Manual

TONIC turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a four-track FM groovebox modelled on the original Elektron Digitone (2018). It has four synth tracks sharing twelve voices (the Digitone has eight), a four-operator FM engine with the Digitone's eight algorithms, and two more engines to choose per sound: virtual analog (VA) and DRUM, a kit of eight synthesized drums on one track. The sequencer has parameter locks, sound locks, trig conditions, micro timing and retrig. There is an arpeggiator, a piano roll, chorus, delay and reverb, a DJ filter and sidechain ducking. This manual covers every page, parameter and key combination.

1Quick start

If you know the Digitone:

• The 16 white keys are the trig keys. REC toggles grid recording, REC+PLAY starts live recording, and SCL is FUNC.
• The page buttons (SEQ, EDIT, ENV, LFO, FX, ARP, GLO) open the Digitone's parameter pages. K1–K4 turn one row of four parameters at a time.

A first ten minutes:

1. Switch on. The demo project loads with four patterns. Press PLAY.
2. Turn ALGORITHM to choose a track (T1–T4) and play the keys.
3. Turn PRESETS to browse the sounds and press OCT+ to load one.
4. Press ENV and turn K1 (FREQ) to open and close the filter.
5. Press REC: the white keys now show the track's 16 steps. Tap a key to add or remove a trig.
6. Hold a lit step and turn a knob. That step alone gets the value, a parameter lock.
7. Hold HOME: the white keys pick patterns, black keys 1–4 mute tracks, and K1 sweeps the DJ filter.
8. Stop. TONIC saves by itself once the sound has died away.

2Installing and going back

TONIC installs over USB with the FM-1's normal update path. You can use the Install page of this site (Chrome or Edge, from localhost or https) or the command line:

python3 base/tools/fm1_install.py --info
python3 base/tools/fm1_install.py tonic-0.12.1.fwsc

• Updating TONIC: install the new package the same way. Your project is kept, because an update writes only the app area. The earlier versions stay available on this site (tonic-0.1.fwsc: FM only; tonic-0.2.fwsc: the first VA engine; tonic-0.3.fwsc: 22 VA sounds; tonic-0.3.1.fwsc: the list window, loading as you turn; tonic-0.3.2.fwsc: the screen before 0.4; tonic-0.4.fwsc: the first colour screen; tonic-0.4.1.fwsc: before the DRUM engine; tonic-0.5.fwsc: the kit's ENGINE on K1; tonic-0.5.1.fwsc: the same sound as 0.5.2, a little more CPU and RAM; tonic-0.5.2.fwsc: before euclid, arp chords, the compressor, FOLD / RING and the four new drum models; tonic-0.6.fwsc: picking a kit's pad only through NOTE or by playing it; tonic-0.6.1.fwsc: before the momentary effects; tonic-0.7.fwsc: chords only with the arpeggiator, EUCLID with LEN, HITS and ROT alone; tonic-0.8.fwsc: 21 drum models, LFOs not reaching LO-FI or pads 5-8; tonic-0.9.fwsc: the labels and help before the UI audit) and go back on the same way.
• Going back to an older TONIC: 0.5 saves patterns and sound banks in a newer form, which older versions cannot read. Under 0.4.1 or earlier, a project saved by 0.5 shows empty patterns and an empty library. The data stays in the flash until the older version saves over it. Make a backup (below) before going back, and restore it after updating again. Going back from a newer version to 0.5.x or later is gentler: the older version reads the project and leaves out what it does not know (e.g. under 0.5.x the compressor, FOLD / RING and the chords; a pad with a new drum model plays BD 808). A library sound that uses something it does not know (a new drum model, the arp's RAND / CHRD, a chord voicing) shows as an empty slot there.
• Back to the stock firmware: install M-VAVE's FM-1_015.fwsc (V15) from TONIC. Then run System > Reset Patches on the stock firmware.
• If something goes wrong: two failed starts in a row bring up SAFE MODE, where USB is on and you can install again. Four bring up the chip's own update mode.
• Backup of your project: python3 base/tools/fm1_backup.py backup FILE and restore FILE. Stop the sequencer first.

