THE GUIDE

01Before you start

1. Back up. Open the editor in Chrome or Edge, connect the FM-1 and save a backup of your projects.
2. Install. Open the installer, connect the FM-1 straight to the computer with a USB data cable (no hub), close other MIDI apps, and press Install. It takes about a minute; don't unplug it.
3. Switch on. The first power-on shows the boot screen, then plays the demo song, VALLEY OF GIANTS. Press PLAY to stop it. It's yours to change, or clear with TOOLS > NEW.

PALEOTONE is built on SLOOP 2.8.4 by isod89 (itself on Felucca), so everything SLOOP's sequencer, song mode and editor do is here. On top of that come six tracks instead of four, three prehistoric engines (SAURUS, SFX and ROAR), more than 200 sounds in ten kinds, five prehistoric drum kits, and big Clayborn text on every screen.

No FM-1 yet? The browser version runs the same firmware. Play it with the mouse, the computer keys printed on its panel, or a MIDI keyboard.

02The panel

03How to read this guide

04Six tracks

PALEOTONE plays six tracks at once, each with its own colour. Turn ALGORITHM to pick the track you play, record and edit; the screen takes its colour.

Track	Plays	At first
1	a synth	MARIMBA
2	a synth	JUNGLE PAD
3	a synth	JUNGLE NIGHT
4	SFX, the prehistoric world	DINO WORLD
5	CALLS, the SAURUS creatures	CALL KIT
6	drums, 16 sounds on the keys	DRUM KIT

Tracks 1 to 5 can each take any sound: the names are where they start. The demo song swaps in its own (CANYON HORN, ICE AGE PAD, SUB BASS).

Each line shows a track's sound and, on the right, its pattern; the top shows the tempo, LOOP or SONG, the section and, while it plays, the step. The four knobs set the selected track's SWNG (swing), LEVEL, STEPS (its length) and PAN. SELECT is the tempo.

White on the screen always means what you're touching; red means recording.

05Tap, hold and lock

Every function button has two lives.

• Tap it and its pages open: sound design and settings. Tap it again for its next page, or turn SELECT to walk them both ways. Each button remembers the page you used last.
• Hold it and you get a layer: while it's held, the white keys and the four knobs do something else, and the screen shows the 16 keys as 16 tiles (four rows of four). Let go and you're back to playing.
• Lock a layer: hold its button and tap HOME. It stays open with both hands free. Any other button lets it go; PLAY, REC and OCT− / OCT+ keep working inside it.

The layers are described one by one in the seven layers.

06Your first five minutes

1. Hear the demo. Press PLAY. VALLEY OF GIANTS plays on all six tracks. Lost it? SAVE pages > TOOLS > DEMO brings it back.
2. Call a creature. Turn ALGORITHM to track 5 (blue, CALL KIT) and play the keys: each key is a different creature, from a growl to a pterosaur shriek.
3. Shake the ground. Track 4 (orange, DINO WORLD) has thunder, rain, a volcano and footsteps, one per key.
4. Find a sound. On any of tracks 1 to 5, turn PRESETS. The bar names each sound and its kind; try the SAUR and ROAR kinds.
5. Record a beat. Turn to track 6 (purple, DRUM KIT), press REC and play the drums. Hold OCT− for ghost notes, OCT+ for hard hits. REC again stops recording; the loop plays on.
6. Punch in an effect. Hold FX and hold a key: an effect on the whole mix for as long as you hold it.
7. Undo. EDIT + OCT− takes the last change back; EDIT + OCT+ puts it back.

07Sounds and PRESETS

Turn PRESETS to change the selected track's sound. Your favourites come first, then the factory sounds by kind, then your own presets. The track's line shows the new name, and a big bar over the knobs names the sound and its kind.

Kind	Sounds	For
BASS	12	sub, analog and FM basses
KEYS	6	pianos, electric pianos
ORGN	12	organs and FM bells
PAD	33	pads, choirs, jungle and ice-age beds
LEAD	27	leads, horns, flutes
PLCK	23	plucks, marimbas, kalimbas
DRUM	9	pitched drum and percussion sounds
FX	40	weather, swarms, glitches, the SFX world
SAUR	21	SAURUS creatures and CALL KIT
ROAR	20	ROAR drones, war drums and rituals

Each sound is played by an engine: SLOOP's twelve (ANALOG, FM6, SAMPLE, PHYS and the rest) plus PALEOTONE's three. Tap EDIT to shape the sound with its engine's pages, and save it as your own from the SAVE pages (USER).

