ROM-1

a sound module that plays .sf2 files, for the FM-1: in the browser, the same code the FM-1 runs

Turn your phone sideways for bigger controls.

Off. Switch it on, then play the keys (or your computer's: A S D …).
Play ROM-1 from a MIDI keyboard or your music software: sixteen parts, one a channel.

A sound module

ROM-1 has sixteen parts, one for each MIDI channel; each plays a preset of the loaded fonts. The keys play the part on the screen; MIDI plays them all at once (channel 10 is the drum part). Bank select (CC 0) picks the font, program change its preset. The screen: the sixteen parts' levels, the preset's name in dots, the page's four knobs.

The knobs on the top row

ALGORITHM
The part, 1 to 16.
PRESETS
Its preset, within the font; GLO held: the next font.
SELECT
The page: PART, SOUND, EFFECTS, SETUP, BANK.
KNOBS 1–4
The page's four values.

The pages

PART
Volume, pan, reverb send, chorus send.
SOUND
Cutoff, resonance, attack, release: added to the preset's own.
EFFECTS
The reverb (room, hall, large hall, plate, off), its time and level; the chorus.
SETUP
The keys' velocity, the part's transpose, KEYS OUT (the keys to MIDI), the lights.
BANK
The fonts loaded and the room they use.

The buttons

HOME, ENV / LFO, FX, SEQ
The PART, SOUND, EFFECTS and BANK pages. GLO held long: SETUP.
PLAY
A phrase on the part (a beat on a kit); again: stop.
ARP
Hold: the sustain pedal for the part.
SEL, EDIT
Mute (GLO: solo); the part's knobs back (GLO: everything, a GM reset).
REC, SAVE
All notes off; the settings saved now (they save themselves a few seconds after a change).

Your sounds

Load .sf2 files here to hear them as the FM-1 would: they are converted in this page, to fit the FM-1's room. To choose presets from big fonts, and to put the sounds on your FM-1, use Your sounds; what you make there is offered here too.

Mouse, touch, keyboard

  • Drag a knob up or down, or use the scroll wheel over it. 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.
  • The keys: A S D … white, W E R … black; Z X the octave. ← → the preset, , . the part, ↑ ↓ the page. Space PLAY, Enter REC, Esc HOME, Shift GLO, B SEL, N EDIT, M ARP.

MIDI and saving

Connect MIDI to play ROM-1 from a keyboard or your music software (Chrome, Edge and Firefox have Web MIDI; Safari does not), and to send its keys on (SETUP: KEYS OUT). The settings are kept in this browser, as the FM-1 keeps them in its memory. The idea of running FM-1 firmware in the browser comes from Groove OS's emulator.