FM-106

01What's new at a glance

Panel pages (10): VCF VCF2 DCO DCO2 ENVELOPE LFO ARP FX TAPE SEQ

02Panel reference (new controls)

Buttons

Knobs

Knobs 1–4 edit the four faders of the current page. On SEQ they are:

03The sequencer (SEQ page)

3.1 The piano roll

The SEQ page is a full piano roll: X = time (16 visible steps, 13 px each), Y = pitch (14 visible rows).

• Red column frame — the K1 step cursor.
• White outlined square — the K1 × K2 edit cell: this is where edits land.
• Cyan lines — the playhead (runs while playing).
• Filled bars — notes; taller/connected bars = ties; the view auto-scrolls to follow the cursor and the playhead.

3.2 Entering notes — three ways

1. Acid-style keybed entry (stopped, REC off): press keys on the keyboard. Each key drops its pitch into the cursor step and advances the cursor.
2. Fill with K4: move the white square onto an empty cell (K1/K2), turn K4 — a note appears at that exact pitch and gets its velocity (up/down from 64). Turning it back down to 0 removes the note again.
3. Live record (REC armed): play the keyboard (or a MIDI controller) — every held note is written into the currently playing step (or the cursor step while stopped). Play the pattern, jam over it, ideas land in the grid. How long you hold each key becomes the note's gate length; holds longer than one step extend into the following empty steps as ties (sustain, no retrigger — the chain stops before any step that already has notes), and the full current sound (all params) is stamped onto the step, so playback matches what you played.

Notes hold up to 4 pitches per step (chords).

3.3 Editing steps

• K3 — gate length of the selected note (per-step override).
• K4 — velocity of the selected note (velocity 0 = note removed).
• EDIT (tap) — note menu on the bottom of the screen:
  • RATCHET — repeat the note 2–8× inside its step
  • TIE — glue the step to the next (no retrigger)
  • ACCENT — accent flag (velocity 127)
  • SLIDE — portamento into the following step (acid glide)
• SEL (tap) — delete the note at the cursor cell (or the whole step if empty).
• SEQ menu (EDIT hold) — pattern settings:
  • STEPS — pattern length
  • BPM — tempo (40–240)
  • DIV — step rate: 1/4 · 1/8 · 1/16 · 1/32 · 1/4T · 1/8T · 1/2 · 1/1 · 2/1 · 4/1
  • GATE — default gate length
  • SWING — 0–100 (even steps longer, odd shorter)
  • REC — record arm (same as REC button)
• SEL (hold 0.5 s) — wipe everything: steps, flags and p-locks.

3.4 Parameter locks (REC)

Arm REC while the pattern plays and turn any knob on any page — the value is locked into the currently playing step. On each lap every step replays its own locked values before the note fires. This covers all sound parameters: cutoff, resonance, envelope, LFO, DCO flags, chorus, tape, everything.

• One lock per parameter per step (re-turning overwrites).
• Up to 256 locks per pattern; oldest slots rotate out when full.
• Arming mid-play is clean: only what you touch after arming is locked.
• SEL hold wipes locks with the pattern.

04TAPE effect

FX button twice → TAPE page (after the chorus in the signal path).

05MIDI reference

Connection: USB (composite: MIDI + stereo audio) or DIN MIDI IN. Receive channel and transmit channel are set independently in the global MIDI menu: MIDI IN = All (omni, default) or 1–16; MIDI OUT = 1–16 (default 1). Same menu also has SYNC (off / master / slave), LOCAL (panel keys play the engine — turn off to use the keybed purely as a MIDI controller), and PC IN (accept program-change, default on).

5.1 Notes

• Note-on/off in → voices (and the arp when enabled).
• Note-on while REC is armed → recorded into the playing (or cursor) step, exactly like the panel keybed.
• Panel keybed and sequencer notes are sent out as note-on/off.

5.2 Complete CC map (input)

Every parameter has its own CC. Incoming CCs also record p-locks when REC is armed + playing.

Sound

Sequencer

Patch / system

Program change — 0-63 loads that slot in the current bank.

5.3 CC output

The synth transmits its state so motorized controllers and DAWs stay in sync:

• Every sound parameter is sent (CC above) whenever it changes — knob, menu, or incoming CC edits all report back.
• CC 102–106 (tempo/div/length/gate/swing) on change.
• CC 107 on transport changes (0 stopped, 1 running).
• Notes on/off from the keybed and sequencer.
• Bank (CC 0) + program change when patches change from the panel.

5.4 Clock & transport

Global menu (GLO → MIDI setup) — SYNC: OFF MASTER SLAVE.

• SLAVE — the sequencer follows incoming MIDI clock (F8) with sample-accurate timing; Start (FA) starts from step 1, Continue (FB) resumes in place, Stop (FC) stops. Tempo display follows the external clock.
• MASTER — pressing PLAY sends FA + a full F8 clock stream (24/quarter) while running, FC on stop. A DAW or groovebox can slave to the FM-106.
• OFF — internal clock only (transport still works via CC 107).

06Connecting to a computer / DAW

6.1 What the computer sees

Plug the FM-106 in over USB. It enumerates as two devices at once:

• MIDI port — full duplex: everything in §5 works both ways.
• Audio interface — the synth's stereo output at 44.1 kHz arrives as a USB audio stream, no separate line-out needed.

6.2 DAW setup (recording the synth)

1. Set the DAW's input device to FM-106 (audio).
2. Create a stereo audio track, input = FM-106 L/R, input monitor on. You hear the synth through the DAW and can arm-record it like any interface source — patterns, p-lock automation sweeps and all.
3. MIDI channel: set the FM-106 transmit channel in the global menu to match the DAW track (default 1). Keybed plays and CC changes are recorded as MIDI if you want to edit the performance later.

6.3 DAW setup (controlling the synth)

1. Create a MIDI track routed to the FM-106 port, any channel (the default IN setting is All = omni).
2. Draw the CCs from §5.2 — cutoff (74), resonance (71), tempo (102), transport (107)… The DAW automation writes straight into the sound, and if REC is armed it lands as p-locks on the playing step, live.
3. To sequence from the DAW instead of the panel: CC 110 moves the edit cursor, CC 108 arms recording, note-ons fill the steps; CC 99–101 set accent/slide/ratchet per step.

6.4 Sync recipes

• DAW as master (most common): global menu → SYNC = SLAVE. Hit play in the DAW — the FM-106 sequencer locks to it (clock, start, stop, continue). Set the DAW's MIDI clock output on; the tempo display follows the DAW.
• FM-106 as master: SYNC = MASTER. Press PLAY on the FM-106 — it transmits FA/F8/FC; set the DAW to sync from external MIDI clock and its transport follows.
• Standalone with a controller: no computer needed — a MIDI keyboard plays and records (REC armed), a MIDI knob box edits any parameter via CC, and a hardware clock can slave the sequencer the same way.

6.5 Tips

• Keep SYNC = OFF when you don't want the DAW to touch the transport.
• CC 119 dump (CPU/USB stats) is a health check — if audio glitches, watch CPU load CC 119/120 replies.
• Pattern data lives in RAM: save the patch (SAVE button) after dialing in a sequence you care about — p-locks and steps store with the patch.

07Quick recipes

• Acid bassline: DIV = 1/32 · type notes with the keybed · EDIT-hold → SLIDE on the offbeats · REC + sweep cutoff for p-locks.
• Percussive roll: select a step, EDIT-tap → RATCHET 4 · ACCENT on the 1.
• DAW-locked live set: SYNC = SLAVE, REC armed, automate CC 74/71 from the DAW — every bar gets its own filter state.