Manual

About

Melodee is multi-engine synthesizer and sequencer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. After you install it, the unit runs Melodee instead of the official firmware: one to four tracks, each with one instrument, a 64-step sequencer with patterns and songs, effects, and USB MIDI and audio.

The selectable engines are Prophet, FM6, CZ-1, SID and Drum. Melodee is based on Felucca; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by M-VAVE or Hügelton Instruments. Report Melodee problems on the Melodee GitHub, not to Felucca.

Before you install

You need Chrome or Edge, a data USB cable plugged straight into the computer (not a charge-only cable or hub if you can avoid it), and the FM-1 powered and connected.

• The installer can also install/restore the official stock M-Vave firmware V15. It saves a complete Melodee backup first when it can.
• Before installing or downgrading, export anything you care about: projects and user sounds. This version keeps every engine in one shared bank of 384 slots (U001–U384). The first start after an update from an older bank may show MIGRATING PRESETS; leave the power connected until it finishes. Older firmware cannot read the new bank, so keep a backup made before that update if you may want to go back. A downgrade or skipped backup can lose Melodee music, sounds and settings.
• Projects, templates and presets from Melodee 1.0 or later load. Anything saved before 1.0 shows OLD FORMAT and stays untouched until you choose to replace it. If you still have those, open and save them with 1.1.0 before updating. A backup the device cannot read is refused before anything is written.
• Melodee is a field-testing release with no warranty. Use at your own risk.

Installing

Open the web installer in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1, and press Install. Leave the cable connected until writing finishes. When it succeeds, the FM-1 reports Melodee’s product identity (for example FM-1_9xxxx).

Current builds use both cores; Prophet can play up to eight voices per track. Single-core builds have been retired. If an update leaves the unit in the loader, install a working package again using the recovery steps below.

From a terminal you can also run tools/fm1_install.py (see the project README).

Getting around

One navigation language everywhere:

• SELECT turns the pages of the open section. On Stage it turns whatever HOME SELECT is set to (hold HOME). BPM is the default.
• KNOB 1 moves across (or edits a value). On list pages, KNOB 2 moves the row and KNOB 1 sets its value.
• OCT+ enters, confirms, or opens a sheet. OCT− goes back or cancels, closing the innermost thing first (a question, a popup, a sub-screen) and only then returning to Stage.
• On Stage the octave buttons only shift the octave (both together reset). Everywhere else they are Enter / Esc.
• Named values often open a picker. Hold HOME and set PICKER POPUPS to OFF to edit those names on the knob instead. The choice is remembered. Sheets, and lists you open yourself, stay as they are. Short pages (CHORD, ENV DEST, LFO DEST, LFO 2, ARP 2) put their settings straight on the four knobs.

Holds and locks

Hold GLO or SCL for a quick layer on the keys and knobs (hold time is set in the global settings menu as HOLD). Double-press the same button within about 300 ms to lock the layer open with both hands free; press it again to close. Holding FX does not open a layer. Hold EDIT to undo, SAVE to write the project back to its slot, HOME for the menu, SEQ for the PATTERNS grid, REC to capture.

Sheets and undo

Hold OCT+ on pages that have a sheet (Stage, sound pages, NOTES, PATTERNS, SONG, and others) to open actions such as Init sound, Copy to…, or Sound designer.

Undo / redo:

• Hold EDIT to undo. On NOTES, that undoes the last step edit first. Otherwise a finished recording take is undone first (UNDO RECORDING), and if there is none, the last sound or pattern load (or Capture).
• While EDIT is held, OCT− undoes further and OCT+ redoes. On NOTES those keys stay on the step edits. Elsewhere OCT+ redoes the take (REDO RECORDING) before the load history.
• A take keeps one undo: recorded notes, manual steps, length, division, swing, gate and that track’s motion, put back in one step. Playback can keep going. It is refused while that track is still recording (FINISH RECORDING). A newer take replaces it. Switching pattern or engine, or loading a project, drops it. Other tracks stay as they are. If the snapshot cannot be kept, the screen says NO RECORD UNDO MEMORY or UNDO MEMORY FULL.
• Sound and pattern loads keep eight levels. A new edit clears redo. Recording, changing track or bank, or changing loop length starts a fresh step-edit history.
• If a song or chain is busy, the device may ask you to stop first (STOP TO UNDO).

The panel

Key and button lights share one grammar: dark nothing there, dim something there, bright happening now, slow pulse waiting (for example REC armed but stopped, or a pattern queued for the loop end). The menu’s LIGHTS sets how bright idle indicators are.

Stage

HOME is Stage: the live performance screen. Each track in use has a lane with its sound name, pattern (and the next one while it waits for the bar), every step of that pattern as dots. A hit is the track’s color, a tie is dimmer, a rest is faint, and the step playing now is bright. The dots are as large as the row allows, grouped by bar. With one track, that sound is drawn large across the screen, with its pattern and the bar. The header shows tempo, a REC mark, and an octave badge such as +2 or −1. On Stage, SELECT turns the value chosen in HOME SELECT, and the header shows it.

The selected track’s four sound knobs stay in the bottom strip. Turning a knob updates its value there; the Stage display remains visible. What they do depends on the engine:

On a Drum track, lanes light as they hit. Hold OCT+ for the Stage sheet: Init sound, Save as user…, Favourite, Undo last load, Sound designer, Add track and Remove track.

Tap HOME again for the chord view: the twelve notes in a circle of fifths, the song’s key marked, sounding notes lit in their track’s color and joined into the chord, each track’s level pulsing in a corner, the output waveform, and four octaves of keys. A Drum track pulses with its level and does not add pitches to the wheel. Let go and the last chord stays, faded. Lifting notes one at a time keeps that whole chord until the last note is up; playing a new note starts a new chord. The knobs and octave buttons work as they do on Stage. Tap HOME again to return.

