Play your own chords
Lower keys choose chord roots; upper keys add major/minor and other colors. Auto Harmony is on with fresh settings. Play a live root to take over the harmony; release roots and HOLD to return to the progression.
CORD, your songwriting companion
Pick a chord progression, add drums and bass, and play along. Change a chord, try a different groove, or save the idea for later.
Loading…
Make your first backing track
Pick a song idea and play along, or use it as the starting point for something of your own.
1. Start the instrument
Press Start above to enable sound. Click the panel to use your keyboard. Drag or scroll a knob to turn it; start with MASTER low.
2. Pick a progression
On HOME → Core, turn SELECT to browse 130 ideas. Set K1 Rhythm to a groove, then press PLAY or Space for chords, bass and drums.
3. Change the key or chords
Use Core’s K2 Key, K3 Scale and K4 Tempo. Turn ALGORITHM to Sound for patches and levels, or press EDIT to change the chords themselves.
To play your own chords over drums: turn ALGORITHM to HOME → Loop and set K1 Mode → Drums only, then press PLAY. Choose Chords + Drums when you want the progression to play too.
Change the chords, groove and sound
K1–K4 are the four knobs named at the bottom of the screen. SELECT browses; SEL opens or confirms. Change pages while the music keeps playing.
Edit the progression
Press EDIT for an editable copy with up to 16 chord slots. SELECT picks a slot; ALGORITHM moves between chord, timing, voicing, bass and phrase tabs. Try Voicing → Smooth for closer chord movement.
Set up the backing track
HOME → Groove sets kit, drum level and swing. Loop chooses accompaniment mode and Repeat; Repeat Off plays the phrase once. Mix balances chords, bass and drums.
Choose sounds and effects
HOME → Sound picks chord and bass patches. ARP adds arpeggios and strums. Press FX, browse a preset with SELECT and load it with SEL; Texture adjusts its effect mixes.
Try a variation
HOME → Variations: choose Context with K1 and Amount with K2, then turn K3 right to generate. K4 right swaps the previous result or cancels a queued change. Harmony, Arp, Drums, FX, Sound and Scale each explore something different.
Save the song idea
Press SAVE from HOME, choose + Save current idea, then SEL. Keep up to six editable ideas, including their sounds and accompaniment. Stop playback, release held notes and wait for Saved.
Find your way around the nine HOME pages
Tap HOME again while on HOME, or turn ALGORITHM in either direction. SELECT keeps browsing progressions on every HOME page. Harmony is always last.
- 1 · Core
- Rhythm · Key · Scale · Tempo
- 2 · Sound
- Chord sound · Bass sound · Chord level · Bass level
- 3 · Texture
- Reverb · Delay · Chorus · Glide
- 4 · Groove
- Kit · Drum level · Swing · Click level
- 5 · Perform
- Fill · Drop drums · Bring back · Tempo
- 6 · Loop
- Accompaniment mode · Phrase bounds (read-only) · Repeat
- 7 · Mix
- Chord level · Bass level · Drum level · Bass link
- 8 · Variations
- Context · Amount · Generate · Undo / Cancel
- 9 · Keyboard / Harmony
- Key guide · Harmony On/Off · Reset Harmony defaults
Live fills, chord suggestions and recording
Perform: with a drum groove running, turn K1 to queue a one-bar fill, K2 to drop drums, or K3 to bring them back. Actions land on musical boundaries.
Chord Lab: press SEL on HOME to inspect notes and intervals. Turn ALGORITHM to Compare or Next Chord; SEL auditions. In Next Chord, choose a destination with K3, then EDIT to put the suggestion into your draft.
REC: records your manual chords over drums, with a count-in. Press REC again to finish; the latest three takes can be kept. It does not record the automatic progression as a complete arranged performance. Hardware USB audio can capture the full mix.
Variation waiting? Release roots, HOLD and ARP Latch, and finish recording or replay. Read the on-screen message; some changes wait for a safe boundary. Leaving Variations cancels a waiting change.
No sound, waiting for clock, or settings not saved?
No sound: press Start, check your browser/system volume and MASTER, and click the panel before playing computer keys. If your browser uses the function keys for system controls, click the labelled panel buttons instead.
EXT WAIT: use GLO → MIDI → Clock Off for standalone play. External sync needs a MIDI Start or Continue as well as clock pulses.
Effect says Off / Byp: enable it in FX or load an FX preset first. Bass missing: check HOME → Mix → Bass link and bass level.
Saved data: settings and sounds stay in this browser, not in a cloud account. Stop playback and release held notes before saving. Clear saved data removes this browser’s saved instrument data.
Optional MIDI: Enable MIDI connects a controller in a supporting browser after you grant permission. Trying this page does not install firmware on your FM-1.
For the rest of the controls, settings and hardware setup, see the full guide on GitHub.
Read the full guide on GitHub ↗Keys, buttons and knobs
Solid labels are computer keys; outlined labels are mouse actions. Click the panel first. Then Tab picks a knob and Esc returns to the page.
Keys
- Q–O
- roots G3 A3 B3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4; R = C4
- A / P / Z–B
- F3 / B4 / C5–G5
- 1–0
- upper chord modifiers, left to right
- `
- HOLD
- click
- play
- right-click
- hold
Buttons
- F1F2F3
- FX SEL ENV
- F4F5F6
- LFO EDIT GLO
- Home
- HOME
- F8F9F10
- SAVE ARP SEQ
- SpaceEnter
- PLAY REC
- -=
- OCT− OCT+
- click
- press
- right-click
- hold
Knobs
- []
- PRESETS
- ;'
- SELECT
- ,.
- ALGORITHM
- Tab
- pick a knob
- ←→↓↑
- turn it
- Esc
- leave the panel
- dragwheel
- turn
Settings and sounds you save stay in this browser.