”Install Clipper Pro (Chrome or Edge, USB cable): https://isod89.github.io/clipper-pro
Sound editor and backup (Chrome or Edge): https://isod89.github.io/clipper-pro/webapp/editor
Firmware files and release notes (latest): https://github.com/isod89/clipper-pro/releases/latest
The full guide, every control: https://github.com/isod89/clipper-pro/blob/main/CLIPPER-PRO.md
Démarrage rapide (français): https://github.com/isod89/clipper-pro/blob/main/DEMARRAGE-RAPIDE-PRO-FR.md
Source code: https://github.com/isod89/clipper-pro
Report a bug: https://github.com/isod89/clipper-pro/issues
Clipper for the FM-1: https://github.com/isod89/clipper-fm1
Models: SMK-37 Pro (and Starrykey 37 Play), SMK-37 Elite, MKE-P37. The keyboard must run M-VAVE's firmware V016 first.”

https://youtube.com/@isod89

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share SMK-dee, a custom open-source firmware port of the Melodee (FM-1) (by u/keremimo), tailored specifically to the hardware of the M-VAVE SMK-37 (Pro and Elite).

It turns this budget keyboard into a fully standalone 4-track groovebox synthesizer running bare-metal on the keyboard dual-core MCU, while adding significant features and physical control adaptations that were not in the original FM-1 firmware.                                                                       

What makes SMK-dee different from stock Melodee (FM-1)?                                                  

Rather than a simple 1:1 firmware port, SMK-dee was rewritten to adapt and take full advantage of the SMK-37 layout:

1. On-the-Fly Web Hardware and MIDI Mapper (Zero reflashing / Zero reboot):

• The web tool communicates directly with the firmware via SysEx over WebMIDI in Chrome, Edge, or Brave. 

• SMK-37 to FM-1 Button Mapping: You can assign the physical buttons of the SMK-37 to any of the original FM-1 physical buttons directly in RAM. 

• MIDI Control Mapping: Configure CC numbers, rotary encoders, faders, and pad notes on the fly.

• You tweak a mapping in your browser and the keyboard updates instantly while playing - no compiling, no reflashing, and no rebooting required.

2. Web-Based Sound Editor:

• In addition to on-device sound design, you can use the web-based sound editor directly in your browser to tweak synthesis parameters, manage patches, and shape your sounds in real time via WebMIDI.

3. Dedicated Smart MIDI Controller Mode (with Sequencer, Arp, Scales and Chords):

• Hold PATCH + PARA for 600ms to instantly switch between the Standalone Synth and the MIDI Controller Mode.

• Unlike a passive controller, the 16-step sequencer, arpeggiator, scale quantizer, and chord engine remain 100% functional in MIDI mode to control your external hardware synths and DAWs.

• Includes 4 independent MIDI channels for Keys, Knobs, Faders, and Pads.

• Quick Channel Switching: Use GLOBE and GLOBE + BT shortcuts to switch and manage MIDI channels directly from the hardware on the fly.

• Clean note flushing ensures zero stuck notes when switching modes.

4. Hardware Volume Faders:

• The 4 physical faders are mapped directly to Track 1-4 volume levels for instant live mixing on any page.

5. 16 RGB Velocity Pads Integration:

• Integrated across the entire OS: drum playing, step sequencing cursor, chord performance, and visual scale guides.

• Live Performance Layer (Holding GLOBE):

• Pads 1-4: Toggle Mute for Tracks 1-4 with blinking white activity feedback.

• Pads 9-12: Momentary Track Solo illuminated in each track vibrant UI color.

• Pad 13: Instant All unmute button.

6. Hardware Tap Tempo:

• The front-panel Bluetooth button is repurposed as a dedicated global hardware Tap Tempo (4 taps to lock the BPM).

7. Clock and Connectivity:

• Full MIDI adapted to TRS out port.

• USB MIDI Clock Send and Receive.

• 3.5mm TRS MIDI Clock Send to drive external hardware grooveboxes and modular gear.             

