Mutable Dreams 1.3 is here. Thank you for listening, sharing your music and helping this instrument grow. Explore new voices, keep your own Biomes and shape them on your FM-1 or in the browser.
5 Lo-Fi kits · 48 additional warm tones · 16 new Biomes · protected Biome changes
MD / INSTRUMENTS FOR WANDERINGAN INSTRUMENT FOR SMALL WORLDSGENERATIVE SYNTHESIS · M-VAVE FM-1 · VERSION 1.3
Mutable
Dreams.
Six synth voices, or three synths and a Lo-Fi kit.
Small worlds, endlessly unfolding.
Explore 108 Biomes, shape 336 sounds, or begin with a blank canvas.
small worlds, slowly unfolding
Play the instrument here · Explore it on your FM-1
01 / BIOME ATLASVelvet Mist108 Biomes + Blank ↗
A Biome contains the complete instrument. If you have unsaved edits, you can keep editing, open User Banks to save, or explicitly discard and load. Factory Biomes always remain available.
Two worlds, one instrument
Shape sounds here, or connect your FM-1 and edit it live. BROWSER
The browser and FM-1 keep separate User Banks. Connect with USB to use the hardware banks.
Hardware editing needs the matching Mutable Dreams 1.3 firmware and Web MIDI with SysEx (Chrome or Edge). Audio comes from the FM-1 while connected; the small display is a live parameter view. Export / Import below transfers one complete live Biome as a file. SAVE keeps it on the selected instrument. Full .mddb backups contain the saved project, preferences and all User Banks; unsaved live edits, granular audio and calibration are excluded. A full restore requires STOP, internal clock, and physical SEL confirmation. Save changes before backing up, or export the live patch separately.
Five Motion Sketches
Five editable examples of the new sequence and LFO controls. Start the instrument and stop playback before loading; save or export your current Biome first.
02 / THE BROWSER EDITORChoose a sound · Keep your rhythm
Make this world your own.
Six synth voices, or three synth voices and one Lo-Fi kit, rhythms, filters and effects are playable here. Start the instrument, select a voice, then explore its pages.
Patch files keep your six voices, patterns and settings. Stop before importing. User Banks stores 16 Biomes and 64 sounds in this browser; export keeps as many files as you like. In BROWSER mode, edits stay in this browser. After Connect FM-1, edits affect the selected device. The live granular recording is not stored.
Start the instrument to open your patch library.
YOUR LIVING INSTRUMENTVELVET MIST
MUTABLE DREAMS DISPLAY · 240 × 240
PLAY THE SELECTED VOICE
The living background responds to the selected page: sparse settings leave more space, larger grains draw longer forms, and increased modulation brings more movement. It is a guide to settings, not an audio waveform. Hold a function button to see its controls explained on the display. Tap to use it. EDIT: Sound → Filter → Envelope → Mix → Mixer. SEQ: Rhythm → Groove → Bass → Phrase → Sequence → Expression → Flow. FX: Grain → Tape → Space → Modulation → Tidal Motion A → Tidal Motion B → Air. GLO: Harmony → Journey → System → Look → MIDI → Banks. HOME + PRESET: Biome. EDIT + PRESET: sound preset. Every track can use every engine.
Keep your unsaved Biome? A QUIET LOOK AT THE UPDATENew textures. New movement.
Seven different recordings from the FM-1, with a calm English introduction to the changes. The screen views are native firmware renders.
Watch on YouTube ↗ · Read the transcript
GROWING THROUGH YOUR FEEDBACK
Thank you for listening.
Your response to Mutable Dreams has shaped this next chapter. Your requests for warmer sounds, personal Biomes and dependable performance are at the heart of this update. Thank you for making music with it, and for telling us what could be better.
Give each world its own movement.
01 / NEW TEXTURESFive original Lo-Fi kits
Forty drum and texture one-shots, forty-eight additional tones and sixteen new Biomes. Play one kit with three synth tracks, or six freely assigned synth tracks.
02 / FOLLOW A NEW PATHMelodic Flow
Five directions, pattern offset and gentle velocity feel. Eight scale-aware generators and eight chord journeys, with up to sixteen bars per chord and nearby root moves.
03 / TWO TIDESTwo LFOs per synth
Independent targets, curves, depth and cycles. Move colour, panorama, sends or soft swells.
Larger type, calmer dark backgrounds, translucent controls, small living forms and organic envelope curves make room for the music. An accidental Biome change asks before replacing your unsaved edits. Hold a function key for help. On GLO → LOOK / STARTUP, K4 gives the physical button LEDs Off, Dim or Soft backlight.
Browser 1.3 saves are separate from 1.2. Export older browser patches from the retained 1.2 page and import them here. Keep a device bank backup and a separate live-patch export before installing. New 1.3 Biomes require 1.3; older Biomes migrate with neutral new motion settings.
All changes · Illustrated guide · Qualification and limits · Complete source
VERSION 1.3 / INSTALL WITH CAREKeep your worlds. Explore new ones.
Save your Biome, back up all saved User Banks as .mddb, and export unsaved live edits as a separate JSON file. Disconnect the live editor before updating. Connect only the FM-1 you intend to update and keep power and USB attached until the identity is verified.
Install or return to Stock V15 ↗ · Download firmware ↓ · GitHub release ↗
Read the update and recovery guide · Offline installer kit. Stock V15 and V16 were each verified as starting points for this firmware using the exact-device USB update protocol. The official M-UPGRADE application successfully installed Stock V16 from V15, but rejected this custom 1.3 package with “File format error”; use the included browser or Python installer for Mutable Dreams. No direct path from every other custom firmware is claimed.
Returning to Stock V15 erases saved User Banks and preferences. Reinstall Mutable Dreams, restore the .mddb backup with physical SEL on the device, then import a separately exported live patch. Browser storage remains separate from the hardware. USB MIDI was tested; physical TRS-MIDI remains unverified.
WITH GRATITUDE / OUR ROOTS
From a generous idea,
new worlds can grow.
Mutable Dreams owes its foundations to Émilie Gillet and Mutable Instruments. Their instruments and openly shared code made this exploration possible. Selected original algorithms from Plaits, Rings and the new Elements Strike subset form part of our sound engine, with their original credits and MIT notices preserved.
Our contribution is a six-voice instrument for the FM-1: editable Biomes, generative rhythms, a custom granular bus, and an interface that invites discovery. We want to carry that spirit of curiosity into something approachable, expressive, and unmistakably its own.
An independent community project, unaffiliated with and not endorsed by Mutable Instruments. These are selected algorithms, not complete module ports. Our granular bus and Round Bass are our own designs. Marbles-inspired remembered variation, Tides-inspired cyclic modulation and Warps-inspired ring blending are original implementations, not complete ports of those modules.
Mutable Dreams · Independent firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1. Selected DSP: Émilie Gillet / Mutable Instruments, MIT. Device platform and simulator: fm1-base / felucca-bsp, MPL-2.0. This browser runs the firmware sound engine; FM-1 performance is measured separately. Browser saves stay on this computer. 16 named User Biomes and 64 user sound slots; factory Biomes remain available. Export your finished Biomes as files for safekeeping. Granular memory: 2.97 seconds, mono PCM16 at 44.1 kHz, with stereo grains. ECO uses half-rate FM / VA / Harmonic voices.
Read the measurements and limitations ↗