gadlele. It is a fork of Felucca by Leo Kuroshita (@kurogedelic), Hügelton Instruments. The ambient machine follows Charles Vestal's AMB-1, OMNI follows his FoMni, and the USB rescue follows zvenson's dinghy. See LICENSING.md for every bundled work and its licence.

Fantasma is free software under the GPL-3.0, with no warranty. M-VAVE and FM-1 are trademarks of their respective owners; Fantasma is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or supported by them.