Variety
Every way a piece changes more or less over time, as of 1.4.0 (build 671d9be). FM-1 firmware.
1 · The masters HOME · Form page
EnergyKNOB 1
Busier or sparser, now: an amount (card 5).-50 sparse, dry · 0 · +50 busy, bright
VaryKNOB 2
How much the loop changes: held to restless.0 the loop held · 50 the classics' · 100 the most restless
MotionKNOB 3
How much the arrangement changes, in three zones (card 4).Breathes · Sections · Breaks
DriftKNOB 4
How much the sound moves: still to restless (card 3).0 still · 50 the classics' · 100
2 · Vary and its trims each layer's part page
Vary's scale: a straight line to 50, the classics' middle, then each step about 5% more. A layer's own Vary is a trim on Form's: its amount is Form's plus the trim, on that scale. Centred: 0 follows Form, far left HOLD, that layer never turns. At an amount of 0 (Vary 0, the trims 0; or Hold) nothing turns and no stab is thrown.
ChordENV
The stab pattern turns or gains or loses a stab (every two bars); stabs and whole bars drop out; the throws.
PingsARP
At a loop's end, a note moved or changed; a pass sat out.
BassLFO
The plan drawn anew (kept 2 to 6 phrases first); the octave note; the borrowed groove, as the square of the amount.
DrumsSEQ
How long the kick holds a shape (2 to 6 phrases) and how far it wanders; the shaker's steps trade places; the clap's odds.
NoiseSAVE
How often its groove is drawn anew at a phrase, rather than kept.
Form's alone
Now and then, at a chord change, the walk's other voicing.
3 · Drift HOME · Form KNOB 4
One amount for all the sound's slow movement; the notes, patterns and sections go on the same.
The LFOs
The chord's and the noise's, their wave and their wander: about an octave of the chord's filter at 50, 1.7 at 100.
LFO pagesENV x4, SAVE x3
Drift more or less of Form's (far left Still, +50 twice); Wave wander to wave; Rate 1 to 32 bars; Target Cutoff, Reso, Colour; Filter, Tone, Air (sheets 4, 8).
The sweeps
How far the filter's long sweeps go (a new place every 6 to 20 bars; Basic's 4 to 14); the echo's heads, band-pass and feedback wandering.
The rides
Each part's level, echo and plate send, the chord's filter, the feedback: a new place every 10 to 60 s, any semicorchea (16th).at 100: levels -7..+3 dB, sends -8..+6, ±0.55 oct
4 · Motion's zones HOME · Form KNOB 3
The arrangement only. Each zone adds a kind of event to the ones before.
Breathes0 – 39
"Parts out and back, the kick out a bar or two": a part out (the chord, bass 12 dB down) or swelled into the echo, one a minute at 40; the kick out one in two minutes. 0: "Nothing leaves".
Sections40 – 69
"Thin and Groove phrases join, rarely to often": Thin (no bass, no shaker), Groove (every other stab), a phrase or two; 5% of the phrases at 40, 50% at 70. Fills join.
Breaks70 – 100
"Breaks join: the kick and the bass out a phrase", up to 60% of the departures at 100. Four phrases of Full between any two.
5 · Energy Form KNOB 1 · not saved
Moves
The pings' notes and level, Hits and the hats' level and colour, the stabs' count and length, the kick's shape, the bass's Density; most reach their end at ±50. No zones.
Leans
Past +25 a Break comes as a Groove; past -25 a Groove as a Thin. It never locks the sections.
6 · The other zones
HitsSEQ KNOB 2
Shaker 0-14, Open hat 15-39, Offbeats 40-69, Rim 70-100 (sheet 7).
DensityLFO KNOB 3
The bass's: Sparse 0-29, Pickups 30-100 (sheet 6).
7 · The harmony ENV · EDIT
ChangeENV · EDIT x2
How long a chord lasts.2 · 4 · 8 · 16 · 32 · 64 bars · Hold
WalkEDIT x2 K1
Home near the key, Wander wider, Free anywhere. Play Loop: your slots in turn (sheet 3).
EDIT held
0.5 s: the next chord. 1.5 s: new chords, the walk's walked again.
8 · By hand anywhere
Nudge · shake
A layer's button held 0.5 s: a small step; 1.5 s: a new voice, big steps. HOME held 1.5 s: all five.
LockSEL held
The kick's shape, the plan, the shaker and the noise's groove kept; the rides and Motion's moves rest. Chords, stabs, pings and sections go on.
ArrangementSEL
Mutes, solos, throws, the moves, the sirens (sheet 2); the effects grid, REC held (sheet 10).
The song
Endless, Song or Set; the outro by hand (sheet 12).