It's hard to create a grindy
dubstep bass on my substractive
analog synth. So I kept on the
lookout for an fm synth. A few
months ago, I saw the m-vave
fm-1. It was tiny and cheap, but
packed some punch as far as FM
synthesis. It looked too much
like a toy, and I'm trying to
reduce my synth footprint, so I
didn't go for it. 

Fast forward a couple month, and
the fm-1 built momentum. Due to
it's open firmware, the device
started to be hacked and many
custom firmware came about. As of
today there are over 80 different
firmware available to download
and install in one click from
your midi-compatible browser.
This is 80 completely different
instruments, from fart machine,
to generative ambient music
creation. A lot of old synths are
re-created on there too. 

I couldn't resist and got myself
one for around 100$ Canadian.

It is very cute! And very
powerful too. It's really small
too! When synth get that small,
the question always remain, why
don't you just use your phone?
There are tons of awesome musical
instrument for android, and this
synth is just a small computer
inside a keyboard looking
enclosure. But for the same
reason why I still use a digital
camera instead of my phone, or a
field recorder, or a Nintendo DS,
I prefer playing music on a
different, dedicated interface,
that just boot into what I need
to do.

Usb-c for charging and audio out
or midi, and loading firmware.
With a dedicated Midi-in port
(mini), stereo headphone jack
out. It also has Bluetooth
connectivity that I haven't
tested.

I've only had it for a day, but
I have to say it's really
fun. I've used the Choral Root
firmware which is fairly well
built with a very deep multiple
synth engine, fm and granular and
more. Sequencer and looper, and I
think some sort of song
mode. It's a perfect 'idea'
machine, that you then sample, or
push into a bigger mix. I can see
it as a starting point of a
creation, and then when I need
something beefier for percussion
I can add it to my mix.

It's also battery powered,
completely portable, and if you
use a computer to make beat you
can plug it in once you have your
initial melody. A lot of firmware
transform this device in a
complete groove box, but for me
it makes more sense to use it
just for one task. I've heard of
many people wanting to buy many
fm-1 in order to have them all
have a different firmware, which
almost make sense!

So is this a serious synth? Well,
it's playful, it's enjoyable, it
makes sounds, and it's more
entertaining than spending the
night in front of Netflix. It's
kind of tiny clay flute of the
synth world. Portable, easy to
use, you might end up re-mixing.
And with so many firmware, it's
nice to have a tool that you can
make it anything, and have it in
a physical form. So it gets me
away from spending too much time
on the computer.

If you are already heavily
producing music on the computer,
it's not that useful. You could
more easily load whatever plugin
a lot faster than changing the
fm-1 firmware. It's not the synth
with unique sound and a perfect
UI that would add to your
overly computerize mix. But if
you prefer hardware synth, or
'dawless' it's a nice in-between.

What I would like to explore is
connecting the midi (I don't have
the adapter yet) to my mopho, and
use the audio in as a sound
source. I could play the Fm-1
with my keyboard, and have an
analog filter, and mix in some
more oscillators as needed. We'll
see how that will work, but it
would add some fm grittiness to
the Mopho.