The value a locked parameter returns to on steps that have notes but no
lock of their own. Turning a knob with no step held sets it
(chapter 7).
Block
The small piece of sound the firmware computes at a time: 64 samples,
1.45 ms at 44,118 Hz.
BPM
Beats, here quarter notes, per minute: the sequencer’s tempo, from 20 to
300.
Cable
A connection in the modulation matrix, from a source such as an LFO to
a parameter or a module’s input, with an amount
(chapter 8).
Capture
The sequencer’s record-after: it keeps the last phrase you played while
not recording, so you can turn it into a clip afterwards
(chapter 7).
Choke group
Drum pads that cut each other short: a hit stops every other pad of its
group that is still ringing, as a closed hi-hat stops an open one
(chapter 5).
Clip
A loop of notes, locks and conditions on one track, from 1 to 256 steps
long. Each track has eight clip slots and plays one clip at a time.
Condition
A rule, written A:B, that plays a step only on the A-th pass of every B
passes of its clip.
Count-in
The bar of clicks the sequencer plays before it records, when you start
recording with the sequencer stopped.
Current sound
The one of the four sounds that the keys and MIDI play and the sound’s
page edits; SEL with PRESETS chooses it
(chapter 5).
Desktop tools
fm1-render and fm1-seq, programs that run Lunar Modulator’s engines,
effects and sequencer on a computer and write the result to files.
Drum track
A sequencer track whose clips are not transposed, so each note keeps its
drum, and whose single drum notes can be muted or soloed.
Encoder
A knob that turns without end, in steps you can feel. Seven of the FM-1’s
knobs are encoders; MASTER is not.
Engine
The part of the firmware that makes the notes: Macro, Shapes, Six-Op FM
and the others in chapter 5.
Envelope
A modulation module that rises and falls with each note: attack, decay,
sustain and release (chapter 8).
Event log
A file in which the desktop tools record everything the sequencer does,
one line per note, lock or clock message.
Firmware
The software built into an instrument that makes it work.
First take
A recording into an empty clip. It starts on a bar, and the clip grows a
bar at a time while you record.
Flash
The memory that keeps the firmware and saved data when the power is off.
FM synthesis
Making sound by letting oscillators (operators) change each other’s
frequency, which gives bright, bell-like and metallic tones.
Focused track
The sequencer track you work on: steps, recording, Capture and the keys
go to it (chapter 7).
Glide
A slide in pitch from one note to the next, also called portamento:
from the note you hold (Glide Mode Legato) or from the last note you
played (Always), over a set time or at a set speed per octave (Time
Mode) (chapter 4).
Identity
The model name and number an FM-1 reports about its firmware, such as
FM-1_015. More reliable than a file name
(chapter 11).
Insert
An effect slot of one sound’s own, before the sounds are mixed. Each
sound has two, In1 and In2 (chapter 6).
Lane
One of the eight places a track keeps the locks of one parameter. A
track can lock up to eight parameters at once.
Legato
Playing a note before letting go of the previous one. The Legato voice
mode then moves the one voice to the new note without starting its
sound again (chapter 4).
LFO
Low-frequency oscillator: a modulation module that moves a parameter up
and down in a repeating shape (chapter 8).
Limiter
The last stage of the sound path, which keeps the output below full
scale.
Lock
See parameter lock.
Loop window
The part of a clip that plays, starting at the beginning of a bar. Notes
outside it are kept, silent.
Low-pass gate
A combined filter and amplifier that closes as a note dies away, so the
sound gets quieter and darker together, as acoustic instruments do.
Master effects
The two effect slots, M1 and M2, that every sound goes through after the
mix.
Matrix
The list of the 32 modulation cables, which EDIT shows.
Memory meter
The bar and percentage at the right of the screen’s bottom bar: how much
of the FM-1’s free memory the sounds, effects, sequencer and modulation
would take (chapter 6).
Metronome
The sequencer’s click on every beat, with an accent on the first beat of
each bar.
MIDI
The standard way instruments and computers exchange notes, controller
movements and clock.
MIDI clock
Timing pulses, 24 to a quarter note, with Start and Stop messages, that
keep instruments playing in time with each other.
Module
One of up to eight units in the modulation rack: an LFO, an envelope, a
random source or another kind (chapter 8).
movy1
The plain text format in which the sequencer saves a set. It comes from
Movy, and both read each other’s files.
Nudge
Moving a note a little earlier or later than its step, in ticks, up to a
step either way.
One rule
Nothing is installed on, or written to, an FM-1 until a complete copy of
its memory has been read out and written back, byte for byte, on that
unit (chapter 1).
Operator
In FM synthesis, one oscillator with its own envelope. Six-Op FM and FM6
have six.
Overdub
Recording into a clip that already has notes, adding to them.
Parameter
One adjustable setting of an engine or effect, such as Timbre or Decay.
Parameter lock
A value for one parameter stored on one step of a clip, which the
parameter takes when that step plays.
Pass
One time round a clip’s loop. Conditions count passes.
Playhead
The step the sequencer is playing on a track.
Potentiometer
A knob with end stops whose position is its value, such as MASTER.
Probability
The chance that a step plays each time it comes round: on the step page,
from 100 % down to 10 %.
Quantise
Pulling recorded notes towards their steps. Lunar Modulator’s is
non-destructive: notes keep their played timing.
Rack
The eight positions that hold the modulation modules
(chapter 8).
Recovery dongle
A small device between a computer and the FM-1’s USB-C socket that
starts the processor’s recovery mode
(chapter 11).
Recovery mode
A mode built into the FM-1 processor’s read-only memory, in which a
computer can read and write the flash whatever it holds.
Role
In this manual, a sequencer function that still has to be given a key,
drawn with a dashed outline, such as
LOOP.
Routing
Where a sequencer track sends its notes: one of the four sounds, or a
USB-MIDI channel.
Sample rate
How many samples of sound the firmware computes each second. Lunar
Modulator’s is 44,118 Hz.
Scene
One clip slot across all tracks, launched together.
SEQ mode
The sequencer’s view, which SEQ opens: the 16 white keys are the
steps of a bar and the black keys are sequencer controls
(chapter 7).
Session view
The planned sequencer screen that shows every track and clip slot at
once.
Set
Everything the sequencer holds: tempo, swing, song, tracks and their
clips.
SHIFT
The sequencer’s second function key: SEL, everywhere but in FX
mode. Held, it changes what the keys, knobs and buttons do.
Simulator
The browser version of Lunar Modulator: the firmware’s engines, effects,
sequencer and modulation behind a drawing of the FM-1’s panel.
Song
A list of scenes played in order.
Step
One sixteenth note of a bar in the sequencer; 16 steps make a bar.
Step page
The screens that show a held step’s own settings: velocity, length,
probability, condition and invert.
Swing
Delaying every second sixteenth to give a pattern a shuffle.
System exclusive
MIDI messages that carry data of a manufacturer’s or project’s own, such
as a whole sequencer set.
Tick
The sequencer’s smallest step of time: 1/24 of a step, or 96 to a quarter
note.
Track
One line of the sequencer, playing one sound: one of the four sounds or
a MIDI channel.
Transpose
Moving notes up or down by semitones without changing which keys you
play.
USB-MIDI
MIDI carried over a USB cable, as the FM-1 exchanges it with a computer.
Velocity
How hard a note is played, from 1 to 127.
Voice
One sounding note. An engine’s voice count is how many notes it can play
at once.
Voice Mode
Whether an engine plays a voice per note (Poly) or one voice for every
note (Mono, Legato) (chapter 4).