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How to play a dominant 7th on the FM-1 with ChoralRoot

ChoralRoot turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a chord instrument in the Orchid style: four black keys at the left end of the keybed choose the chord's type, four white keys among them add notes, and a root key from D4 up plays the chord. A dominant 7th is MAJ with the m7 key. The major 7th is on M7, the key next to it, and the screen names whichever chord you play.

The short answer

Hold MAJ and m7, then press a root.

Before you start

These steps are for ChoralRoot 0.24 with its default settings: LOCK off, Key Mode off, Transpose at 0, and the chord keys in their Classic layout. A new FM-1 starts that way. If yours has been set up differently, or plays the FM-1 chord-key layout, Options > Reset Settings puts every setting back: tap OPT (printed GLO), turn SELECT to the last entry and press OCT+ twice. Your saved sounds, loops and calibration stay, and a sound edit you have not saved is lost. Hold the chord keys first and press the root last: the chord is set when the root goes down.

Three steps

Hold MAJ, the black key, then press D4. D major. The screen reads DM.
0:08
Hold MAJ and m7 together, then press D4. A dominant 7th. The screen reads D7.
0:14
Hold MAJ and M7, beside m7, then press D4. A major 7th. The screen reads DM7.
0:20

Pick a type. Add a seventh.

Good to know

The m7 key adds a minor seventh and M7 a major seventh, to whatever type you hold, on any of the 18 root keys from D4 to G5. With MIN instead of MAJ, the same m7 key gives Dm7. The name stays on the screen after you let go. More on the FM-1 and its firmware at https://les.audio/guides/m-vave-fm-1. Les is independent and not affiliated with M-VAVE, with ChoralRoot's author or with Telepathic Instruments.

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