CS-1

Installing any custom firmware on the FM-1 is at your own risk. If anything goes wrong, the rescue is always there: hold OCT− while switching the FM-1 on and it starts in a USB update mode from which any installer, this one included, works again.

What you need

• Chrome or Edge on a computer. The page talks to the FM-1 over Web MIDI, which Safari and Firefox do not offer.
• A USB data cable (some charging cables carry no data) and the FM-1 switched on.
• No other program using the FM-1's MIDI port: close your DAW, and close the emulator tab if you had the FM-1 selected there.
• The browser will ask to allow MIDI with system exclusive messages. Say yes; that is how the update travels.

The package

Install

Plug the FM-1 in, switch it on, then press the button and leave the cable alone until the page says it is done. The FM-1 checks the package, restarts into its update mode, writes the firmware (about a minute), and restarts again running CS-1. Your user presets stay where they were, unless the release notes say the sound format changed, in which case the bank starts empty once.

Install on the FM-1

If it stops

• "FM-1 not found": check the cable, that nothing else holds the port, and that you allowed MIDI when asked. Reload the page and try again.
• It stopped while writing: the FM-1 stays in update mode until the write is complete. Replug the cable and press Install again; the page notices the update mode and finishes the write.
• It does not come back: switch it off and on. If it then shows nothing, hold OCT− while switching on and install again.

Going back

M-VAVE's own updater restores the stock firmware, and so does the FM-1 Firmware Hub's "return to official" option, which also keeps a backup of the stock image for you. CS-1's user presets live in their own flash sector and survive a reinstall of CS-1.

The command-line route still works too: python3 tools/fm1_install.py cs1.fwsc from the source tree, with Python 3, mido and python-rtmidi.