BOP-1

music and synthesis for children, on the FM-1: in the browser, the same code the FM-1 runs

Turn your phone sideways for bigger controls.

Off. Sound starts when you switch it on.

The doors

Switch it on and music plays. HOME opens the doors; a white key (or ALGORITHM) picks one, the same key again (or PLAY) opens it. Hold any button for a second and a card says what it does there.

Play ages 3+

Keys
The white keys sing in the scale (no wrong notes); the black keys are drums and funny sounds.
Knobs
ALGORITHM the friend, PRESETS the style, SELECT turtle or rabbit. Knobs 1–4: shape, bright, wobble, echo (the room grows).
Buttons
FX Surprise! (held + a white key: a magic trick). REC Loop me. ENV short or long notes, OCT bigger or smaller, SEQ drums, ARP sparkle, LFO wobble.

Make ages 6–8

Layers
ALGORITHM: Beats, Bass, Tune, Sparkle. On Beats a black key picks the drum, the white keys are its 16 steps.
Notes
The keys play; REC records in time; SEQ makes the white keys steps (hold one and turn knob 1 for its note).
Song
Hold ARP + 1–4: a part; press several: a song. Hold GLO + 1–4: happy, sad, brave, sleepy chords. FX: help me.

Lab ages 9+

Pages
SEL oscillators, SEQ filter, ENV envelope, LFO, ARP arpeggiator and glide, FX effects. The scope shows the wave at that stage.
My Friends
SAVE keeps the sound as a friend (a white key picks the place, knob 1 the colour): it then plays in Play and Make.
Lessons
Key 2 on the Lab's first screen: ten short ones, each with a try-it. OCT+ next.

Games all ages

Six
Follow the lights, Copy me, High or low, Beat copy, Sound match, Name the friend; key 7 the sticker book. PLAY hears it again.

Grown-ups GLO + SAVE, 3 s

Settings
Which doors show, the volume cap, calm lights, the screen, the sleep timer, idle, music at power-on, MIDI. SELECT moves, knob 1 changes, HOME closes.

Everywhere

  • PLAY music on and off. HOME the doors.
  • EDIT oops (undo); held two seconds: clear.
  • SAVE keeps the song in one of eight places.

Mouse and touch

  • Drag a knob up or down, or use the scroll wheel over it.
  • Click or touch buttons and keys. Several fingers at once work on a touch screen.
  • Combinations with a mouse: Shift-click (or right-click) a button to hold it down, click again to let go.

Keyboard

  • White keys 1–8: Q–I, 9–16: A–K. Black keys 1–11: 1–0, -.
  • Space PLAY, Enter REC, N EDIT, V ENV, F FX, C ARP, Esc HOME, Z / X OCT− / OCT+.
  • ↑ ↓ turn SELECT.

Saving

The songs, My Friends and the sticker book stay in this browser, as the FM-1 keeps them in its memory. Factory reset forgets them. It is the firmware, not a recording: what you hear is BOP-1 running, at the FM-1's 44.1 kHz. The idea of running FM-1 firmware in the browser comes from Groove OS's emulator.