GHOULBOX

GHOULBOX 2.4: change the scene live, sleep timer, FREEZE, the sequencer to your DAW, and three fixes.

Install or update: first save a backup (the installer doesn't make one): open the web editor, connect the FM-1, and on the Settings tab press Save backup. Then open https://ghoulbox.messy.quest/webapp/installer/ in Chrome or Edge and press Install.

User guide (PDF) (updated for 2.4; printer-friendly) · Play it in your browser · Hear every sound · Video lessons · Every free FM-1 firmware

What's new in 2.4

• SCENES: change the music live. Tap HOME on the home screen until SCENES shows (after DREAM). Its first five white keys switch to DUNGEON (F3), CRYPT (G3), TAVERN (A3), CHAPEL (B3) or BLANK (C4) while the music plays: a short fade out, the scene's four sounds, patterns and tempo, a fade back in. Made for game masters: the party walks into the tavern, you press one key. A scene replaces your four tracks, so save first if you want to keep them.
• SLEEP. MENU › SYSTEM › SLEEP: OFF, 30, 60 or 90 minutes. After that long without touching the FM-1 (or playing it over MIDI), the music fades out over two minutes and stops. Touch anything to bring the sound back. For game nights, study and sleep.
• FREEZE: keep the pass you liked. DREAM's notes each have a chance, so every pass is a little different. When one sounds right, hold SEQ and press F4: the selected track's steps become exactly what that pass played, and EVOL turns off so the piece stays put. Hold SAVE to undo.
• SEQ OUT. MENU › MIDI › SEQ OUT ON sends what the sequencer plays (DREAM's parts too) out over USB MIDI, each track on its own channel, so the FM-1 can play your DAW's instruments. OFF by default. In the DAW, don't send that MIDI back to the FM-1, or every note plays twice.

Fixed

• The CRYPT kit's shaker no longer cuts off its jingles (they were treated as a hi-hat pair).
• Letting go of the FX layer now puts a MIDI CC74 filter back where your controller left it, instead of opening it.
• The web editor names a CRYPT kit's lanes: FRAME, ROPE, SLAP, SHAKR, JINGL, TIMP, STICK, GONG.

Removed

• MENU › SYSTEM › USB SERIAL and the developer console behind it (off by default since 1.2). That made room for the above, and a Mac now always finds the FM-1's USB audio.

Your saved music

Projects, user presets and settings load and sound as before.

Notes

• 2.4 has not been tested on an FM-1 yet. Its full test suite and the browser emulator (the same firmware) pass. Save a backup first, and install at your own risk; you can always go back to 2.3.2 or the official firmware with the installer.
• The FM-1 Firmware Hub picks up ghoulbox-2.4.fwsc from this release.