HOME SELECT (hold HOME) chooses what SELECT turns on both Stage pages: BPM (default), MOD WHEEL (the selected track’s, also sent as MIDI CC1), LEVEL, SWING, TRANSPOSE, CHORD (OFF, DIA3, DIA7, MAJ, MIN, DOM7, MAJ7, MIN7, SUS4, POW), ARP RATE, PATTERN (that track’s next pattern), or OFF. The choice is remembered. GLO SELECT offers the same choices for GLO+SELECT on any page, also defaulting to BPM.

Tracks

One to four tracks, one instrument and sound each. A new song starts with one. ALGORITHM selects among the tracks in use; the screen and its knobs take that track’s color. In NIGHT the four tracks are coral, amber, mint and lilac. Other themes use their own four. Knob 1 is the track color; the other three knobs are shades of it.

• On Stage, hold OCT+ and choose Add track. The next track (up to four) starts with its own power-on sound and empty patterns, becomes selected, and opens the sound browser. OCT− keeps that starting sound. TRACKS FULL means four are already in use.
• Remove track removes the selected track after a question, and only while stopped (STOP FIRST otherwise). The tracks after it move down, taking their sounds, patterns, song sections, motion and recordings with them. The last remaining track cannot be removed.
• Stage, the mixer, PATTERNS, SONG and GLO show the tracks in use. Projects and the template keep their own track count. A project saved before this version keeps all four.
• Each track carries its own engine, sound, patterns, scale ROOT and transpose, effect sends, modulation and voice settings.
• Mixing and solo live under GLO — see Global for MIXER, GLOBAL and SYSTEM.
• Sounding voices share one BUDGET (GLO → GLOBAL, KNOB 2): 8–32 points, default 18, remembered with the device. An idle track reserves nothing. FM6 uses 1 point per voice (up to 16). Prophet uses 2 per voice (up to eight voices a track). Other engines use 2. Melodee runs at the boot loader’s 360 MHz and does not change the clock. A unit updated while it was still at 320 MHz keeps that clock until the next power-off, and the allowance is smaller until then.

Sounds

Turn PRESETS (or open SAVE → PRESETS) to browse. KNOB 1 chooses the list and KNOB 2 (or keep turning PRESETS) chooses a sound. Each engine’s factory presets come first, then the shared user slots that use that engine.

• Knobs accelerate on a spin; MENU → KNOB ACCEL OFF keeps every detent one step.
• Hold EDIT to return to the sound you had before browsing. Loading a sound never changes your patterns.
• Hold OCT+ on a sound page for the sheet: Init sound, Save as user…, Favourite, Undo last load, Sound designer. On Stage that sheet also has Add track and Remove track.

Saving sounds

Stop, tap SAVE, choose USER, pick a slot with KNOB 1/KNOB 2, press OCT+ for the sheet (Load, Save here, Rename, Erase), choose Save here, then OCT+ again. Name it on the NAME screen.

• Every engine shares one bank, U001–U384. A slot can hold a Prophet program, an FM6 voice, a CZ-1 tone, a SID sound, a drum kit, or any mix of those. SAVE → USER, FM6 → STORE and P5 STORE are that same bank. PRESETS lists a user sound under its own engine’s factory tones.
• Saving keeps the native voice and the sound’s envelopes, modulation, voice controls and spread. Loading leaves the track’s mix, effects, scale, arpeggiator and notes alone.
• Import here: a DX7, CZ-1, Prophet or Melodee preset sent over USB opens the USER list. Pick the destination with KNOB 1, press OCT+ and choose Import here. A DX7 cartridge needs 32 consecutive slots from there. Occupied slots ask before they are replaced. Cancel import leaves the slots unchanged. Playback must be stopped. An import does not load a track.
• Bulk presets: hold OCT+ and turn SELECT, KNOB 1 or KNOB 2 to select a range of USER or STORE slots. Release, then tap OCT+ for Send selected (USB SysEx), Erase selected (one confirmation) or Clear selection. Empty slots are skipped. A single USER slot can also Send.

NAME screen

Control	What it does
White keys	Type letters, multi-tap like a phone keypad (press again within the window to step A → B → C).
Black keys	Switch mode: ← , SPACE , → , DEL (and 123 for numbers).
KNOB 1	Move the cursor.
KNOB 2	Change the character under the cursor.
OCT+ / OCT−	Save the name / cancel. Name length depends on the engine: Prophet 20 characters, FM6 10, CZ-1 16, others 12.

Projects

Four project slots A–D, plus a template and a new-song wizard. Open SAVE → PROJECT. A project holds the tracks in use, their pattern banks (eight each, up to 32), timing, arrangement, automation and settings (FBKG format).

• NEW opens the wizard, stopped only. Set key, scale and tempo (KNOB 1 ROOT, KNOB 2 SCALE, KNOB 3 TEMPO), then a role on each of the four knobs: -- (no track), KEEP, DRUMS, BASS, CHORDS, LEAD or PAD. The song keeps the places that have a role, in order, with empty patterns. With no template, track 1 starts as KEEP and the rest as --, so the song has one track. A saved template starts KEEP on as many tracks as the template has. A role’s first factory sound is used when the template’s sound does not already fit that role.
• TMPL: save your current sounds, settings and number of tracks as the template for new projects (empty patterns). With BOOT off and no template, power-on is one track and the power-on sound.
• Holding SAVE, or SAVE+REC, writes the project back to its slot (SAVED B, and so on). If it is playing, the screen says STOPPING TO SAVE and the transport stops first. A project with no slot yet opens PROJECT on a free slot (NEW PROJECT: PICK SLOT).
• Autosave: stopped and untouched for five seconds (no key, button, knob or MIDI), a project that already has a slot saves itself when it changed. Hold HOME and set AUTOSAVE to OFF to save only by hand. It defaults ON, and the choice survives power-off. Manual SAVE stays available either way.

Engines

Selectable instruments: PROPHET, FM6, CZ-1, SID, DRUM. Press EDIT for that engine’s pages; press again or use SELECT to move through them. On engines with several sections, PRESETS jumps between sections (and on FM6 / CZ-1 picks the operator / line). On an EDIT page, tap EDIT again for the section map. In that map, KNOB 2 moves by category, and KNOB 1 or SELECT picks a page within it, one step per detent. Each category remembers its page. OCT+ opens the page; OCT− or EDIT closes the map. Hold EDIT to undo.

