Free Custom Firmware for Mvave FM-1

US BAUDGIRL updates Sound Engine, Screens, MIDI & more 29/09/26

Continuing the latest trend of custom firmware, here we have the BAUDGIRL FM-1 VA Firmware Version FM-1_089 for the Mvave FM-1. This first video shows the updated sequencer, and presets - with more details shown in the video below, with a side by side comparison of the original firmware. The update requires a USB connection to your internet computer, using Chrome or Edge for the transmission.

There are now a few videos on this subject, all of which cover different elements, in their own unique ways...

What Changes

The install replaces the synth's program: its screens, its sound engine, and its MIDI handling. Saved presets and Sequencer patterns are stored in a separate part of the synth's memory, which the install does not write. Settings on the GLOBE screen may return to their factory values the first time the firmware starts after M-VAVE's.

The Risk

This is not M-VAVE's firmware, and you install it at your own risk. The install works the same way M-VAVE's own desktop updater does. If an install fails before it writes anything, the synth stays on the firmware it had. I have not tested what happens when an install is cut off halfway, by a pulled cable or a computer going to sleep.

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While It Installs

Keep the cable connected and the browser tab open until the install has finished. The synth restarts twice, once into its updater and once at the end.

Before Anything Is Sent

The first press asks the synth which firmware it runs and shows the answer. The install will not send the version the synth already has, and it refuses any file whose first 16 KB differ from M-VAVE's, because that region holds the synth's boot code.

What It Needs

The install needs the FM-1, a USB cable, and Chrome or Edge on a computer. Safari does not support MIDI. The synth must run M-VAVE's firmware V15 or a version of this firmware, and the page checks which one before it sends anything. A synth on an older M-VAVE version needs M-VAVE's own updater first.

Find out more and download here: https://baudgirl.com/work/FM-1+VA/install

About the author [midierror]: midierror is co-founder of Potato Audio, he makes nifty Max For Live devices, award-winning Sample Packs and hosts the 'midierror meets...' interview series speaking with all kinds of people working in sound & music.

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