Getting started

1. Plug the FM-1 in with USB and open this page in Chrome or Edge. Allow MIDI when the browser asks.
2. The pill at the top right should say FM-1 connected. If it names another device, choose the FM-1 (it shows as OPN-1 FM-1) under Advanced, MIDI output.
3. Drop some VGM or VGZ files from one game into Load a game. Several songs from the same game give the most sounds.
4. Press Send sounds to FM-1. The FM-1 keeps them, even after it is switched off, until you send another game's sounds.

A fresh FM-1 has no sounds of its own. Until you send some, the FM parts are silent.

Installing OPN-1 on your FM-1 is done at your own risk. It comes with no warranty, and its authors accept no responsibility for damaged or unusable devices.

Songs

Press play on a song to hear it on the FM-1. The song is streamed while it plays, so keep this tab open. Nothing is stored on the device. While a song plays, the FM-1's keys and the knobs do not change what you hear; knob changes apply once it stops.

On the FM-1

Control	What it does
SELECT knob	Picks the part the keys play: POLY (up to six FM notes), FM 1 to 6, PSG 1 to 3, NOISE or DRUMS
PRESETS knob	Picks the instrument (or the square-wave shape on a PSG part, or the game's noise sound on NOISE)
OCT buttons	Octave down and up
ALGORITHM knob	How the four operators connect, 1 to 8: the biggest change to a sound
KNOB 1 to 4	Whatever the screen shows above them, set by the buttons below
HOME	Sound: brightness, attack, release, feedback
EDIT	Tone of one operator: level, multiplier, detune, second decay. Press again for the next operator
ENV	Envelope of one operator: attack, decay, sustain, release. Press again for the next operator
LFO	The chip's wobble: rate (shared by all channels), pitch depth, volume depth, which operators it moves
FX	Vibrato depth, speed and delay, and Double (POLY plays each note twice, slightly detuned, for a thicker sound)
ARP	Arpeggiator on (press again to turn it off): mode, tempo, octaves, note length
GLO	Key velocity, bend range, MIDI mode, tuning
SEL	Next operator on EDIT and ENV, otherwise the next part
SAVE	Keeps the changed instrument, replacing the original
SEQ	Shows what every channel is playing: note, level and instrument. Opens by itself during a song
REC	Grabs the sounds the channels are playing right now (for example from a song) onto FM 1 to 6, ready to play
PLAY	Stops the song

A * after an instrument's name means it has changes you have not saved. To undo them, turn PRESETS one step away and back. After SAVE the original is replaced; send the game's sounds again to get it back.

Playing from a MIDI keyboard or DAW

Connect over USB, or to the FM-1's TRS MIDI input with a TRS to MIDI cable. In the GLO page, MIDI mode PANEL makes any channel play the part on the FM-1's screen, like its own keys. GENMDM (the default) gives each chip channel its own MIDI channel:

MIDI channel	Plays
1 to 6	FM channels 1 to 6, one note each. Program change picks the instrument
7 to 9	Square waves (PSG) 1 to 3. Program change picks the shape
10	The game's drums (C2 is the first), or noise if no drums were sent
11	Noise: hi-hats and effects
15, 16	Used by this page to talk to the FM-1: leave them free

FM channels also take GenMDM's control changes for every chip setting; the Patch editor under Advanced sends them.

If something goes wrong

You see	Try
MIDI not allowed	Allow MIDI for this page in the browser's site settings, then reload. Open the page from localhost or https, not as a file
FM-1 not found, or "did not take the patch"	Check the cable, and that Advanced, MIDI output is the FM-1
"The stream fell behind"	The link could not keep up for a moment. Close other MIDI apps and press SEQ to hide the channel display while the song plays
The FM-1 says NO SOUNDS	Load a game and press Send sounds to FM-1
Notes stuck on	Press Panic at the top right