Track 1 powers on with PROPHET FUNK BASS II. Retired engines (ANALOG, DIGITAL, PHASE, VOICE, NOISE, TRIO, WHEEL, PHYS, and others) stay silent if an old project still names them; their saved values remain. Choose another sound to play again. Ranges below are the device’s own; the same values appear in the web editor.

Prophet

Melodee’s own Prophet-5–style engine. Factory programs from Sequential’s Prophet-5/10 SysEx.

Sequential Prophet-5 Rev 4–style programs: two oscillators (saw, pulse; B also triangle), hard sync, mixer, SSI or Curtis four-pole filter, separate filter and amp envelopes, Poly-Mod, LFO, wheel, unison, glide and Vintage. PRESETS browses INIT, Sequential’s 200 factory programs, then the shared user slots that hold Prophet programs (U001–U384). Navigate between sections/pages with PRESETS knob, Navigate between individual settings per page (e.g. OSC A vs OSC B), with SELECT knob. In the SECTION map, use KNOB 2 for the category, KNOB 1 or SELECT for its page, and OCT+ to open it.

Oscillators

Page	Controls
OSC A	FREQ A (pitch, semitones), SAW A (on/off), PULSE A (on/off), WIDTH A (pulse width).
OSC B	FREQ B (semitones), FINE B (fine detune), WIDTH B, KEY B (B tracks the keyboard on/off).
B WAVES	SAW B, TRI B, PULSE B (on/off), LOW B (B becomes an LFO: low frequency oscillator).

Mixer and filter

Page	Controls
MIXER	OSC A level, OSC B level, NOISE level, SYNC (hard-sync B to A).
FILTER	CUTOFF, RES (resonance), KEY (keyboard tracking OFF / HALF / FULL), MODEL (SSI or CURTIS four-pole).

Envelopes

Page	Controls
FLT ENV	ATK (attack), DEC (decay), SUS (sustain), REL (release) for the filter envelope.
AMP ENV	ATK, DEC, SUS, REL for the amplifier.
ENV MOD	ENV AMT (the amount to open the filter, following the envelope's shape), VEL FLT (velocity → filter), VEL AMP (velocity → level), RELEASE (release stage of both amplifier and filter envelopes toggle on/off).

Poly-Mod, LFO and wheel

Two separate modulation paths. Poly-Mod takes the filter envelope and/or Oscillator B as sources and routes them into Osc A’s pitch, pulse width, and the filter. Osc B can do this even when its mixer level is zero, so it works as a pure modulator (audio-rate or low-rate with LOW B). The LFO / wheel path is independent: the LFO (and optional noise) is the source; its depth is INITIAL plus the MIDI mod wheel (CC 1), then you choose destinations on the WHEEL pages.

Page	Controls
POLYMOD	Sources (amounts): ENV AMT (filter envelope), OSC B. Destinations (on/off): FREQ A (Osc A pitch), PW A (Osc A pulse width).
MOD FLT	FILTER (Poly-Mod destination: filter cutoff, on/off). Also VINTAGE (component drift), AT FLT (aftertouch → filter), AT LFO (aftertouch → LFO depth).
LFO	Shapes the wheel-path source: RATE, and waveform SAW / TRI / SQUARE (on/off).
WHEEL	Depth: INITIAL (always-on amount; mod wheel CC 1 adds on top), N MIX (blend noise into the LFO). Destinations (on/off): FREQ A, FREQ B (→ oscillator pitch).
WHEEL 2	More destinations (on/off): PW A, PW B (→ pulse width), FILTER (→ cutoff). GLIDE is portamento time (not a modulation destination).

Voice and store

The Voice section has Prophet’s own UNISON and BEND pages, plus Melodee’s shared VOICE list for the track (poly/mono, glide, priority, pan, mute). UNISON is not the VOICE page — VOICE is the list of global engine voice settings. Loading or editing UNISON copies into Melodee’s VCE / PRIO / DTUNE / ALLOC; you can override those afterwards on VOICE. Program glide stays on WHEEL 2; VOICE’s GLD is Melodee’s track portamento.

Page	Controls
UNISON	UNISON (on/off), VOICES (1–5), DETUNE (0–7), note PRIORITY (LOW / LOW RET (retrigger) / LAST / LAST RET).
VOICE	List (KNOB 2 row, KNOB 1 value): VCE (POLY / MONO / LEG / UNI), GLD (glide time), GLMOD (RATE / TIME), PRIO (LAST / LOW / HIGH), ALLOC (ROT / REUSE), DTUNE, PAN (−100…+100%), MUTE, SPRD (stereo spread). Same shared page as other engines — see Voice.
BEND	BEND (pitch-bend range, 1–12 semitones).
STORE	SLOT (U001–U384, the shared bank), STORE, SEND, INIT. Controls whose required waveform or switch is off are drawn dim; they stay editable.

FM6

Uses msfa from Dexed (Google Inc., Pascal Gauthier).

Six-operator FM (Dexed / DX7–compatible): 32 algorithms with an on-screen chart, per-operator frequency, levels, envelopes and scaling, pitch envelope, LFO, and controller / portamento settings. On operator pages, PRESETS picks the operator. FM6 voices live in the shared slots U001–U384. DX7 librarians can send a 32-voice bank over USB into any 32 consecutive slots.

Voice

Page	Controls
ALGO	ALG (algorithm 1–32), FB (feedback 0–7), SYNC (oscillator key sync), TRNS (transpose, ±24 semitones).
PITCH EG	R1–R4: pitch envelope rates.
PITCH LV	L1–L4: pitch envelope levels.
FM LFO	WAVE (TRI / SAWDN / SAWUP / SQR / SIN / S&H), SPEED, DELAY, KSYNC (key sync).
FM LFO 2	PMD (pitch mod depth), AMD (how much the LFO wobbles amplitude — global amp-mod depth), PMS (pitch mod sensitivity 0–7).