08SAURUS: the creature calls

SAURUS is a creature voice: one note is one call, with a body, a throat and a breath. Its twenty creatures run from LOW GROWL and DEEP RUMBLE through HADRO HORN, TYRANT ROAR, RAPTOR BARK and PTERO SHRIEK to BABY REX, SEA MONSTER and COMPY PACK. CALL KIT puts all twenty on the keys at once, starting at C2: play a herd.

09SFX: the prehistoric world

Track 4's DINO WORLD puts sixteen sounds of the prehistoric world on the white keys, one per key:

Sequence them like drums for a living landscape: rain on every bar, thunder now and then, a far roar on the last beat. The FX kind in PRESETS has more weather and swarms (TROPIC STORM, MONSOON, GEYSER, METEOR, CICADA BUZZ…).

10ROAR: drones, war drums, RING

ROAR plays drones under a melody, and drum ensembles that march by themselves: EARTHQUAKE, TUNDRA, PRIMEVAL, STAMPEDE, WAR CHANT, WAR PARADE, RITUAL FIRE, TITAN MARCH, HEARTBEAT, TALK DRUMS, FIVE MOONS, CHAOS DRUMS and more, twenty in all.

The DRONE page sets the drone's note (DRN), its level (DLVL), a fifth above it (5TH) and its breath (BRTH).

RING is back: on a ROAR sound, tap EDIT until RING shows (or turn SELECT) and turn KNOB 1 to switch it ON or OFF. With RING on, the drones ring on through the rests while the song plays, instead of stopping with each note. It's saved with the sound.

11The drum track

Track 6 plays 16 drum sounds, one per white key. A black key plays the sound of the white key on its left, for two-finger rolls. Hold OCT− while you hit for ghost notes and OCT+ for hard hits: the FM-1's keys have no velocity, so every hit is GHOST, SOFT, NORM or HARD.

PRESETS on the drum track picks the kit: PALEOTONE's DRUM KIT, TRIBAL KIT, WAR DRUMS, BONE RATTLE and RITUAL, then SLOOP's 32 (808, 909, BOOMBAP, JUNGLE, TECHNO, AMBIENT…), your own sample kits USR1–USR4 and synthesised kits SYN1–SYN4.

The DRUMS screen

With track 6 selected, tap EDIT on TRACKS: the DRUMS screen opens. Tap EDIT again (or turn SELECT) to go from the grid to the kit to one sound.

12Recording

PALEOTONE records live and layers every pass over the last (overdub). Notes land on the nearest step as you heard them.

When	REC does
Playing	Records the selected track at once. REC again stops recording; the loop plays on.
Stopped	Arms: REC READY. Your first note starts the loop and is step 1. PLAY starts it too; REC again cancels.
Stopped, empty project	A free take: play at your own tempo, then press REC on the "1" after your last bar to close the loop.
Held about 2 s	Clears the selected track. Let go before the ring fills and nothing happens.

On the REC READY screen, LENGTH sets the loop (1, 2 or 4 bars), START picks your first note or a one-bar count-in, and QUANT on snaps to the steps while off keeps your timing.

Turn ALGORITHM while recording and the take moves to the next track without stopping. The PLAY light flashes on every beat; an audible click is GLO > GLOBAL > CLICK.

13The seven layers

Hold the button; the keys and knobs change job until you let go (or lock it with HOME).

FX · PUNCH

FX + a key (white or black) plays that key's punch-in effect on the whole mix for as long as it's held: kills, loops and stutters, rewind, tape stop, half speed, freeze, filters, crush, phone, echo, wobble.

FX + KNOB 1	master FILTER: left low-pass, right high-pass
FX + KNOB 2	DUST: old sampler and vinyl
FX + KNOB 3	DUCK: sidechain pump from the kick
FX + KNOB 4	TRK FLT: the same filter on the selected track only
FX + OCT− / OCT+	reverb throw / echo throw while held

EDIT · ERASE

EDIT + key, playing	erases that sound or note from every step the playhead passes while you hold it
EDIT + key, stopped	erases it from the whole pattern
EDIT + KNOB 1	SHIFT: every step one later or earlier
EDIT + KNOB 2	LENGTH: right doubles the pattern, left halves it
EDIT + KNOB 3	TRANSP: every note a semitone up or down
EDIT + OCT− / OCT+	undo / redo
EDIT + a black key	drum track: the white keys mute and unmute their sound instead

ARP · ROLL

ARP + a held key repeats it on the grid, locked to the tempo and swing, until you let go. KNOB 1 is the RATE: 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 32T, 1/64. On the drum track add OCT− or OCT+ for ghost or hard rolls. While recording, a roll is written as ratchets. (The arpeggiator itself is on the ARP pages: tap ARP.)

