Drum machine firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1
Elixir is free, open-source alternative firmware that ports the Erica Synths LXR-02's six-voice engine, FX bus and sequencer to the FM-1, then adds sends and reverb, a sound browser, sequencing generators and a performance mode made for playing live.
The LXR-02, all of it
Everything that made the LXR-02 a favourite is here, laid out on the FM-1's keys, buttons and four knobs. Kits and projects from an LXR-02 come across over USB.
- Six voices on seven tracksThree drums, snare/clap, cymbal, closed and open hat, each with its oscillator, FM, transient, filter, envelopes and LFO.
- The FX busDrive (tube, fold, rat), ring mod, compressor and delay.
- 32 patterns of 4 barsParameter locks on any step, flams, shifts, rolls and probability.
- Kits, morph and songs64 kits per project, morphing between two kits, songs that chain patterns.
- MIDI in and outUSB and TRS in, USB out; clock sync both ways; the LXR's CC and NRPN map.
- Your LXR-02 kitsImport .SND kits or a whole LXR-02 project folder (kits, patterns and songs) from the library page.
Checked against the original. The FM-1 has no floating-point unit, so the LXR's DSP is rewritten in fixed point. A test renders every voice with both engines: levels match to within 0.1 dB, and the tonal voices correlate at 0.99–1.00.
What Elixir adds
New sound, sequencing and performance features, all of them saved with your kits and projects, and most of them lockable per step.
Sequencing generators
Every track can have a generator, playing a live copy you can commit, undo or reset:
- Euclid, with a second pulse joined by OR, XOR, AND or SUB
- Mutate, a Turing machine, and cellular automata
- Emilie Gillet's Grids drum map
Each track also has its own length, clock (from /4 to x4) and direction: forward, reverse, ping-pong, random or a random walk. Add step conditions and ratchets that bounce like a dropped ball, and a pattern turns into polyrhythms.
Made for playing live
PERF turns the sixteen white keys into performance controls. Hold for rolls, fills, beat repeat, delay freeze, reverb and FX throws, tape stop and filter sweeps; a second bank adds drill, half time, cuts, pump, comb, crush and reverse. A DJ filter, four macros and a mixer sit on the knobs.
Tracks that react to each other
Links read like a sentence: when D1 hits, CH chance −60%, on the next step. The kick ducks the hats, the open hat answers only when the closed hat rests, a snare hit makes the next hat rattle. Up to eight links per pattern turn a loop into a small system.
Sends and reverb
An FX-bus send and a reverb send on every voice. Room, spring and hall reverb after the FX bus, plus a phaser and flanger on the bus.
Sound shaping
Five waveshapers, a bit reducer and tilt EQ per voice; random-per-hit pitch, decay, filter and pan; choke groups; duck, filter or ring modulation from another voice.
Global LFOs
Two tempo-synced LFOs, up to 256 bars long, on morph, the DJ filter or the effects. A one-shot saw over 64 bars turns one kit into another while you play.
Play it as an instrument
KEYS plays any voice chromatically and records into the steps. Control All moves a parameter on every track at once, as on Elektron boxes.
Sound browser
Browse presets for a single track: every kick, snare or hat from your kits and the kit library, gathered in one list, each heard on the track as you go. Keep one and the rest of the kit stays as it is. Plus a library of 128 kits and 128 sounds beyond the project.
Back up over USB
The library page backs up and restores projects and the kit library, and brings in LXR-02 kits and projects. No drivers, just the browser.
Controller map
A ready-made map for eight-column controllers such as Novation's Launch Control XL: mixer, sound and performance controls, with feedback.
Try it first
The emulator runs the firmware's own C code in your browser, with Web MIDI in and out. What you hear there is what the FM-1 plays.
Rings and Plaits models
The three drum voices can ring through a fixed-point port of Mutable Instruments Rings or play Plaits' sixteen original engines, two at a time, on the FM-1's second core. Not in the LXR-02. Experimental.
On the FM-1's screen
Get started
You need an M-VAVE FM-1, a USB data cable, and Chrome or Edge on a computer.
Try it
Play Elixir in the browser with your computer keyboard, the mouse or a MIDI controller. Nothing to install.
Open the emulatorInstall it
The install page checks your FM-1, puts the official V15 firmware on first if needed, then installs Elixir. The way back to V15 is on the same page.
Install ElixirLearn it
The manual starts with a beat in two minutes, then covers every page, button and knob.
Read the manualRunning Kettle? Elixir was called Kettle up to version 0.13. Install Elixir over it from the install page: your projects, kit library and settings are kept.
This is a test release with little testing on real FM-1s so far. Read the notes on the install page before you install; there is no warranty.