10 Settings and storage

This chapter covers the global page, where Lunar Modulator shows what applies to the whole instrument and sets the project key, and how projects, sounds and sequencer sets are kept in files.

Nothing is stored on the FM-1

Lunar Modulator writes nothing to an FM-1’s memory, and will not until the one rule is met (chapter 1). The sounds, patterns and settings your FM-1 holds now stay as they are.

10.1 The global page

Status:In the simulatorPlanned for the device

10.1.1 To open the global page

Press GLO. Press GLO again, or HOME, to leave it. It has two pages: turn SELECT for 1/2 Globe, what the instrument runs, and 2/2 Key, the project key. The bottom bar names the page.

10.1.2 What it shows

Line	What it means
Rate	The sample rate the firmware runs at, such as 44118 Hz
Block	How many samples the firmware computes at a time: 64
RAM	The share of the FM-1’s free memory the sounds, effects, sequencer and modulation take, in percent, the same figure as the memory meter in the bottom bar (of which the sequencer takes 10 % and modulation 7 %, playing or not). It is red past 100 % (chapter 6)
Voices	How many notes the current sound’s engine plays at once
M1, M2	The effect in each master slot by its name, such as Plate, spelled out where the line has room (Compressor for Comp), or `--` for an empty slot
Octave	The keyboard’s octave, from −3 to +3 (chapter 4)
Transpose	The transpose in semitones, from −12 to +12

On Globe KNOB1 and KNOB2 set the project key, and the page turns to Key to show it; KNOB3 and KNOB4 change nothing.

10.1.3 The project key

Status:In the simulatorOn the desktop

One key for the whole project: a root, C to B, and a scale.

Knob	What it sets
`KNOB1`	The root: C, C#, D and so on to B
`KNOB2`	The scale: Major, Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian or Chromatic

Each knob shows its list while you turn it, the chosen entry marked. The line under the top bar says the key in words, such as D Minor. It starts at C Major.

What it is for. Every MIDI effect is told the key. The arpeggiator does not use it; the scale and chord effects planned next will. The sound engines and the sequencer play the same in any key.
Where it is kept. The key belongs to the sequencer’s set, beside the tempo and the swing (what a set keeps). Loading a set brings its key; a set from Movy, or one saved in C Major, has none and loads in C Major. A project file also shows the key near its top, in session, for anyone reading the file; that copy is written from the set’s and is never loaded, so editing it changes nothing.
In the desktop tools. The sequencer’s key command sets it in a script, such as key 2 1 for D Minor (chapter 7).

Will it fit on the FM-1?

The simulator refuses any sound or effect that would take the figure past 100 %, so whatever it plays would fit on the FM-1. To make room, choose a smaller engine or effect, or empty a sound or a slot (chapter 6).

10.1.4 Settings

Status:In the simulatorOn the desktop

Four settings belong to the instrument, not to a project. They are kept in a settings file of their own, never in a project, so loading a project leaves them as they are.

Setting	What it does
Metronome	The click while the sequencer plays (chapter 7)
Full velocity	Every step entered at full velocity (`SEL` + key 10 in SEQ mode)
Count-in click	Whether the count-in clicks (kept for the stage that adds it)
MIDI IN channel	The channel MIDI IN listens on, or every channel (kept for the stage that adds it)

MASTER is not a setting: the page remembers its position in the browser.

10.2 Projects, sounds and other files

Status:In the simulatorOn the desktop

Everything the simulator holds can be saved to a file and loaded back. A saved file loaded again gives the same state, and saving it once more gives the same file, byte for byte.

