Les

FM-1 firmware · 1.84

ETCH

A wavetable synth where you draw your own waveforms, morph between them and animate them with modulation, effects, an arpeggiator and sequencer.

Made by
Joppe Sikken (SikkenWorks)
Released
October 30, 2026
Install
On the FM-1 Firmware Hub · source on GitHub
Scan
Scanned, nothing harmful found · Oct 31 What we checked
Last checked
October 31, 2026

What ETCH does

  • You draw your own single-cycle waveforms on the FM1 and morph between Wave A and Wave B.
  • A third drawn wave, Wave C, modulates the carrier's phase or its morph position for movement and harsher timbres.
  • The sequencer holds patterns up to 256 steps, eight note triggers per step and six parameter-lock destinations.
  • The arpeggiator offers eight modes including RIFF, a scale-aware generator that writes a fresh 16-step motif.
  • Sculpt, fold, bend and harmonic tools reshape the stored wave, with a preview before you apply.
  • You save 64 named waveforms, 32 presets and 4 projects, each with an explicit SAVE.
  • Motion Recording captures your moves of MORPH, ETCH, cutoff and SPACE and loops them back.
  • USB MIDI plays notes, follows external clock, and holding SEQ at power-on turns the keys into a controller.

Its modes

PLAY
Shape the sound fast with K1 MORPH, K2 ETCH, K3 CUTOFF and K4 SPACE.
DRAW
Draw and edit a 128-point waveform for Wave A, B or C, with undo and redo.
MORPH
Pick saved waves for A and B, set the morph position and the Wave C rate.
LIBRARY
Choose a stored waveform slot and load it into A, B or C with REC twice.
FX
Set drive, chorus, delay, reverb and the other global effects and wave inserts.
EVOLUTION
Animate the running oscillator shape with depth, rate, FOLD/SHARP/STAIR and sync.
RIFF LAB
Shape density, mutation and variants of the generated riff and make a new one.
SEQ
Build patterns with length, rate, swing and gate, and record notes live.
GROUPS
Split the keyboard into MAIN plus two saved presets in their own key ranges.
PERFORMANCE
Assign four macros and capture two scenes that recall with PLAY/STOP.

What Les checked

ETCH V1.88Scanned October 31, 2026

What we checked for

  • The file is exactly the one its author published
  • It's the same file we saw when this release first came out
  • It opens cleanly as an FM-1 firmware, nothing damaged
  • It doesn't show up on your computer as a keyboard, mouse or other input device
  • It doesn't show up as a USB drive or network adapter
  • Its text mentions no computer command tools, like PowerShell, Terminal or a download command

What we found

  • MIDI and audio, as expected

StatusScanned, nothing harmful found

Les scans every firmware here whose file is public, and shows what it checked and what it found. A scan lowers the risk; it can't rule it out. This firmware is made by its author, not by Les or M-VAVE. Back up first, and install at your own risk. How Les scans firmware

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