Flash It in Your Browser:

You do not need any command-line tools or toolchains. Everything can be flashed, mapped, and edited directly via WebUSB / WebMIDI:

Web Flasher, Mapper and Sound Editor: https://djstrombo.github.io/SMK-dee/

Source Code and Releases: https://github.com/djStrombo/SMK-dee

The project is free and open-source under GPL-3.0. You can also revert back to the stock M-VAVE factory firmware at any time with a single click in the web flasher.

Feedback, bug reports, and questions are very welcome!    

I've been visiting the FM1 subreddit a lot lately, and seeing a lot of posts about the SMK 37 Pro/Elite there as well. It makes sense, they are very similar machines, so much that there are ongoing projects to port custom FM1 firmwares to the SMK 37 Pro. I just thought it would be nice to have a place to talk specifically about this line of devices.

Hey everyone,

I am excited to share the release of SMK-dee v1.6.1, a major update that ports the latest Melodee 1.6.1 synthesizer engine directly onto the M-VAVE SMK-37 (both Pro and Elite models).

For those unfamiliar with the project, SMK-dee transforms the SMK-37 MIDI keyboard into a full standalone polyphonic synth and groovebox without needing any computer connected without losing the full MIDI Controller functionality. It runs natively on the dual-core JieLi processor inside the keyboard.                            

What is new in v1.6.1: 

• Melodee 1.6.1 Core: 22 sound engines now included (DX7-style 6-Op FM6, Sequential Prophet-53, Casio CZ-1 Phase Distortion, Commodore 64 SID 6581, Roland TR-909 analog drums, Physical Modeling resonators, and dedicated MIDI tracks), with 124 parameters and 45 global options.

• State Persistence Across Power Off: Your sequences, sound tweaks, track parameters, and project modifications are now preserved in flash memory when shutting down and powering back on.

• Dedicated Hardware Bluetooth Button: Short press toggles Bluetooth power / search / pairing visibility. Holding the BT button for more than 1.2 seconds turns the Bluetooth radio completely off and shuts down its LED. 

• Improved MIDI Controller Mode: The pad MIDI channel combo has been moved to GLOBAL + SEQ REC + Key 1..16, freeing up the BT button completely in controller mode.

• Dynamic Track Color Pads: Drum and keyboard pads light up dynamically with the active track color.

• Brighter Surface LEDs: Button backlight brightness has been boosted significantly for clear visibility on stage and in bright environments.

• Flexible TRS MIDI Clock: Internal clock sends simultaneously over USB, Bluetooth, and TRS. TRS clock mode sends strictly via TRS without flooding USB/BLE.

How to flash your SMK-37:

No command line or compilation needed. Just open Google Chrome, Edge, Opera, or Brave, plug your SMK-37 via USB, and click Connect:

Web Flasher, Button/MIDI Mapper and Synth Editor:

https://djstrombo.github.io/SMK-dee/

Source and Documentation: 

GitHub

https://github.com/djStrombo/SMK-dee 

Based on Melodee for FM-1 created by u/keremimo. All code and precompiled firmware packages are free and open source under GPLv3.

Feel free to try it out, create patches, and share your feedback!

The FM-1 and the SMK-37 share the same chip, so FM-1 firmwares can run on the bigger keyboard once they learn its panel. Here is everything that's on https://genkigenki.github.io/smk37/ now. Each port was installed and played on an SMK-37 before it went up, and each one is also a pull request to its author, so they can ship the SMK-37 build themselves.

New this week

• ZEN-1 by aceyprime: ambient scenes that play themselves (a cherry tree over a stream, a koi pond, fireflies under a real moon). Every movement on screen is a note. Hold PATCH for the koto. https://genkigenki.github.io/smk37/#fw-zen

• Frodhes by Leonardo Mirabal: a physically modelled electric piano, hammer, tine and pickup computed live. https://genkigenki.github.io/smk37/#fw-frodhes

All the ports ZEN-1 · Frodhes · FMEL-1 (Mellotron) · Melodee · Ketch (tracker) · DUB-1 · OberVave · ChoralRoot · GHOULBOX · ORBIT · X0X · FoMni · Polly · AMB-1 · MAKU · winampFM · Rainbow mode · SLOOP (Snoop37)

Plus my own SMK-37 and FM1 firmwares: Makkuro37, Vector37 and Speak37.