Per operator

Page	Controls
FREQ	CRS (coarse ratio, or Hz in FIXED), FINE, DTN (detune ±7), MODE (RATIO / FIXED).
OUT	OUT (output level 0–99), VEL (velocity sensitivity 0–7), AMS (how much this operator follows amp mod, 0–3; see below), ON (operator on/off).
EG RATE	R1–R4: envelope rates (0–99).
EG LVL	L1–L4: envelope levels (0–99).
SCALE	Keyboard level and rate scaling. BRK (break point — at this note, level is unchanged), LDEP / RDEP (how strongly level changes left / right of BRK, 0–99; 0 = off), RSCL (rate scaling 0–7: higher keys run the envelope faster).
CURVE	LCRV / RCRV: shape and direction of level scaling on each side of BRK (−LIN / −EXP lower the operator’s level as you move away; +EXP / +LIN raise it). Depth (LDEP / RDEP) sets how much; the curve’s sign sets which way.

AMS is not the operator envelope (that’s EG RATE / EG LVL). It’s DX7-style amplitude modulation sensitivity: how strongly this operator’s level follows amp mod from the LFO’s AMD, or from controllers routed to amplitude (wheel / breath / aftertouch with destination A). AMD sets how much amp wobble exists; AMS (0 = ignore, 3 = strongest) sets whether this operator hears it. Use it for tremolo on a carrier, or put AMS on a modulator so the LFO breathes the brightness instead of the overall volume.

SCALE and CURVE are DX7-style keyboard level scaling: they raise or lower that operator’s output as you play above or below BRK. Classic use: −LIN or −EXP on the right so high notes get quieter, or so a modulator thins out and the sound gets less bright up the keyboard.

Controllers (per track, saved with the project)

Page	Controls
FM BEND	BEND+ / BEND− (bend range up / down, 0–12 st), STEP (bend step), DXVEL (DX velocity curve on/off).
FM PORTA	PORTA (PEDAL / ON), TIME, GLISS (glissando on/off), ENGINE (MODERN / MARK I / OPL — algorithms 4 and 6 use longer feedback loops in MARK I).
FM WH/FT	WHEEL range, W.DST (wheel destination: P / A / E combinations), FOOT range, F.DST.
FM BR/AT	BRTH (breath) range and B.DST, AFTER (aftertouch) range and A.DST.
STORE	SLOT (U001–U384, the same bank as SAVE → USER), STORE, SEND, INIT.

CZ-1

Phase-distortion core after MAME’s uPD933 model by Devin Acker. Factory tones from Casio.

Native Casio CZ-1 tones: two lines with waveforms and windows, ring and noise, detune, vibrato, and six eight-step envelopes (pitch, wave, amp × two lines). Factory: Casio’s 64 presets (A-1 BRASS 1 … H-8 TYPHOON SOUND). User tones use the shared slots U001–U384, the same bank as the other engines; a fresh device starts with them empty. Values that do nothing on the current tone are drawn dim but stay editable.

Common

Every tone is built from one or two lines. A line is a DCO → DCW → DCA chain: pitch, then phase-distortion (timbre), then amplitude — each with its own eight-step envelope. Common pages set how the lines combine, plus shared detune, vibrato and windows. PRESETS picks which line’s pages you are editing when you are in the per-line section.

Page	Controls
CZ TOOLS	NAME (16-character tone name; OCT+ to edit), 1 > 2 / 2 > 1 (copy one line’s wave, window, key follow, level, velocity and all three envelopes onto the other — MOD stays with line 1 and is not overwritten), COMP (swap the edited tone with the snapshot taken before your first edit on this track; “NO EDITS” if you have not changed anything yet).
CZ LINE	LINE chooses how many oscillators sound: LINE1 or LINE2 alone (the unused line’s params are drawn dim), 1+2 (both lines with their own settings), or 1+1 (two voices that both use line 1’s params — line 2’s own wave/envelopes are unused, but detune and MOD can still affect the second oscillator). MOD mixes the two lines when more than one is active: OFF (sum), RING (multiply line 1 × line 2), or NOISE (randomly stretch line 2’s phase — a noise-modulated second line). OCT is a global pitch offset (0 = −1 octave, 1 = unison, 2 = +1 octave).
CZ DETUNE	Pitch offset for line 2 only: SIGN (±), OCT (0–3 octaves), NOTE (0–11 semitones), FINE (0–60). Inactive (dim) in LINE1 mode; SIGN only matters when some detune is set. Use with 1+2 or 1+1 for chorusing, intervals, or beating.
CZ VIBRATO	A pitch LFO shared by the tone: WAVE (TRI / SAW UP / SAW DN / SQR), RATE (speed), DEPTH (amount — set this above 0 or the vibrato is silent and WAVE / RATE / DELAY go dim), DELAY (wait after note-on before the vibrato fades in).
CZ WINDOW	A repeating amplitude mask inside every oscillator cycle, for as long as the note plays. WAVE picks the phase-distortion carrier shape; WINDOW then fades that carrier up/down within each period (like a tiny amp envelope that retriggers on every cycle). That changes the waveform’s silhouette and spectrum; OFF leaves the cycle flat (no extra shaping). SAW DN, TRIANGLE, TRAPEZ, HALF SAW, 2 SAW UP, 2 SAW 6 and 2 SAW 7 are different masks. LINE1 and LINE2 each have their own. This is separate from the WAV envelope (which moves DCW / timbre over the note) and the AMP envelope (overall loudness over the note).

Per line (LINE 1, LINE 2)

Each line has a waveform page, a touch (level / velocity) page, and three envelopes: PIT (pitch / DCO), WAV (wave depth / DCW — the phase-distortion amount that brightens or darkens the tone), and AMP (loudness / DCA). These are Casio-style rate/level multi-stage envelopes, not ADSR.

