This one is in via Kyle who wrote the app for his kids!
"My kids are why I made this. I wanted a synth they could pick up and play without getting lost in menus, so I built Gnomad, a free firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. Sounds are pictures, the knobs are colour coded, and a little gnome sings along. There's an iPhone/iPad app on the way too, with lessons built in."
"What's different about it
There are plenty of FM-1 firmwares. This one is built to be easy, so it works for kids and for adults who have never touched a synth.
EASY mode, in pictures. Turn one knob and you pick a picture: the Gnome, organ, bells, laser, whale, choir, cloud, piano, funny sounds or drums. That's 10 pictures and 57 sounds, and you don't have to be able to read to find one.
Four coloured knobs (blue, green, yellow, vermilion) that shape the sound you picked. Each sound gives its knobs their own jobs, and the screen names each job in the knob's colour. You can't turn them wrong. If something sounds odd, turn it back.
The Gnome sings. Each key gets its own syllable.
Grooves. Five ready-made loops (Head Nod, Floor Filler, Rainy Desk, Night Bus, Sky Garden) to play along with or build on. Keys 6 to 9 hold your own four saved songs.
Record a loop. Press REC and then PLAY, wait for the 4-3-2-1 count-in, and play. It goes round and round. Hold SAVE to undo, and the screen tells you what it took off.
Play it live. Hold PLAY and the loop restarts on the next bar. Press GLO + PLAY and it stops at the end of the bar. Hold GLO and play keys for a fill, or hold FX and play keys to try a sound without recording it.
Advanced mode is still there. Hold HOME + SAVE for 2 seconds to switch between the two modes. You get four tracks, a step sequencer, effects, MIDI over USB and TRS, and every page of the synth. Your music stays as it is.
Links:
https://gnomad.cc
https://github.com/kpalaniuk/gnomad-firmware
You can find the M-VAVE FM-1 on Amazon.