3The concepts

The twelve voices are shared (eight before 0.11). A track takes a free voice for each note and steals the oldest when all are busy (GLO > VOICE sets how). You can also reserve voices for a track.

4The panel

Rows and pages. A Digitone page has eight parameters; TONIC shows them as two rows of four, and K1–K4 turn the lit row. Press the page button again for the next row (it steps when you let go). SCL + page button goes back one row; SELECT also steps through the rows. The top right of the screen shows the row's number, for example 2/5.

Knob speed. A slow turn moves the finest step: a quarter step on the parameters the Digitone shows with two decimals. A fast turn moves further. Hold SCL while turning for the finest step at any speed.

5The screen

TONIC draws the Digitone's screen layout at the LCD's full resolution and in colour.

• Header: the pattern, then a bar in the active track's colour with its sound and the row number.
• Tabs: under the header, the pages of the button you pressed (for example SYN1 · SYN1 2 · SYN2 · SYN2 2); the page shown is highlighted. GLO has too many for one line: < and > show that more are there.
• Left column: meters for T1–T4 in their colours and the master (M: green, yellow, red near full scale). The active track's number is highlighted.
• Middle: the page's two rows of four values. The row the knobs edit has its names on an accent bar; locked values are shown in the accent colour.
• Moving pictures: - A dot runs along the envelopes (operator A and B, filter, amp) where the track's sound is now. - A dot runs along the LFO wave at its phase. - The filter row shows the filter's curve. It follows the cutoff as the filter envelope moves it; the set cutoff is dotted. - On SYN1 the algorithm's lines grow thicker with the modulation (LEV × envelope).
• Bottom band: the 16 steps in the track's colour (the playhead moves along them), the step pages, the tracks in their colours and the tempo.
• Mode line: what the keys do now (KEYS, GRID, PERFORM …).
• Colours: GLO > DISPLAY > THEME: OLED (white on black), AMBER, PHOSPHOR (green), BLUE, PAPER (dark on light). The theme is kept with the project's settings.

When you turn a knob, a pop-up shows the parameter's name and value large for a moment.

Help: hold a button on its own for a second (SCL, a page button, REC, PLAY, OCT, SAVE, FX, GLO, ARP), and the screen lists what it does alone and in combinations. Let go to return.

6Playing the keys

• In keyboard mode (REC dark), the 27 keys play the active track chromatically from the keyboard's octave. OCT− and OCT+ move it. SCL + white key 1–4 picks the track.
• Velocity and pressure: the keys are velocity-sensitive. GLO > TEMPO > VEL picks KEYS (as played) or FIXED (GLO > SCALE > FIX VEL).
• Keyboard scale and chords: GLO > KEYBOARD maps the keys to a scale with a root. FOLD leaves out the notes outside the scale, and CHORD plays a chord per key (ON, MAJ, MIN, 7TH, MIN7, MAJ7, DIM, DIM7).
• Transpose: SCL+OCT transposes the track by a semitone. HOME held + OCT transposes the whole pattern.

Scales: CHROM, MAJOR, MINOR, DORIAN, PHRYG, LYDIAN, MIXO, LOCRIAN, PENT MA, PENT MI, HARM MI, WHOLE.