Page	Controls
WAVE	WAVE is the primary carrier (SAW, SQUARE, PULSE, NULL = silent, DBL SINE, SAW-PULS, MULTISIN for a resonance-like spectrum, PULSE2). WAVE2 is an optional second carrier (same set, plus OFF): when on, the line alternates WAVE ↔ WAVE2 each phase wrap. W.KEY (0–9) is DCW key follow — higher notes get less wave/timbre depth (bright → darker up the keyboard). A.KEY (0–9) is DCA key follow — higher notes run the amp envelope faster (shorter notes up the keyboard).
TOUCH	LEVEL (1–15) is the line’s output level. V.PIT / V.WAV / V.AMP (0–15) set how much MIDI velocity scales pitch, wave depth and amp — soft notes pull those paths down. (The FM-1’s own keys send fixed velocity; velocity matters over MIDI or from the sequencer.)
PITCH / WAVE / AMP envelopes	The envelope shape of the CZ-1 is controlled by eight rates R1–R8 (how fast the envelope moves toward each step’s level — higher = faster) and eight levels L1–L8 (0–99 targets). END (1–8) is the last active step: the envelope only runs through END, and the END step always targets 0 (release to silence; its level value is ignored). SUS selects which level is the sustain step while the key is held; on release the envelope jumps past SUS and finishes through END → 0. SUS must sit before END (otherwise it shows “−” = no sustain). With no SUS, the whole path keeps playing after note-off — useful for long rings. Rates after END and levels at/after END are inactive (dim). Each line has its own Pitch, Wave and Amp envelopes (six envelopes total).

Drum

808 kit: Hügelton’s TR-808 circuit models. 909 kit: the schwung module 9W9 by AThousandDetails (after ER-99), ported via Charles Vestal’s x0x.

Synthesized TR-808, TR-909 and SID kits on the General MIDI key map. SID KIT uses a single 6581 chip whose three voices share the hits; SID DIGI also plays its synthesized kick and snare through the chip’s four-bit volume register. In SID mode, DIGI replaces KICK on the HIT page and RES replaces DRV. The DRUM EDIT pages have Sound (KIT / HIT macros), Drum (per-instrument Sound and Mix), Lanes and Voice tabs. On DRUM SOUND and DRUM MIX, black keys pick the drum lane and white keys pick a drum within it; the knobs then shape that drum.

Kit macros (Sound section)

These four-knob pages shape the whole kit at once (also the Stage knobs for TUNE, TONE, DECY and SNAP).

Page	Controls
KIT	KIT (808, 909 or SID), TUNE (overall pitch), TONE (overall character / brightness), DECY (overall decay).
HIT	SNAP (snare snappy / noise amount), ACC (how strongly velocity changes level — the circuits alone only move about 2 dB from soft to hard), KICK (PUNCH keeps the bass-drum attack click; ROUND softens it), DRV (drive into a soft clip, level kept).

Per drum (Drum section)

Pick the lane on the black keys and its drum on the white keys, then offset that instrument from the kit macros. DRUM HIT uses the same lane-first ordering and shows the selected drum’s name.

Page	Controls
DRUM SOUND	DRUM (which instrument), TUNE, DECAY, and TONE (or SNAPPY on the snare; ATTACK on 909 kick / toms).
DRUM MIX	LEVEL for the picked drum.
LANES	Levels for KICK, SNARE, CLAP, HATCL (closed hat).
LANES 2	Levels for HATOP (open hat), TOM, RIM, BELL.

Stage knobs: TUNE, TONE, DECY, SNAP. The SEQ sequencer drum grid uses white keys for steps and black keys to select which lane; recorded takes use the same NOTES piano roll as other engines after recording stops. A recorded hit can keep its own pitch and length (see Notes and DRUM HIT).

Voice

All synthesis engines have a VOICE settings page, with the same options regardless of engine. This includes shared voice allocation and tuning for the track, under EDIT → VOICE (a list; KNOB 2 moves the row, KNOB 1 sets its value). Prophet and FM6 also have their own voicing pages; VOICE still sets poly/mono mode, glide, priority, pan, mute and spread for them.

Row	Values	What it means
Voice	POLY / MONO / LEG / UNI	Play the instrument polyphonically (multiple tones at the same time), monophonic (only one tone at a time), legato (single voice but don't retrigger envelopes when you change note), or unison (monophonic playback using multiple voices thickened together).
Glide	time	Glide (portamento) time.
Glide Mode	RATE / TIME	Glide follows a fixed rate or a fixed time.
Priority	LAST / LOW / HIGH	Note priority when voices run out.
Allocation	ROT / REUSE	Rotate through voices, or reuse the same one.
Detune	0–127	Detune between stacked / unison voices.
Pan	−100…+100%	Track pan.
Mute	OFF / ON	Mute the track.
Spread	0–100%	Stereo spread of stacked / unison voices.

Sound designer

Build a sound on the device from a goal or from the engine’s own pages. Open it from the HOME hold menu (SOUND DESIGNER), or from a sound page’s sheet (OCT+ held → Sound designer).

1. START — engine; start from CURRENT, INIT, or INIT with a recipe (BASS, PAD, LEAD, KEYS, PLUCK, FX); MAIN pages only or ALL.
2. Stages: Features → Source → Tone → Env → Motion → Play. Empty stages are skipped. Audition on the keys; hold SAVE to compare with the original.
3. Finish: Keep the sound, Save as user…, or Discard (patterns and mix stay).

Motion on the designed track is paused while you design so it cannot overwrite edits. Knob turns in the designer do not record motion.

Envelopes and modulation

Shared Melodee modulation, separate from each engine’s own envelopes where those exist. Press ENV for ENV and ENV DEST, LFO for the LFO and MOD pages.

MOD matrix

Four routes. KNOB 2 picks the route (1–4); KNOB 1 sets its source, KNOB 3 its destination, KNOB 4 the amount (±).

Edit Prophet, FM6 and CZ-1 envelopes on those engines’ EDIT pages (and in the web editor). Hold LFO while turning sound or effect knobs for temporary changes that restore when you release (or keep with OCT+).