Kind	Holds	Loads
Project (`first-orbit.lunar`)	All four sounds with every parameter, every pad of a drum kit, their levels, inserts and arpeggiators; the master effects; FM6’s user voices; the modulation rack and its cables; the sequencer’s set with its song and key; the current sound, octave and transpose; and the page you were on	In place of everything
Sound (`deep-bass.sound.lunar`)	One sound, its inserts and arpeggiator, its level, the FM6 voice it plays, and the modulation that reaches only it	Into the sound you choose
Effects (`space-verbs.fx.lunar`)	One or two effects and their modulation	Into the master slots, or a sound’s inserts
Mod rack (`wobble.mods.lunar`)	The rack and its cables	In place of the rack
Clip (`bass-a.clip.lunar`)	One clip, with its locks	Into a track and slot you choose
Set (`.movy1`)	The sequencer’s set, as Movy writes it	In place of the set
Settings	The four settings above	Over the settings

Files are text you can read, keep under version control or share. Each names its engines and parameters, so a file stays readable as the firmware grows.

10.2.1 What happens when you load

A project replaces everything. The simulator starts afresh and builds the project’s state.
Every other kind goes into its place and leaves the rest alone. A sound loaded into Sound 2 while the song plays changes Sound 2 and nothing else.
A sound’s modulation goes to free places in the rack and the matrix. Its FM6 voice reuses the same voice if the bank has it, or the first empty user slot.
The screen shows LOADED, the file’s name and the memory figure for a second, and the page says what came in: Loaded “First orbit”: 4 sounds, 5 effects, … It takes 69% of the FM-1’s RAM.
What the load replaced stays in the browser’s Recent list as Before First orbit, and Undo load under the message puts it back.

10.2.2 When a file does not load

A file that cannot load changes nothing. The page says why, under the panel, in the refusal colour (“Deep space bass” was not loaded. Needs 117% of the FM-1’s RAM.), and offers the way round when there is one, such as Load without Rings. In the desktop tools the screen shows NOT LOADED and the short form:

It says	Why	What you can do
Needs 121% RAM	The file would take more than the FM-1’s memory. Every file is measured as the FM-1 would run it, whatever your browser’s rate	Load a lighter file. This refusal has no way round it
Uses Rings	The file uses an engine this build does not have, or one only the GPL build has	Load it without that engine: its sound is left empty
Rack is full or Matrix is full	A sound’s modulation has no room	Load it without its modulation, or free a place in the rack
FM6 bank is full	The sound’s FM6 voice has no free user slot	Load it without its voice
Slot holds a clip	The clip’s slot is not empty	Load it again and replace the clip
Macro at 96 kHz	The engine cannot run at your browser’s sample rate	Use a browser or device at 44.1 or 48 kHz
Not a Lunar file, Newer format, Bad file, File too big	The file is not one this simulator reads	Check the file, or use a newer simulator

10.2.3 Tracks without a route

A project’s set loads with its routes as saved: a track with no route plays nothing in the simulator. A set from Movy, where no track is routed, gets the simulator’s start rule: track 1 plays Sound 1.

10.2.4 SAVE

In the simulator, SAVE on the panel and the page’s buttons under it do the saving and loading:

On the page	What it does
Open…, or files dropped on the page	Loads `.lunar` files, a `.movy1` set or `.syx` DX7 patches, several at once. A sound, effects or a clip asks where it goes: Load sound “Deep space bass” into Sound 2
Save… with the list beside it	Downloads the project, the current sound, its effects, the master effects or the mod rack as a `.lunar` file, named with its kind in the middle (`first-orbit-s2.sound.lunar`), or the set as a `.movy1` file for Movy
`SAVE` on the panel	Keeps the whole project in this browser; the screen shows SAVED. Saved in this browser lists it, to load or download again
Copy link	Copies a link that holds the whole project, for anyone to open in their own browser. A link holds up to 32 KiB; a project too big for one says so, and you share the file instead

Autosave. The page keeps your project in the browser as you work, a few seconds after each change and when you leave the page, and the next visit, or the next POWER press, starts where you left off. The message then offers Start fresh, which puts the start sounds and the demo pattern back (your work stays in Recent).
Recent keeps the last five states a load replaced.
Links. A link from the guide or a page of this manual can open a file straight into the simulator, such as ?load=examples/first-orbit.lunar. A card names the file and what it replaces before you press Power on and load; your work goes to Recent first. Only files on the simulator’s own site, under its examples/, guide/ and manual/ folders, load this way.
On your own computer. When you run the simulator yourself, from localhost or 127.0.0.1, a link may also name a .lunar, .movy1 or .syx file on another local server, such as ?load=http://localhost:5173/missions/first.lunar, and a page on another local server may embed the simulator and drive it, as the guide does. The public simulator takes neither.
The examples under Saved in this browser, Recent and examples are the guide’s files (MIT): a project, a sound, effects, a mod rack and a clip.
The file formats’ schemas are published with the simulator, at schema/1/ on its site, for editors that check .lunar files.