7Making a sound

1. Choose the track with ALGORITHM. Turn PRESETS to start from a factory sound (a list opens: OCT+ loads the sound under the cursor; SCL + PRESETS jumps by group, e.g. to the VA sounds), or use SAVE > INIT SOUND for a plain sine.
2. EDIT > SYN1: the algorithm and the operators' ratios. Nothing modulates until LEV A or LEV B (SYN2) is up.
3. EDIT > SYN2: the two operator envelopes. They shape how the timbre moves.
4. ENV: the filters, the amp envelope, drive, pan, volume and the effect sends.
5. LFO: movement, as vibrato, wobble or filter sweeps.
6. To use the VA engine instead of FM, go to EDIT, the last row (SYN2 2), and set K4 ENGINE to VA. The SYN pages become the oscillator pages (section 8). ENGINE DRUM makes the track a drum kit, or load one of the KITS presets.
7. Keep it with SAVE > SOUND > LIBRARY (32 user slots, chosen with PRESETS) or SOUND > POOL (for sound locks).

Holding a page button gives two shortcuts:

• CONTROL ALL: hold SEQ, EDIT, ENV or LFO and turn a knob. The value goes to all four tracks. A parameter whose meaning is the engine's (the SYN pages, the LFO and modulation destinations) goes only to the tracks of the same engine.
• Randomize: hold the page button and press REC. The row's four sound parameters get random values.
• Defaults: hold the page button and press OCT−. The row goes back to its defaults.
• Revert: in all three cases, press SCL while still holding the page button to undo.

8SYN1 and SYN2: the FM, VA and DRUM engines

TONIC's engine has four sine operators named as on the Digitone: C (carrier), A, B1 and B2. The algorithm decides who modulates whom. Each algorithm has two outputs, X and Y, and MIX fades between them.

SYN1, row 1

SYN1, row 2

SYN1 2: ratio offsets

OFSC, OFSA, OFB1, OFB2 (−0.999…+0.999) are added to each operator's ratio. Use them for inharmonic, bell-like and metallic tones.

SYN2: operator envelopes

Envelope A drives operator A. Envelope B drives B1 and B2. On the screen the two rows are marked A and B, and their knobs read ATK, DEC, END, LEV.

SYN2 2

The VA engine

A sound's ENGINE (EDIT, SYN2 2, K4) is FM or VA. With VA, two oscillators, a sub-oscillator and noise replace the four operators. Everything after them is the same as for FM: overdrive, LO-FI, the filters, the amp, the LFOs and the effects.

Switching ENGINE sets the SYN pages to that engine's defaults. The FLTR, AMP and LFO settings stay, and undo takes a switch back. The pages are titled OSC, OSC 2, ENV and ENV 2, and the left column shows the two waves, the sub and the noise.

SHAPE (TONIC 0.6): FOLD and RING (0–63) on the last VA page.

• FOLD is a wavefolder. It drives the oscillators' mix up to nine times into a triangle that folds back at the top and bottom. A sine gains bright, buzzy overtones, the classic west-coast sound. An LFO or an envelope on FOLD makes the timbre move.
• RING adds ring modulation, OSC1 × OSC2. It brings in the sum and difference of the two pitches: bells, metal, robot voices. Detune OSC2 with TUNE for inharmonic tones.
• Both at 0 is the VA engine as before.

The LFOs and the modulation pages reach the VA parameters under their VA names (WAV1, SUB, TUNE 2, DETN, PW, MIX, PENV, MENV, PITCH 2, SYNC, NOIS, XMOD, DRFT, FOLD, RING). Unison (GLO > VOICE) with DETN and DRFT makes supersaw-style stacks.

The DRUM engine

With ENGINE DRUM a track becomes a kit of eight pads, each a synthesized drum (no samples): kicks, snares, hats, toms and percussion in the manner of the classic drum machines. One track holds a whole drum set, so the other three stay free for bass, chords and leads. Load a kit from the KITS presets (808, 909, FM, ELECTRO, TECHNO, LOFI, PERC, TRAP) or switch ENGINE (EDIT, SYN2 2, K4) to DRUM for the default kit.

Playing. The white keys are the pads: keys 1–8 are pads 1–8, keys 9–16 the same pads again (a black key plays the white key to its left). OCT does not move them. The notes behind the pads are C4, D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B4 and C5, also over MIDI. Track transpose and the keyboard's scale and chord settings leave a kit alone.

