01 / Quick Start
Open Quick Start PDF
Read the Studio controls
RAKT / FM-1 hardware
Install RAKT
Put a four-part band on your M-VAVE FM-1. Install RAKT over USB, then follow the guides below to start playing.
Installing needs Chrome or Edge on a computer. On this device, you can still try RAKT with sound.
The FM-1 restarted with RAKT. You can unplug it now.
To keep a copy of your sounds and patterns, use “Back up and restore” below while the FM-1 is plugged in.
The install stopped. In most cases, you can start it again.
Stopped before “Switching to update mode”? Nothing was written. Plug the cable back in and press Install again.
Stopped while writing, with the FM-1 still on? It waits in update mode, with a black screen. Plug the cable back in and press Install again. Writing starts again from the beginning.
Did it switch off, or did the battery die? Switch it on. Three short flashes of the key lights and a black screen mean update mode: press Install again. This only works if the FM-1 already ran RAKT, or ChoralRoot 0.16 or later.
One long flash, no flash, or a USB disk called WL82 UBOOT1.00? See “Device not found” below.
RAKT on screen
RAKT / Field guide
Your first jam
Make a band, shape what it plays, then take it live. Keep these illustrated guides open as you play.
- Generate
In Studio, pick a genre with PRESETS. Press EDIT for a new arrangement, then PLAY to hear the band.
- Shape
Press SEL on Generator. Turn SELECT to Groove for swing and the musicians’ playing styles.
- Perform
Press GLO while the band plays. Solo a part, cue a fill or drop, or hold an upper key to play an effect.
Open Song and turn SELECT for Harmony and Progression. In Sound, turn ALGORITHM past Mix to reach the band’s FX Space control.
Read the Studio controls
02 / Recording
Read the recording guide
03 / GLO Live
Open GLO Live PDF
Read the GLO Live controls
Files, backups and recovery
Back up and restore
A backup is one .json file. It holds everything saved on the FM-1: your settings, the sequencer’s patterns and song, sound banks and 32 user sounds.
Restore copies a backup onto the FM-1. It checks every part before it writes, then restarts the FM-1.
Backup and restore work with RAKT, ChoralRoot and Felucca. The official firmware can’t make backups.
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Return to the official firmware
The official firmware can’t use RAKT’s sounds, patterns or settings, so this page saves them to a backup file first.
Download the official FM-1 V15 from M-VAVE Downloads. Then choose its FM-1.fwsc file here, exactly as downloaded. Your browser checks the file, and nothing is uploaded.
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To come back, install RAKT with the Install button at the top. Then press Restore and choose that backup file.
The return to the official firmware stopped.
Stopped before “Switching to update mode”? Nothing was written. Plug the cable back in and press the button again.
Stopped while writing, with the FM-1 still on? It waits in update mode, with a black screen. Plug the cable back in, tick “I’m finishing an update that was cut off” and press the button again, with the same official file chosen.
Did it switch off, or did the battery die? Switch it on and do the same. If this page doesn’t find it, see “Device not found”.
Show the log
Device not found, or the install stopped?
Check the cable first. Use a data cable, straight to the computer, not through a hub. Quit other apps that use MIDI. Switch the FM-1 on and press Install again.
Start update mode by hand. In update mode, the screen stays black and the FM-1 waits for new firmware. Switch the FM-1 off. Hold OCT− and switch it on. When the key lights flash three times and the screen stays black, it is in update mode: press Install. To leave without installing, switch the FM-1 off and on. This works with RAKT, or ChoralRoot 0.16 or later.
One long flash instead of three? Switch off for 10 seconds and try once more. A second long flash means the FM-1 can’t start update mode by itself. Until you switch it off, it appears as the USB disk described below.
While RAKT runs, you can also hold OCT−, OCT+ and HOME for five seconds. A countdown appears; let go to cancel. When it ends, the FM-1 is in update mode.
A screen that says SAFE MODE? The firmware crashed twice while starting, so it now starts without your saved data. That data stays untouched. Back up and Install both work in safe mode. To try your saved data again, switch the FM-1 off and on.
A black screen, and a USB disk called WL82 UBOOT1.00 (USB ID 4C4A:8057) instead of the FM-1? That is the chip’s ROM boot mode. The firmware doesn’t start, and this page can’t reach the FM-1 in this mode. Don’t format that disk. The MvaveFM1Unbricker tool can put the official V15 back over the same cable.
Nothing shows up at all, not even that disk? Then the way back is hardware: the FM-1 Transporter, a small RP2040 board on the USB lines. See FM-1-transporter.
Another version, or a build of your own
Testing your own build? Choose its .fwsc file here.
Or choose a build of your own:
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