NU//METAL SKRATCHMASTER PRO

A scratch instrument for the M-VAVE FM-1. Version 4.0: SKRATCH. Jog. Tap. Cut.

The FM-1 becomes one turntable. SAM (the 1982 Software Automatic Mouth) says 27 words onto a virtual record, or the deck carries an endless record that is generated as you scratch it (a WORLD). Your left hand is on the jog, your right hand taps and holds the keys, and the four knobs are four effects you can ride at once. It follows your drum machine's MIDI clock, so it locks to the beat you are already playing.

4.0 is a cut-down. Everything that got in the way of scratching is gone: RAP MODE, the TONE and BEAT modes, the step sequencer, the LFO page, the mixer, the 9-effect list and the band. What is left is the deck, the 17 techniques, the endless record, four knob FX and a drum beat to practise over.

Status: 4.0, runs on the FM-1. Identity FM-1_926: it installs over NU//METAL 1.0 and PRO 2.x / 3.x. Installing firmware is at your own risk; M-VAVE's official firmware can be reinstalled at any time. Want the old one back? 3.1 TOYBOX (RAP MODE, the sequencer, the LFO, the toys) is still in docs/firmware as numetal-pro-3.1.fwsc.

Install

• In the browser: open the web installer in Chrome or Edge on a computer, plug the FM-1 in with a USB data cable, press Install. It uses Web MIDI, and nothing else needs to be installed.
• From the command line: download numetal-pro-4.0.fwsc from docs/firmware, then python3 tools/fm1_install.py numetal-pro-4.0.fwsc (needs pip3 install mido python-rtmidi).
• Rescue: hold OCT- while switching on. No sound, only the updater. Install anything from there.

The saved settings changed shape in 4.0, so the first start sets everything to its defaults: the record on WORLD 0, the filter open, ECHO 3, SYNC on FOLLOW, 120 BPM.

Play

1. Switch on. The FM-1 says its name and the record is WLD 0 (an endless WORLD).
2. Tap a key to drop the needle on one of 27 spots. Hold a key to scratch there in the technique that ALGORITHM picks. Tap the same key again quickly for finger strokes.
3. Turn SELECT to scratch by hand. Flick it and let go, and the record coasts on.
4. Ride KNOB1-4: FILTER, ECHO, CRUSH, STUTTER. Hold FX to drop them all at once (DRY).
5. Press PLAY for a drum beat to practise over, or plug in your drum machine's MIDI and it follows the clock.

Encoder	Turn	HOME held + turn: SETTINGS
SELECT	JOG: scratch by hand. The faster you flick, the further each click throws the record	BPM 60..180 (when no clock comes in)
ALGORITHM	TECHNIQUE: the 17 techniques and COMBO	REACH 1..8: how far a technique throws the record
KNOB1	FILTER: LP 7 .. OPEN .. HP 7, a resonant low-pass to the left, a high-pass to the right	SAM VOICE: MC, GROWL, ROBOT, SAM, ELF, E.T., STUFFY, OLD LADY
KNOB2	ECHO 0..15: a dotted-eighth echo locked to the tempo	FLOW 0..15 (WORLD records): 0 = separate sounds with gaps, 10+ = one continuous landscape
KNOB3	CRUSH 0..15: fewer bits and a lower sample rate	VERB 0..15: the plate reverb
KNOB4	STUTTER: OFF, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, locked to the beat	BEAT 0..15: the practice drums' level (12 = normal)
PRESETS	RECORD: WORDS, or WORLD 0..99	motor TORQUE: LOW, MID, HIGH, MAX

Button	Does
Keys	27 spots on the record. Tap = drop the needle, tap again quickly = finger strokes, hold = the technique while held, locked to the beat
PLAY	the practice beat on / off
FX	hold = DRY: every FX off while held
ENV	hold = FREEZE: loop a sliver of the record
LFO	hold = CUT: the crossfader chops on 32nds
REC	BACKSPIN
SEQ	BRAKE: the turntable winds down (works under an external clock too: only the record stops)
GLO	AUTO: the robot scratches by itself. On a WORLD record it is ETERNAL SKRATCH: it rides the record forever
SEL	HAMSTER: flip the crossfader in the techniques that click
ARP	flip between WORDS and the last WORLD you used
HOME	hold + turn = SETTINGS; tap = pitch back to 0
OCT- / OCT+	the deck's pitch, a semitone a press
SAVE	save now (settings also save themselves when the deck is quiet)
EDIT + SAVE	SYNC: FOLLOW an incoming MIDI clock / OFF
EDIT (hold)	shows the button map and the audio load

The screen shows the record under the needle (the waveform of a word, or a WORLD scrolling by as a landscape), the technique's score while you hold a key, a 16-step bar with the playhead (yellow when it follows an external clock, green on its own BPM), the four FX, and chips for BEAT, AUTO, HAMSTER, SYNC and the pitch.

Playing with a drum machine

Plug the drum machine's MIDI out into the FM-1's TRS input (or send clock over USB). With SYNC on FOLLOW (the default), the top bar says EXT and the tempo; ECHO, STUTTER, CUT and the held techniques all lock to it. Its Start puts the FM-1's bar back on the one, but it does not start the practice beat: your drum machine is the beat. Stop and Continue are ignored. Run the FM-1's audio into the same mixer.

The practice beat

PLAY starts a drum beat, drums only: a swung boom bap with the kick, the snare on 2 and 4 and eighth-note hats. Most bars one small thing changes (a kick moves, a ghost snare, an open hat, a quick hat roll) and then drifts back. Every 8th bar ends in a fill (a snare roll, toms, flams or a hat roll) and the next bar can land on a crash. Now and then it moves on to a new pattern. Set its level with HOME + KNOB4.

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