Effects

Press FX to open the selected track’s rack: three inserts in series, followed by a Shared row. All three inserts can run together, including repeated effect types. Effects save with the project and template. Loading a sound, changing the engine, Init sound and sound undo leave them in place.

On the rack, KNOB 2 picks a row, KNOB 1 chooses its effect, and KNOB 4 sets its amount (an insert’s MIX, or the track’s SEND on the Shared row in CHAIN mode). Empty slots show --. OCT+ opens the selected slot, its effect picker if empty, or the SHARED rack. SELECT visits the racks and occupied slots; empty slot pages are skipped. Pressing FX from a slot returns to its rack.

On a slot’s page, KNOB 1 is MIX, KNOB 2 is RATE / TIME / SIZE, KNOB 3 shapes its character, and KNOB 4 is TONE for ECHO, ROOM and REVERB (unused for other types):

TONE goes from DARK through FULL to THIN. Below FULL it cuts highs; above FULL it cuts lows from what enters the wet effect. The dry sound stays intact. ECHO, ROOM and REVERB also keep a low cut at FULL to stop bass building up in their tails.

MIX at zero, or OFF, fades that slot dry. If a time effect cannot get its buffer, the picture says MEMORY FULL; turn the slot off and on to try again. Hold OCT+ for the sound sheet. Tap OCT− to return from a slot to its rack, from SHARED to FX, and from FX to Stage.

Shared return

The Shared row feeds one shared three-slot return after this track’s level and pan. In the SHARED rack, KNOB 2 selects slots A–C or RETURN, KNOB 1 chooses a slot’s effect, KNOB 3 sets ROUTE, and KNOB 4 sets the selected amount. OCT+ opens a slot. Hold OCT+, or tap it on RETURN, for Routing and Clear shared FX (asks first).

• CHAIN (default) — raise the selected track’s SEND on FX’s Shared row. Slots A–C run in series. On SHARED, KNOB 4 sets each slot’s MIX, initially fully wet, or the overall RETURN.
• SPLIT — each shared slot has its own send. On SHARED, KNOB 4 sets this track’s SEND to the selected slot, or RETURN on the last row. Each slot’s return joins the dry output. SEND 2 and SEND 3 are remembered when you go back to CHAIN. Shared slot pages still edit their MIX.

One shared reverb covers several tracks and costs less than a reverb on every insert. Projects saved before these effects load with the new effects off, so they play dry; their old distortion, slicer, delay, reverb, chorus and performance-effect settings are ignored. Projects saved with the inserts and sends keep that routing. Back up before upgrading: older firmware may not reproduce these effects.

Scales and chords

Press SCL for SCALES, again for the SCL settings list, again for CHORD. Hold SCL for a quick layer: keys set ROOT; knobs set ROOT / scale / chord / voicing.

QNT: OFF (chromatic), SNAP (every key, rounded down to the scale), WHITE (white keys only; black silent), ALL (every key is the next scale degree), MPC (for an Akai MPC pad controller). With QNT MPC, Bank H pads H01–H16 (MIDI notes 20–35, MPC Sample’s default map) play successive scale degrees instead of fixed pitches — so you can play the scale in order across the pad grid. When QNT is MPC, a DEG control appears: it sets which scale degree pad H02 plays; H01 is one degree below that, H03 one above, and so on through H16. Incoming MIDI follows WHITE, ALL and MPC the same way the keys do. SCL, QNT and DEG are shared by all tracks; ROOT and TRN (transpose) are per track. Chord keys work on the keys, MIDI in, recording and the arpeggiator. Drum kits keep their own key map.

Arpeggiator

The beat light follows the arp when it runs.

Sequencer

Press SEQ for the sequence family; press again or turn SELECT through the pages. Patterns are up to 64 steps; divisions run from 1/32 to 4 bars. PLAY starts and stops; REC arms the selected track without starting the transport; REC+PLAY arms and starts recording together.

PATTERN and TEMPO

Think of a pattern as one looping phrase on one track — a drum groove, a bass line, a chord stab. PATTERN sets how that loop is built for the selected track. TEMPO sets how fast the whole song runs, plus a song-wide groove feel. Each track can still have its own pattern length, step size, swing and note length, so the parts need not line up the same way.

Pattern

Tempo

Capture into an empty pattern can set LEN for you (1, 2 or 4 bars) — see Recording.

Notes

SEQ → NOTES is the editor for manual steps and recorded takes. The highlighted note has a bright outline; the playhead is a separate line. Recorded notes keep their original timing beside ordinary steps and tie tails.

Control	What it does
KNOB 1 STEP	Walk every interval, including empty ones and each pitch of a chord.
KNOB 2 PITCH	Change pitch; on an empty manual step, insert a note. Keys and MIDI enter notes or chords when stopped (then advance when released).
KNOB 3 LENGTH	Resize at quarter-step boundaries (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, …). Hold ENV for fine 1/16-step adjustments on recorded notes.
KNOB 4 VEL	Velocity 1–127. Hold ENV and turn KNOB 4 for SLIDE on a manual note.
PRESETS	Zoom (16 steps down to one). Hold SCL and turn SELECT or KNOB 1 to move; hold ENV and turn them to resize.
EDIT	Tap to delete the highlighted pitch. Hold EDIT while recording to erase under the playhead (header: ERASING). Otherwise a hold undoes.
OCT+	On empty space places a note; on a note opens its sheet: Length, Velocity, Chance, Slide, Move note, Copy note, Delete note. Recorded notes offer Length, Velocity, Move, Copy and Delete.

Stop live recording before editing recorded properties. Hold EDIT to undo step edits; EDIT+OCT− / OCT+ undo / redo up to eight edits. An erase pass starts a fresh history. Tap EDIT deletes the highlighted pitch, including a recorded hit.

