M-VAVE FM-1 Firmware Upgrade and Rollback Guide
· 11 min read
I'd had my FM-1 for a while when I heard its firmware could be updated, so I looked it up on the official site. These are the versions I could find in the official release note and on the download page:
| Version | Date | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| V09 | 2026‑06‑24 | ENV envelope can be switched on and off; RATE can be changed while recording in SEQ; SEQ adds rests (empty steps) and note replacement |
| V13 | 2026‑07‑03 | BPM sync for ARP and SEQ; the OP screen remembers the selected page and operator for the current tone; SEQ can transpose; volume levels made more even across some factory tones; velocity setting 1–127 in GLO; MIDI channel selection (default ALL channels); PC messages (PC 0–127) switch tones; RATE gains two settings, 1/1 and 1/2. The vendor notes this version is installed as a full update using software downloaded from "major update" |
| V14 | 2026‑07‑06 | Not in the release note; on the download page it only comes built into the old updater FM1.dmg (see the download table below) |
| V15 | 2026‑07‑30 | Higher base LED brightness; GLO can reset any of tone groups A–D to the last imported tones; new Glide (GLO page 2, 0–1 s, only when the current tone is mono); SEQ can record long notes without overwriting earlier ones, bind a tone to each pattern (the preset knob stops working inside SEQ), pick the number of steps, and play 1–16 patterns back to back starting from the current one; EDIT adds a tone template (turn K1 to set all parameters to basic values), tone renaming, copying another tone over the current one, and long-pressing OPx to mute that operator (the mute is cleared when you switch tones); FX and ENV parameters go from 0–10 to a finer 0–100; a MIDI note on with velocity 0 is treated as a note off, and CC control of effect parameters now follows the FX parameter scale (see the vendor's CC response table) |
The release note only has entries for V09, V13 and V15; the skipped version numbers (including V14) aren't mentioned.
When I connected mine to the computer, the official tool said it was on V14. This post covers updating to V15 with the official tool, and which file you need if you want to go back to V14.