CRT-4

nine consoles, four tracks, for 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.

Pages and knobs

Hold GLO and turn ALGORITHM for another console (let go of GLO and it powers on, with its own song). Each page has its own button; press it again to go back to the Sound page. SELECT steps through them. ALGORITHM picks the track (1 the drums, 2 to 4 the others); PRESETS its sound, from the console's sixteen.

Patterns HOME

The white keys
Patterns 1 to 16. Hold one and press others (or hold HOME and press them in order) for a chain of up to 64.
Tempo, Swing, Length, Key
40 to 240; 50 to 75 %; the pattern's steps; the key everything plays in.

Steps SEQ

The white keys
The track's 16 steps: a step takes the notes you played last. Hold one and turn the knobs: its note, length, and knobs A and B. With a step held, OCT− is a slide and OCT+ a ratchet.

Sound LFO

Knobs 1–4
The sound's own (Duty, Decay, Sustain, Thump for the NES's pulse bass, and so on). On the drums, the part's Tune, Decay, Tone and Level. The keys play.

Track ENV

Level, Pan, Echo, Glide
The track's (Pan as the console could; Echo is Reverb on the PlayStation, Effect on the N64). Hold ENV and press a key for an accent.

Chords ARP

The white keys
Sixteen chords; a chain of them changes chord each pattern. Follow: whether this track follows them.

Mixer SEL

Knobs, keys
The four tracks' levels; white keys 1–4 mute them, 5–8 pick the track.

FX FX

The white keys
Sixteen effects while you hold them (repeats, reverse, half speed, glitch, a fill, octaves, solos, fade, pitch dive, vibrato, echo). Writing, they go on the steps.
Knobs 1–4
The console's own: the trackers' echo, its region or model, the TV on the chip consoles; the SNES's echo; the PlayStation's reverb; the N64's effects.

Setup GLO

Tune, MIDI out, Clock, Demo
Fine tuning; MIDI out over USB; following MIDI clock; the console's demo song, back by holding SAVE. The audio load shows top right.

Buttons

  • Drums (track 1): the black keys pick the part and play it, the white keys are its steps.
  • Tracks 2–4: the keys play; OCT− / OCT+ move them an octave. On the 2600, the C64, the NES and the Game Boy a track plays a note at a time; a chord plays as an arpeggio.
  • PLAY runs / stops. REC writes: while playing, what you play goes in; stopped, step by step (EDIT is a rest).
  • EDIT + a key clears it; EDIT + REC clears the track. SAVE + a pattern copies to it.
  • Hold HOME, ARP or FX and the white keys are patterns, chords or effects on any page. Hold any button for a second and a card says what it does (with a mouse: Shift-click to hold it, click again to let go).

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 (accent), F FX, C ARP (chords), Esc HOME, Z / X OCT− / OCT+.
  • ↑ ↓ turn SELECT.

Saving

SAVE keeps each console's song 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 CRT-4 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.