Files are read and written in your browser; nothing is uploaded, and nothing is ever sent to an FM-1. MASTER is a preference of the page, not part of a project.

10.2.5 In the desktop tools

sim/web/build/native/fm1-sim-render --start --save project:mine.lunar --seconds 0
sim/web/build/native/fm1-sim-render --load mine.lunar --load s2:deep-bass.sound.lunar --save project:mine2.lunar
engines/build/fm1-state check mine.lunar           # whether a file fits, and what it holds

On the FM-1, saving sounds and projects to its flash memory waits for the one rule (chapter 11).

10.3 Sequencer sets

Status:On the desktopPlanned for the device

A set is everything the sequencer holds (chapter 7).

10.3.1 What a set keeps

Kept	Not kept
The tempo, the swing, the external-clock `link` setting (chapter 9) and the project key	Whether the sequencer was playing
The song	The playhead’s position
Each track’s chosen clip, its mute, its muted or soloed drum notes, and its routing	How many times each clip has looped, which conditions count
Each track’s lock lanes, with their parameters and base values	The random sequence behind probability
Every clip: its length, loop window, speed, transpose and quantise	Which tracks are drum tracks
Every note, lock, condition and probability
The default quantise for new clips, the song’s end mode and its scene names

10.3.2 In the desktop tools

The desktop tools save and load sets as text in Movy’s movy1 format, a plain text file you can read, keep under version control or share:

engines/build/fm1-seq --cmd pattern.txt --export pattern.movy1     # save the set a script builds
engines/build/fm1-seq --seq pattern.movy1 --export copy.movy1      # load a set and save it again
engines/build/fm1-render --engine macro --seq pattern.movy1 --seconds 8 --out set.wav

Movy reads these files too, and Lunar Modulator reads Movy’s. The differences:

Lunar Modulator adds a line for each track you route away from its default, and one for the project key unless it is C Major, which Movy ignores.
It keeps what it loads within its own ranges, clip speeds of 1/8X to 4X among them.
It leaves out what does not fit its memory: notes and locks beyond its pools, and tracks beyond the number it was started with.

10.3.3 On the FM-1

The FM-1 build is planned to keep sets in three stages:

In memory. The set lives in the instrument’s working memory and is lost when you switch off.
On a computer. You save a set to a computer and load it back over USB-MIDI, as system exclusive messages carrying the same movy1 text. A full set is about 90 KB and is sent in parts.
In flash memory, last. Sets will be written to an area of their own, apart from the areas M-VAVE’s firmware uses, only when you save. Each set is kept twice, so a power cut while saving cannot lose both copies.

The third stage waits for the one rule (chapter 11).

10.4 Backing up

Status:Planned for the device

10.4.1 Your work

Planned: one export that saves every sound and every set to a computer, and an import that brings them back. Until sounds and sets can be stored on the FM-1 itself, saving a set to a computer is the backup.

10.4.2 Your FM-1’s own sounds and patterns

The patches, patterns and settings that M-VAVE’s firmware keeps in the FM-1’s flash memory stay in their own areas. Lunar Modulator is planned never to write there.

Reading them would need their formats, which only a complete copy of the FM-1’s memory can show.
That copy is exactly what the one rule asks for first: a full read-out of the FM-1’s memory, kept safe, before anything is written (chapter 11).

Keep your own copies

If you use a patch editor or librarian with M-VAVE’s firmware, keep your banks on your computer as well. The FM-1 accepts voices and banks over MIDI but does not send its stored banks back.