The pages. The SYN pages become the kit:

Each pad has its own page (since 0.12.1). Playing a pad on the keys, or picking it, moves to its page, so you hit a drum and turn it. The picture on the left shows the eight pads; a pad lights while it sounds, and the page's pad is drawn in the foreground.

The pads' controls (each pad's page, row 2; TONIC 0.12). Each pad has two more knobs whose meaning is its model's, and its own PAN. At 0 the model sounds exactly as before; the knob names follow the model:

PAN (−64 left … +63 right) places the pad on its own, on top of the sound's PAN. All three can be locked per step.

How a kit plays.

• Each pad plays as a one-shot: it rings for its own decay, however long the note is.
• A pad hit again takes over its own voice, so a fast hat roll uses one voice, not eight.
• A closed hat (HH CL, HH 9 CL, HH 606) chokes an open one (HH OP, HH 9 OP) on the same track.
• The kit still shares the twelve voices with the other tracks. Long open hats or cymbals and pad chords can use up voices.
• Everything after the drums works as for FM and VA: overdrive, LO-FI, the filters with their envelope, the amp, the LFOs, the effect sends. - The AMP envelope starts open (ATK 0, SUS 127, REL INF). A shorter release gates the kit by the note length. - The filter and LO-FI act on the whole kit.
• Parameter locks work per pad. Lock 2 SD's TUNE on one step and only the snare there changes.
• Retrig (TRIG page) gives snare rolls and hat ratchets.
• Every pad is an LFO and modulation destination (1 TUNE … 8 LEV), and the whole kit too (ALL TUNE, ALL DEC, ALL TONE, ALL LEV). PITCH moves the whole kit.

Picking the pad. The picked pad is the one the grid places, EUCLID writes and NOTE shows. The screen shows it beside the mode at the bottom right (e.g. GRID 4 CH). Pick it in any of these ways:

• In grid recording: hold black key 8 and press white key 1–8.
• Anywhere: SCL + OCT−/OCT+, the pad before or after it. A kit has no transpose.
• Playing the keys: OCT−/OCT+ alone (a kit has no octaves), or simply play the pad.
• NOTE on the TRIG page, which shows the pads (1 BD, 2 SD …).

Programming beats. In grid recording (section 11) a step key places the picked pad. A step can hold up to four pads:

• A step key on a step without the picked pad adds that pad.
• A short tap on a step with the picked pad takes only that pad out.
• The step keys and the screen show the picked pad's steps lit and the other pads' steps half lit.

Live and step recording record the pads you play.

9FLTR and AMP: filters, envelope, LO-FI

The signal path of a voice is: operators → overdrive → LO-FI → base-width filter → multimode filter → amp → pan → sends.

FLTR

FLTR 2

AMP

AMP 2: sends

CHR, DEL and REV (OFF to 127) send the voice to the chorus, delay and reverb.

LOFI (TONIC's own)

LOFI comes after the overdrive and before the filters, so the filter can tame it. Both can be locked per step.

INSRT: the insert effect (TONIC 0.12)

Each voice has an insert effect after the filter (the overdrive DRV comes before it). It needs no memory, so it costs nothing when it is OFF.

AMT, TONE and MIX are also LFO and modulation destinations (I AMT, I TONE, I MIX).

10LFO1 and LFO2

Each voice has two LFOs. LFO2 can also modulate LFO1.

MENV: the modulation envelope (TONIC 0.12)

A third modulator: an envelope, started by every note, that goes to any destination as an LFO does (DEST: the same list).

Ideas: a pitch blip at the start (DEST PITCH, short DEC), FM index that falls (HARM or A LEV), the insert's drive that swells (I AMT), the reverb send that opens with the release.

