How to steer the melody on the FM-1 AMB-1
AMB-1 is a firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1 that plays an ambient piece by itself: a pad, bells, a bass and a soft pulse. Its keys choose the notes the piece may use, and the piece writes its melody from those. A lit key's note is in the scale: press it and the note leaves, and nothing plays it after that. Press an unlit key and its note joins. Pressing a note in any octave changes it in every octave.
It plays itself. The keys pick which notes it uses.
These steps are for AMB-1 v1.2. Start on the Garden piece, which is in D Dorian: turn PRESETS until the top line of the screen shows Garden. If you have changed it, hold SAVE for a second and a half to put it back as it came. The keys show the scale while Lights, on the Setup page (GLO), is set to On or Keys; it comes set to On. AMB-1 is not in Les's firmware switching table yet, and either firmware can write over the other's saved data. AMB-1 can't export its pieces, so write down the settings you want to keep before you switch firmware.
Three steps
Press an F key and the scale loses F. Every F goes dark. Nothing plays it.
0:08Press an F# key and the scale gains F#. Every F# lights. Now it can play F#.
0:15Press a C key and the scale loses C. The root, D, always stays.
0:21
Pick the notes. Let it play.
Good to know
The root note can't be taken out, and the scale always keeps at least three notes. To start from a whole mode instead, turn ALGORITHM: it loads Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian or one of the two pentatonics, in place of the notes you picked, and the keys then edit that. On the Setup page, KNOB 1 changes the root, and your scale follows it. More on the FM-1 and its firmwares: https://les.audio/guides/m-vave-fm-1. Les is independent and not affiliated with M-VAVE or with AMB-1's author, Charles Vestal.
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