KAWA — Pocket Tracker for the M-VAVE FM-1

▶ Open the KAWA website — Install · Emulator · Manual · Cheat sheet · Samples

English · Français · Español

KAWA is a free tracker firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, made above all for chiptune and IDM: 4-bit waves, pulse and noise like the old consoles, FM, breakbeats cut into slices, rolls and ratchets, stutter and glitch live effects, tables, a groove, a drive on every track. (It can do other styles, but that is what it is built for.) Six tracks, a step sequencer you write with the keys, a chain of patterns that makes a song, 64 live effects and a creative filter. The screen speaks English, French or Spanish.

Beta 0.10 — tested on a real FM-1. It also passes every automatic check (size, memory, an install tested against simulated power cuts, the simulator and the web emulator). Installing an unofficial firmware is at your own risk, but you can always go back to the official one.

Start here

1. Install	Install from your browser (Chrome or Edge: plug the FM-1 in, click Install KAWA). Or download kawa-0.10.fwsc and use the launcher for your computer.
2. Play	Switch the FM-1 on and press any key. Press REC, play the keys, press PLAY. HOME held shows the help of the page you are on.
3. Learn	The manual (FR, ES): five short tutorials, from an empty song to a saved one. Or try KAWA right now in the web emulator.
4. Your sounds	The sample importer puts your own WAV / MP3 / OGG / FLAC files into KAWA over USB.

What you get

• A tracker. Each row is a step, each column a track, each cell a note, a volume and up to two effects (arpeggio, glide, roll, chance, delay, reverse, HOP, END…). Patterns of 16, 32 or 64 steps, chained into a song.
• Six tracks, each with an engine: pulse, 4-bit wave, noise, 6-operator FM (one track), drum kit or sample. Factory sounds for all of them, an ADSR, an effect, an LFO and a modulation page on every sound.
• Made for chiptune and IDM: 8 synthesised drum kits and 6 breaks to cut into 16 slices, a table on every track (a little sequence played inside each note: chip arpeggios, pitch drops, ratchets), a groove (7 5, 8 4…), Euclid, random and chop tools, 64 live effects in four banks (stutter, retrig, build-up…, and from K-GLITCH: DESTROY, BEAT and a realistic scratch, each with its intensity), an 11-type filter, an FX sequencer, a drive per track.
• Your own samples (4 slots), with an editor: start, end, slices, normalise, reverse.
• Easy to live with. The bottom line always says what the four knobs do (KNOB 1 red, 2 yellow, 3 green, 4 blue). HOME held opens the help. Undo / redo cover patterns and sounds (10 steps). A sound you edited is never replaced by mistake. The song is autosaved, plus three project slots. Three themes, four fonts, MIDI clock in and out, a metronome.

Controls at a glance

Button	What it does
HOME	The tracks. Held: the help of the page you are on. HOME + PLAY: panic (everything stops)
SEQ	The step grid. OCT− / OCT+ there: 16, 32 or 64 steps
EDIT	The sound of the track: SOUND, SOUND 2, (FM operators / sample edit), EFFECT, TABLE. Press again: next page
LFO	LFO, then MODULATION
ENV	ENVELOPE, then MIX (levels, pan, sends, master)
FX	SENDS (drive, echo, reverb per track), then LIVE (64 live effects, 4 banks), FILTER, FX SEQ, then back. Held: LIVE while you hold it
SCL	SCALE, then MAGIC (beats, melodies, break chops), then back
GLO	SONG (the chain), GROOVE, OPTIONS (theme, language, clock, font, metronome)
SAVE	PROJECTS (it blinks while there are unsaved changes). Held: the tools (OPTIONS, UNDO, REDO, CLEAR, COPY, PASTE, RANDOM). OCT− / OCT+ while held: undo / redo
PLAY, REC	Play / stop; record (the keys write at the cursor, or on the beat while playing)
ARP	Not an arpeggiator: the clear / shift key. A tap on TRACKS clears the cell. Held: + SELECT inserts or deletes a row, + KNOB 3 / 4 edits the cell's second effect, + PRESETS picks the next engine
OCT− / OCT+	The octave of the keys (other uses on the pages above: bank, add / remove, OK / back)

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