Destinations: ALGO, RAT C, RAT A, RAT B, HARM, DTUN, FDBK, MIX, A/B envelope parameters, PITCH, PIT AB2 (pitch of A and B2), RAT ALL, AB LEV, AB ATK/DEC/END/DEL, ratio offsets, FREQ, RESO, F ENV, filter envelope, BASE, WIDTH, amp envelope, DRIVE, PAN, VOL, REV, DEL, CHR. LFO2 also reaches LFO1's SPD, MULT, FADE, WAVE, SPH, MODE and DEP. From 0.9 also: SRR and BRR (LO-FI), and on a DRUM kit every pad (1 TUNE … 8 LEV) and the whole kit (ALL TUNE, ALL DEC, ALL TONE, ALL LEV). From 0.12 the insert effect: I AMT, I TONE, I MIX. LFO1's DEST skips LFO1's own parameters. The modulation pages (VELOCITY, MOD WHEEL, AFTERTOUCH, BREATH, PITCH BEND) reach every destination, LFO1's parameters too: the mod wheel on LFO1's DEP is the classic vibrato.

11Sequencing: grid recording

Press REC (lit) for grid recording. The white keys are steps 1–16 of the step page; the screen and the keys show the trigs.

• Add or remove: press an empty step to place a note trig at the track's NOTE. Press a trig briefly to remove it. Hold it longer to edit it without removing it.
• Parameter locks: hold a step and turn K1–K4 on any page. Locked values show inverted. Hold several steps to lock them together.
• Sound lock: hold a step and turn PRESETS to pick a pool sound for it.
• Lock trig: SCL + white key (or black key 5 + white key) places a trig with locks and no note.
• Note of a step: hold it and press OCT−/OCT+ (SCL: by octaves), or turn NOTE on the TRIG page.
• Chords: record them live or in step recording; a trig holds up to 4 notes.
• Drum kits: a step key places the picked pad, and more pads join a step (section 8, The DRUM engine).

The euclidean generator (SEQ, the EUCLID pages, TONIC's own). It spreads a number of hits as evenly as possible over a cycle of steps: the rhythms of much of the world's music (3 in 8: the tresillo, 5 in 8: the cinquillo, 4 in 16: four to the floor).

• Each turn rewrites the track at once. - On a kit it writes only the picked pad (section 8), and the other pads stay. Give the kick 4 in 16, pick the hat and give it 6 in 16 with ROT 1, and so on. The KIT pages write each pad on its own knob. - On another track it places note trigs. It sets their velocity (ACC, GHOST) and their probability (PROB, GHOST: as trig conditions, so they change every pass); with FIXED, notes and locks of existing trigs stay.
• On a kit, the steps hold several pads, so accents and ghosts are the pad's LEV locked on its steps (an accent full, the other hits 70 %, a ghost 35 %). Its chances are rolled when it writes: turn a knob again for a new roll.
• With HITS at 0 and no STYLE, the other knobs wait; turning HITS writes.
• A step with locks keeps them: where a hit goes, it stays as a lock trig.
• A kit's step holds up to 4 pads; a fifth is not placed (4 PADS FULL). When the pattern has no room left, the turn is not written (PATTERN FULL).
• Undo (SCL + a tap on HOME) takes the last turns back, with the generator's settings.
• The circle shows the rhythm (accents ringed), the hits joined into their polygon, and the step playing now.
• The settings are remembered per track and per pad until the FM-1 is switched off.

Black keys in grid recording:

Undo: SCL + a short tap on HOME takes back the latest edits. Everything within a moment counts as one step. The same again redoes them. It keeps one step, and starts afresh when you change patterns.

12Live and step recording

Live recording: hold REC and press PLAY. Play the keys: the notes are written with their timing and length, and chords on one step become chords. Turning a knob records locks.

• PLAY (while holding REC) toggles quantize.
• PLAY alone leaves live recording; PLAY again stops.
• Quantize afterwards: GLO > SCALE (second row), K4 MICRO shows the track's largest micro timing. Turning it down shrinks every offset in proportion, and 0 puts all trigs on the grid.

