oplbox

• OPLBOX turns the FM-1 into an OPL2 machine playing the 18 SoundFX Macs Opera songs from LINEL's games and Stone Age.
• PLAY starts and pauses, HOME returns to the song start, OCT- and OCT+ or the SELECT knob change song, and MASTER sets volume.
• REC switches between looping one song and playing them all in turn, with the LED showing which.
• Press EDIT and the tracker becomes a full editor: K1 and K2 move the cursor, the keys enter notes, and every change is heard on the next row.
• K3 nudges a note by a semitone, K4 sets the instrument, ALGO sets volume, PRESETS sets the step, and FX writes a key off.
• SAVE writes the song to one of nine flash slots as a plain .CMF file, and slot songs play just like the built-in ones.
• Choosing an empty slot in the jukebox starts a blank song with one pattern and one instrument.
• The FM-1 connects to a computer over USB for installing firmware, and holding OCT- while switching on opens USB rescue.

Its modes

jukebox screen

Pick and play songs, stepping through the 18 built in ones and then slots 1 to 9.

tracker screen

Watch the pattern scroll past with one column per channel, and with EDIT lit move the cursor and type notes from the keys.

scope screen

See nine oscilloscopes with their instrument names and mute or unmute channels from the first nine white keys.

song screen

Build the order list, choosing the pattern at each position, inserting or deleting positions, and setting speed and rhythm mode.