SEQ · STEPS

SEQ + empty step	sets it, with the sound or note you played last
SEQ + set step (tap)	clears it
SEQ + OCT− / OCT+	the page: steps 1–16, 17–32, 33–48, 49–64
SEQ + KNOB 1–4	NOTE (or sound) to set · DIV · SWNG of the track · STEPS (1–64)
SEQ + step + KNOB 1–4	its note (or which drum sound) · LEVEL / VEL · RATCHET x1–x4 · NUDGE
SEQ + step + PRESETS	a parameter lock on that step (ALGORITHM picks which parameter)
SEQ + step + OCT+	fill condition: normal, FILL ONLY, NO FILL
SEQ + step + OCT−	clears the step's nudge, locks and fill condition

SCL · KEY

SCL + any key	the key of the song: the root of all the synth tracks
SCL + KNOB 1	CHORD of the track: OFF, TRIAD, 7TH, 9TH, SUS4, POWER (one finger, one chord)
SCL + KNOB 2	SCALE: 16 scales
SCL + KNOB 3	KEYS: OFF (chromatic), SNAP (rounded to the scale), WHITE (the white keys walk the scale)
SCL + KNOB 4	TRANSP the track, ±24 semitones

GLO · MIX

GLO + key 1–6	mute / unmute track 1–6
GLO + key 7–12	solo track 1–6 (solos add up)
GLO + key 13 (held)	FILL while held
GLO + key 14	FILL BAR: the next bar plays as a fill
GLO + key 16	tap tempo
GLO + KNOB 1–4	levels of tracks 1, 2, 3 and the drums

SAVE · SONG

SAVE + key 1–4	play section A–D (playing: from the next bar)
SAVE + several of keys 1–4	a quick chain, played in turn when you let go
SAVE + key 5–8	save the loop into A–D (over a used one: again within 3 s)
SAVE + key 13	LOOP or SONG mode
SAVE + key 14	SONG REC: what you play from the next bar is written into the song
SAVE + key 16	the SONG screen

14Every page, knob by knob

Tap a button for its pages; tap again (or turn SELECT) for the next. The top of a page shows the tempo and the track; the bottom shows the engine, the sound and the page (ENV 1/2…). Values are drawn large, with a bar under each.

TOOLS does things that can't be taken back, so each one asks twice: turn the knob one click, AGAIN shows, turn it one more click within a moment to do it.

CLRSQ	clears the selected track's pattern
INIT	sets the selected track's sound back to a plain start
DEMO	loads the demo song, VALLEY OF GIANTS
NEW	a new, empty project

15Sections and the song

A project holds four sections, A to D: each is a loop of all six tracks. Build one, save it with SAVE + key 5–8, change it, save the next. Then play them live with SAVE + key 1–4, or chain them.

The SONG screen writes them in order. KNOB 1–4 pick the ROW, its PART (A–D), BARS and LEN. REC stores the row, SAVE saves the chain, OCT− switches LOOP / SONG mode and OCT+ twice loads. In SONG mode, PLAY plays the song from the top.

The demo song is a song: sections A B C B C D, about 2:40.

16The HOME menu

Hold HOME for the menu; hold it again (or OCT−) to leave. SELECT moves between its sections, KNOB 1–3 set what each line shows.

SCREEN	COLOR (TERMINAL is PALEOTONE's palette), ZOOM, KNOB ACCEL
LIGHTS	how bright the keys and buttons glow
AUDIO	output and USB audio settings
SEQ	the sequencer's settings
SYSTEM	the version, calibration and update

17MIDI, the editor, backups

MIDI. Plug the FM-1 into a computer or a USB host. GLO > MIDI sets the channels: a keyboard on channel 1, 2 or 3 plays track 1, 2 or 3, and CH4 is the drums (10 at first). Notes you play on the FM-1 go out on USB MIDI. A MIDI keyboard works in the browser version too.

The editor. The PALEOTONE editor runs in Chrome or Edge and talks to the FM-1 over USB: back up and restore projects, edit patterns in a piano roll, import MIDI files, load your own samples and drum kits. It also comes as a single file you can keep offline (on the install page).

Saving. Your work is kept on the FM-1 as you go. Before an install or anything risky, make a backup with the editor.

18Troubleshooting and recovery