Step recording: SCL+REC. The keys are a keyboard again. Play a note or a chord and it is written to the active step, which then moves on. PRESETS moves the active step, and knob turns lock it.

13The TRIG page

SEQ opens the TRIG page: the track's defaults for new trigs, or a held step's own values.

The track LEVEL is on the MIXER page and on HOME (K1–K4).

14Trig conditions, micro timing, retrig

Conditions: hold a step and turn PROB/COND. The values come in the Digitone's order:

Micro timing: hold a step and press black key 6 or 7. The trig moves in steps of 1/384 note, up to ±23 (almost a step).

Retrig (SEQ, fourth row RTRG, TONIC's own):

All three can be locked per step: one trig can roll while the next plays once. LEN sets how long the roll lasts, so a 1/16 trig at 1/64 gives four quick hits. The next note trig on the track ends a roll.

15The piano roll

Press SEQ until the third row: the active track's notes as a piano roll.

• Keyboard and grid: - A small keyboard runs along the left. The keys of the notes sounding now light up in the accent colour. - Black-key lanes are shaded, and each C has a line and its name. - Bars are solid lines, beats dotted.
• Notes: - Each note is a rounded bar in the track's colour, as long as it sounds. Chord notes stack, and micro timing shifts them. - Soft notes (velocity under 64) are hollow. - A note sounding now turns to the accent colour. - A retrig's repeats show as cuts in the bar. - A dot above a note marks locks or a condition.
• Under the notes: - The velocity lane shows each trig's velocity as a stalk. - Lock trigs are ticks there.
• Playhead and length: the playhead glides as a line with a marker on top. Steps past the track's length are shaded.
• K1 VIEW: AUTO fits the track's notes. Turn it to choose the lowest note shown.
• K2 ZOOM: 16 steps (the step page the keys reach), 32 or 64. The line on top marks the keys' page.
• K3 NOTE, K4 LEN: with a step held in grid recording, its note and length. The bar moves as you turn.
• Drum kits: the roll has a lane for each pad, named by its model (BD at the bottom), and each hit is a short block. A lane's mark at the left lights while its pad sounds, and the picked pad's name is in the accent colour.

16Pattern length, speed, chains and songs

SEQ > TRACK (and GLO > SCALE): length and speed are always the track's own (TONIC 0.12).

Patterns from before 0.12 with one length for all tracks (the former MODE PTRN) play as they did; the first LEN or SCALE turned on one track makes them per track, with MLEN INF and CHLEN OFF, so they keep changing at track 1's end.

Changing patterns: turn PRESETS on HOME, or hold HOME and press a white key. The new pattern starts when the current one ends (or at its change length).

Chains: hold HOME and press several pattern keys in turn. They play one after the other and loop.

Song mode (GLO > SONG): up to 32 rows, each with a pattern, a repeat count and the tracks muted in it.

• Row 1: ROW picks the row to edit (a higher row lengthens the song), PTN its pattern, REPEAT how often it plays, MUTE which tracks are silent.
• Row 2: SONG switches song mode on, ROWS sets the song's length, and END loops or stops at the end.
• With song mode on, PLAY starts the song from its first row.

Tempo and swing: GLO > TEMPO, or turn SELECT on HOME. Swing runs from 50 to 80 %. TEMPO sets whether the tempo is the project's or each pattern's own. Tap tempo is HOME held + black key 8.

17The arpeggiator

ARP turns held notes, from the keys or from trigs, into a pattern. It belongs to the sound.

Chords (ARP group, the CHORD page; TONIC's own). With a CHORD set, every note the sound plays becomes a chord: a key you hold, a trig of the sequencer, a retrig's repeats and a note from MIDI. This works with the arpeggiator off, and the chord then sounds as a whole. With the arpeggiator on, it walks through all the chord's notes instead: hold one key for a chord arpeggio, hold two and both chords are woven together. The chord belongs to the sound, so it is saved with it. A kit's notes are its pads and never become chords.