Hold OCT+ and turn SELECT, KNOB 1 or KNOB 2 to select a range, then turn KNOB 1 to move those notes at quarter-step boundaries. Tap or hold OCT+ for Copy: KNOB 1, Quantize, Delete selected or Clear selection. Delete selected removes manual and recorded notes in the range. A single note’s Move note or Copy note works the same way: choose it, then turn KNOB 1. Copies and moves wrap around the loop. Hold OCT+ without a range for the pattern tools: Quantize (the whole pattern, or the selection if there is one), Clear pattern and Clear motion. On Quantize, KNOB 1 chooses 1, 0.5 or 0.25 step and OCT+ applies it. Durations and velocities stay. Each operation is one undo. Moving, copying and quantizing notes need the transport stopped. Clear pattern and Clear motion requested during playback wait for the track’s loop end.

Patterns

Eight patterns per track. The PATTERNS grid shows one row for each track in use; KNOB 1–4 queue patterns for tracks 1–4 when that track exists. SELECT goes on to SONG.

• Hold SEQ and press one of the first eight white keys to select pattern 1–8 (or use the PATTERNS grid / SEQ+SELECT). The playing pattern is lit; ones with notes glow; one waiting for the loop end breathes. Selecting an empty pattern arms one recording pass. Double-tap a used pattern key to arm one pass there. Those shortcuts disarm after the pass; an already explicit REC arming stays on. With SEQ held, the first four black keys (F♯, G♯, A♯, C♯) select tracks 1–4.
• Hold a pattern key alone for a second to open its action dialog: press that key again to delete the pattern, another pattern key to copy it there, or OCT− to cancel.
• On PATTERNS, OCT+ opens the sheet: Copy to… (confirm before replacing a used slot) or Delete pattern (confirm). Delete removes the pattern’s manual notes, recorded notes and motion together. OCT− clears what is queued. Hold EDIT to undo.
• While playing, a pattern change waits until that track’s loop ends. Selecting the active pattern cancels a queued change. Destructive pattern operations (delete, clear notes or motion, or copy over a used or playing pattern) also wait for that track’s loop end. The header shows the pending action with AT LOOP END; the pattern key breathes. Live note, hit, erase and motion-lane edits stay immediate. STOP applies pending choices.

Songs

On SEQ → SONG, the knobs select section, track, that track’s pattern, and how many times the section repeats (up to 16 rows, repeats 1–16).

• While you jam with no song playing, every loop of track 1 logs the tracks’ patterns as a section (same patterns again: a repeat).
• Hold REC on SONG (or use Take jam on the sheet) to turn that log into the arrangement. Overwrite asks for confirmation.
• PLAY runs the arrangement; sections change every track at track 1’s loop boundary; the final section stops. STOP returns to the patterns selected before SONG.
• Sheet actions: Insert / Duplicate / Delete section, Take jam, Clear song.

Motion

Knob moves recorded into the pattern: Prophet and CZ-1 Stage knobs and sound pages, FM6 operator and voice pages, and other motion-capable sound and effect controls. MOTION lists one lane per automated control on the pattern that is playing.

Control	What it does
KNOB 1	Motion playback on or off for this track.
KNOB 2	Select a lane. Hold SEQ and turn it to clear that lane.
KNOB 3	Select a step in the lane.
KNOB 4	Set that step’s value. A step with no point gains one at the value the sound is holding. Hold SEQ and turn it to remove the point.
OCT+	The lane’s sheet: Play, Clear that parameter, Clear all motion.

• Arm REC, start playback, then turn a sound knob. Armed but stopped: the screen shows PLAY TO RECORD MOTION.
• Edits and clears need the song stopped. If a song is playing or armed, the screen says STOP TO EDIT. Hold EDIT to undo one edit or clear. Other lanes, tracks and pattern banks stay as they were.
• Stopping or bypassing motion restores the original patch; project snapshots keep that original.
• Hold LFO while turning knobs for temporary tweaks that do not record as motion; release to restore, or press OCT+ while LFO is held to keep them.
• Shared pool of 64 events across the project. MOTION is hidden until the selected pattern has events. MOTION FULL when the pool is exhausted.

Recording

• Tap REC to arm or disarm the selected track. Transport stays put.
• Arm before PLAY to record from step zero. Arm during playback to record from that track’s next pattern start. Explicit REC arming stays on across loops until you tap REC again or stop. STOP finishes the take and leaves the track armed for the next start. REC+PLAY arms and starts in one gesture. Timing, velocity and held length are kept (including repeats and overlapping chord releases).
• Undo a take: when you stop or disarm, or a one-pass shortcut finishes, hold EDIT to put that pattern back as it was (UNDO RECORDING). Motion recorded while armed is included, even when no notes were played. There is one such undo. Details are under Sheets and undo.
• While stopped and armed, the first key or MIDI note starts playback and records immediately, skipping count-in. A count-in you start with PLAY still runs (internal clock only; external clock skips it).
• Capture: sometimes referred to as "retroactive recording" - while the transport runs, Melodee keeps what you play on tracks that are not recording. Hold REC to write the selected track’s last bars into its pattern. An empty pattern takes 1, 2 or 4 bars and sets LEN (the pattern length on SEQ → Pattern); a pattern with notes takes its last LEN steps. Hold EDIT to undo. You cannot use the capture feature while a track is actively armed to be directly recorded.
• SEQ → TEMPO → QNT quantizes the new take’s onsets when recording ends. OFF (default) keeps the timing you played. This is separate from scale QNT on SCL. Track GATE affects manually entered steps.
• A project shares 1,024 timed notes across all 32 banks. RECORDING FULL leaves existing takes intact; clear or replace recorded steps to free space.

The header shows WAIT LOOP while recording waits for the selected track’s loop boundary, and ERASING during an erase pass. These stay visible while the state applies. An armed track has a REC border around its Stage row.

There are some Menu (long hold HOME) preferences related to recording: AUDIO CLICK, CLICK LEVEL, COUNT-IN.

Global

Press GLO for the mixer, then again for GLOBAL and SYSTEM. Hold GLO for a quick layer: mute / solo on the keys, TAP tempo (internal clock), and track levels on the knobs; GLO+PLAY restarts from the top without stopping.