The sound's scale (ARP > SCALE: SCALE, ROOT; TONIC 0.12).

With a SCALE (MAJOR, MINOR, DORIA, PHRYG, LYDIA, MIXO, LOCRI, PENTA, PENTm, HARMm, WHOLE) and its ROOT, every note the sound plays snaps to the scale: keys, trigs, MIDI, the arpeggiator and its offsets (the nearest scale note, the lower one on a tie). A kit is never affected.

With a scale, CHORD lists the chords by the scale's degrees instead of their names, so each note gets the chord that belongs to the key:

INV, VOICE, BASS and STRUM work on them as on the named chords. The named chord stays set: SCALE OFF brings it back.

A chord of up to six notes uses that many voices, out of the twelve. A note let go ends the whole chord. GLO > KEYBOARD's own CHORD is something else: it makes the keys play several notes, and those notes are recorded into the trigs; the sound's CHORD plays a chord on whatever note comes in.

RNG, the step offsets and the modes work on the whole set of chord notes; MODE UP with RNG 2 plays the chord, then the chord an octave higher. Two modes are made for chords (0.8): RAND picks among the notes at random; CHRD plays the whole chord on every arp step (rhythmic chord stabs, strummed if STRUM is set), RNG moving it up an octave each step.

18Effects and the mixer

The effects are per pattern and can be locked per step from any track; a lock holds until the track's next trig. The sends are on each sound's AMP 2 row.

CHORUS:

DELAY:

Time changes glide like a tape delay.

REVERB:

MIXER:

COMP (TONIC's own): a compressor on the master, after the effects. It glues a mix together and makes it denser.

The line under the knobs shows the gain reduction (GR) as it happens. Like every effect, COMP can be locked per step.

19Ducking and the DJ filter

These are TONIC's own, not on the 2018 Digitone.

Ducking (FX > DUCK, PUMP): a source track's notes push the other tracks down, the classic sidechain pump. Or the tempo does it: volume shaping on every quarter (or eighth, …), with no kick needed.

Both pages draw the curve the settings make, one division long (a quarter with a track as the source), with a dotted line at the place in it now and a bar at the right for how far the mix is down now. Four on the floor: DUCK 1/4, DPTH 80–110, REL 60–90, KEEP the kick's track.

Every value can be locked per step. A trick: make the source a MIDI track (GLO > MIDI > EXT) with kick trigs and no instrument behind it. It ducks the pads without making a sound of its own.

DJ filter (FX > MIXER > FILT): one knob on the whole mix, after the master overdrive. Below 0 it is a lowpass (down to 78 Hz at −64); above 0, a highpass (up to 7.7 kHz at +63); 0 is off. It glides, so sweeps are smooth. On the performance layer it is K1.

20The performance layer

Hold HOME, or tap HOME twice to lock it: then the layer stays without holding HOME (the header shows LOCKED), and a single tap on HOME leaves it. Locked, each pattern key picks its pattern; hold HOME while pressing several for a chain. The screen shows the performance page.

On HOME itself (tapped), K1–K4 are the track levels and SELECT is the tempo.

Momentary effects (TONIC 0.7)

On the performance layer, hold SCL and press a white key 1–9: its effect lasts as long as you hold the white key. You can let go of SCL (and even HOME) first; the key's release ends the effect. Several effects can be held at once, for instance a ROLL with a filter sweep. While SCL is held, the screen and the keys show the effects instead of the patterns; the effects held now are lit.

The effects act on the sequencer and the master; MIDI notes going out follow the sequencer (ROLL and HALFTIME change them too; MIDI clock out slows with HALFTIME and TAPE). Nothing is saved: the pattern is as it was.

21GLO: tempo, scale, voices, setup, modulation, MIDI

22Saving and the SAVE page

TONIC saves by itself: changes are written to the flash once the sequencer has stopped and the sound has died away. A flash write stops the CPU for a moment, so nothing is written while it plays. SAVE glows while something is unsaved; SCL+SAVE writes at once. When you switch on, the last pattern is back.

On the SAVE page, SELECT picks a row, PRESETS a slot, and SAVE does it. The destructive rows ask for a second SAVE; OCT cancels.

While a pattern change is waiting (the next pattern cued), RELOAD, PASTE and CLEAR wait too (PATTERN CHANGE / WAIT FOR IT).

A pattern has a fixed room in the flash. A lock, an edit of a sound or a loaded sound that would not fit is refused with PATTERN FULL. A pattern that grew too big in another way (a long recording) keeps its notes when it is saved and drops its last locks (PATTERN FULL / LOCKS DROPPED).

23MIDI

• USB MIDI in and out. The FM-1's TRS jack is MIDI in only; there is no DIN out.
• In: - Notes on channels 1–4 play tracks 1–4 (with TRK CH on); the AUTO channel plays the active track. - CC numbers follow the Digitone's for the sound parameters (CC MSB): for example 90 ALGO, 23 FREQ, 24 RESO, 7 VOL, 74 filter TYPE, 29 LFO1 DEP. - 94 mutes a track, 95 sets its level, and program change picks a pattern. - Mod wheel, breath, aftertouch and pitch bend go to the modulation pages.
• Out: each track's notes on its channel (GLO > MIDI), and MIDI clock when CLK OUT is on.
• MIDI tracks: GLO > MIDI > EXT makes the active track play an external instrument over USB-MIDI. Its trigs, chords, NOTE, VEL and LEN locks, conditions, micro timing, retrigs and arpeggios all go out, and no internal voice plays.
• Clock in: with CLK IN on, TONIC follows the incoming tempo, start and stop.

24Shortcuts at a glance

25Factory sounds and the demo

TONIC's factory sounds are its own (not Elektron's). PRESETS steps through them, then the user library. Turning PRESETS opens a list window at the track's own sound (marked >). Each detent moves the cursor one sound; nothing changes yet. OCT+ loads the sound under the cursor, OCT− closes the list without loading. SCL + PRESETS jumps the cursor to the next or previous group (KEYS, BELLS, BASS, LEADS, PADS, DRUMS, TEXTURES, VA, KITS, INIT, then the user library as U01…). The groups are marked, and the cursor's group and place are on top. The list also closes after 6 s untouched, or when you press another button.

The demo project (SAVE > LOAD DEMO PROJECT) has four patterns, A01–A04, and a sound pool. Take them apart: hold a step to see its locks.

26TONIC and the Digitone

TONIC follows the Digitone (OS 1.44) closely. Its operator, filter, envelope, LFO, velocity and mixer curves are taken from measurements of the Digitone OS. Where the FM-1 differs:

• 4 tracks in all, each a synth or a MIDI track, instead of 4 synth + 4 MIDI tracks.
• 32 patterns, a 16-sound pool and a 32-sound library instead of 128 / 128.
• 4 knobs instead of 8: each Digitone page is two rows.
• One song of up to 32 rows.
• No audio input and no DIN MIDI out. USB audio out carries the master.
• The effects' algorithms are TONIC's own. The parameters are the Digitone's.
• TONIC's additions: the VA and DRUM engines, the momentary effects, the euclidean generator, chords in the arpeggiator, the master compressor, retrig, LO-FI, the DJ filter, ducking, the piano roll, undo/redo, the help, tap tempo, track shift, row defaults and the value pop-up.
• No compatibility: TONIC does not read Digitone projects, sounds or SysEx.

The full comparison is in docs/FEATURES.md; the research behind the curves is in docs/RESEARCH.md.

27Troubleshooting

Try TONIC without an FM-1 in the Emulator on this site. It runs the same code, with sound and Web MIDI.