Menu

Hold HOME for the settings menu (a list; KNOB 2 moves the row, KNOB 1 or OCT+ changes the value).

MIDI

USB and TRS MIDI in and out.

• ROUT chooses which MIDI channels play. CH1-4, CH5-8, CH9-12 and CH13-16 map those four channels onto tracks 1–4, and only onto tracks in use. Notes and controllers on a channel outside the group are ignored. SEL sends every channel to the selected track.
• The DRUM channel (default 10) plays the first Drum track only when that channel is inside the ROUT group, or when ROUT is SEL. With CH1-4, channel 10 does nothing: set ROUT to CH9-12 or SEL, or set DRUM to a channel in the group (DRUM 2 plays the kit instead of track 2). With no Drum track, the channel follows ordinary routing. Set OFF to disable.
• A note that already started still releases on the track that played it if you change ROUT so its channel is no longer included.
• The keys send on the selected track’s channel.
• Pitch bend, sustain, panic and clock (INT / USB / TRS) are supported. Common CCs control level, pan, cutoff/brightness, envelope times and glide. CC91 and CC93 do nothing.
• Local PLAY keeps the internal tempo until the selected MIDI input sends Start, Continue or Stop. Clock pulses alone do not take over.
• Microtonal MIDI out sends degree addresses; an external synth needs the same tuning and mapping to match.

USB audio

Class-compliant, no driver. 16- or 24-bit at 44.1 kHz. The computer sees one device named Melodee, with playback and recording together:

• Playback — play the computer through the FM-1. The computer’s volume and mute apply to that playback, on top of the MASTER KNOB. Computer playback and the monitor click stay out of recordings, and the computer’s volume does not change what is recorded.
• Recording — STEREO by default: a copy of the master, including track effects, shared effects, pan and the output protection. Hold HOME and set USB INPUT to 4 TRACKS for four isolated mono stems, after each track’s effects and level and before the shared effects and the master. A track that is not in the song is silent on its stem.

Switch either direction off from the HOME menu’s USB AUDIO. Changing a USB option reconnects the device; reselect Melodee in your DAW if it disappears. A computer that still lists the older separate playback and recording devices needs that same reselection.

Web editor

Edit the FM-1 from the computer in Chrome or Edge: Open the patch editor.

Connect over USB for sound and mixer controls, a 6-operator FM editor, Prophet and CZ-1 panels, sequencer and motion, the shared library of 384 user slots, SysEx import/export, projects, settings (including BUDGET), and complete backup / restore.

Backup and official firmware

• The installer’s Return to official V15 saves a complete Melodee backup first when the firmware can export one.
• Skip backup is available when export is impossible; confirm that Melodee music, sounds and settings may be lost.
• After reinstalling Melodee, restore from the web editor’s backup tools.
• Older Melodee builds cannot read newer data (for example native motion events need 1.0.2 or later; the new effects and recorded takes need 1.3.0 or later; the shared 384-slot bank needs this version). Export user sounds and keep the installer’s backup before downgrading. A backup made before the preset migration is what an older version can restore.
• Startup maintenance stays on screen while it works: the job’s name, then Keep power connected and Do not switch off. A short CHECKING SETTINGS pass can appear when saved settings need a small repair. The first start that converts older preset banks is MIGRATING PRESETS. If it cannot finish, the screen says Could not finish and Restart to retry. OCT+ (KEEP) keeps the presets and continues (preset writes stay protected until conversion succeeds). OCT− (WIPE) asks Wipe all user presets?, then OCT+ confirms. Projects, settings and factory sounds stay. A wipe that was confirmed resumes if power is lost during it.
• RESETTING PRESETS runs when a bank or a slot cannot be read. An unreadable bank becomes empty. Unreadable slots in a bank that can be read are cleared; presets this version understands stay, including a recognized older conversion. A newer preset record this version cannot read is cleared. If the reset cannot finish, the same KEEP / WIPE choice applies.
• RESETTING SETTINGS replaces device settings this version cannot read with the defaults (color, calibration, and the globals kept on the device). Projects stay. A template stored with those settings is not kept. Settings saved by a newer Melodee are left alone. If the write cannot finish, the screen stays until you restart; OCT+ continues, and there is no wipe.
• The updater does not scan or move legacy Prophet banks from the abandoned flash area. Sounds that lived only in that old area are not recovered on upgrade; keep an export or a full backup if you still need them.
• A slot saved before Melodee 1.0 shows OLD FORMAT and is left as it is until you choose to replace it. The device asks first. A backup it cannot read is refused before anything is written.

If something goes wrong

• Install stops or fails: unplug and replug the cable, use a data cable and a direct port, open Chrome or Edge, and press Install again.
• Three short key-light flashes mean the MIDI update loader is running; one long flash means ROM UBOOT. A unit that shows Melodee Update is in the MIDI update loader: press Install again, or run tools/fm1_install.py with a working package. An update that loses power while the application is being written comes back here on its own. Hold OCT− alone as you power on to force that rescue. Holding OCT− and OCT+ together is calibration, not rescue. The first install of this recovery, and an update that rewrites the boot stub, can still need the ROM recovery below if power is lost during that write.
• A unit that no longer starts and appears as USB 4c4a:8057 (inquiry WL82 / UBOOT1.00) is already in ROM UBOOT. Release downloads include fm1-recover for Windows x64, Linux x64, and macOS Intel and Apple Silicon. Extract the archive, open a terminal in that folder, and run fm1-recover --info (.\fm1-recover.exe --info in Windows PowerShell). Passing a .fwsc file makes a full backup and leaves flash alone; add --write to restore application flash. The bootloader and the current saved-data regions are kept. Read RECOVERY.md in the archive for drivers and the full procedure. The tool does not force a running device into UBOOT. Melodee 1.4 does not change the system clock. A black screen left by a 1.3.0 or 1.3.1 clock change is this same UBOOT state: recover, then install.
• Report Melodee bugs on GitHub Issues, not to Felucca or M-VAVE.