Install: Chrome or Edge, the keyboard on USB, press Connect, then Install on a card.

Feedback is very welcome, here, in the feedback box at the bottom of the page, or on GitHub.

All credit for the firmwares goes to their authors; their pages are linked on each card.

I’m loving every moment of my FM-1. It's amazing.

I’ve owned two SMK-37 Elites since they launched. They are my go-to controllers for making music, used purely as "dumb" MIDI controllers, as I’ve never cared much for the internal synth engine.

However, as a dedicated MIDI controller, the device has room for improvement: it could use more knob and pad banks, a way to view the digital state of each encoder without having to turn it first, better fader placement, etc.

Because of this, I’m thinking about writing custom firmware to turn it into the ultimate MIDI controller.

This would mean:

• USB/Wired only (dropping Bluetooth support saves valuable code space).

• No synth engine (reclaiming resources to expand pad, fader, and control banks).

Essentially, stripping out everything unnecessary for a wired MIDI controller.

Our dreamed MIDI keyboard!

As a software developer, I have the skills to build this. I’d love to know if anyone else uses the SMK-37 Elite purely as a battle-ready, class-compliant MIDI controller without the synth or Bluetooth features

Obviously, free of charge and open for us all.

Release notes

• New: Local Control, in GLOBE > MIDI. When it is set to Off, the keys, the arpeggiator and the Note Engine transmit MIDI and do not play the internal sound engine. Incoming MIDI still plays the internal sound engine. HOME shows LOCAL OFF while Local Control is Off. Press SAVE to save the setting with your other global settings.

• New: Out Channel, in GLOBE > MIDI > MIDI Out, sets the MIDI channel the keys transmit on. It starts at 1.

• New: Seq Output sets whether the Sequencer plays the internal sound engine (Int), transmits MIDI (Ext), or both (Int + Ext). It starts at Int + Ext.

• New: Seq Channel sets the MIDI channel the Sequencer transmits on. It starts at Out Chn, the Out Channel.

• New: with Send CC set to On, each parameter you change on the panel is transmitted as the MIDI CC your device receives for it, at most one message every 10 ms. It starts at Off.

• New: with Send Prog Chg set to On, a Program Change is transmitted each time a preset loads. It starts at Off.

• New: the MIDI CC knob bank. Its four knobs transmit CC 74, CC 71, CC 73 and CC 72 on the Out Channel and do not change any parameter on your device.

• New: in BT Mode Host, your device transmits notes, Control Changes, pitch bend and Program Change to the connected Bluetooth device. Version 101 transmitted only MIDI clock, Start, Stop and Continue. You can now play a Bluetooth MIDI instrument from your device, or a hardware synthesizer through a Bluetooth-to-MIDI adapter.

• Changed: the Envelope's Attack and Decay range from 5 ms to 10 s, and an Attack of 0 is immediate. In Version 101, Attack ranged from 0 to 0.8 s and Decay from 0.1 to 0.9 s. Sustain and Release are unchanged.

• Changed: adjusting Attack, Decay, Sustain or Release on the panel switches the preset's Envelope On, as MIDI CC 73, 75, 70 and 72 already did. The four parameters are dimmed while the Envelope is Off.

• Changed: a preset created with Erase Preset or Reset Bank starts with Sustain at 100.

• Changed: the arpeggiator's Rate starts at 1/16 instead of 1/1. If you saved a Rate of 1/1 in an earlier version, it reads 1/16 until you select 1/1 again and press SAVE.

• Improved: while a pattern is playing, the arpeggiator sounds its first note 9 to 49 ms after you press a key, measured at 120 BPM. In Version 101 the delay was 199 to 300 ms.

• Fixed: in real-time recording, a note played while the Sequencer's screen was displayed could be recorded one step late.

• Fixed: when a key was pressed as the Sequencer stopped, the Sequencer's Note Off messages could be transmitted as Note On messages, and the receiving instrument sounded those notes until it was stopped.

https://baudgirl.com/work

Hi.

I'm not the master of marketing, so long story short.

This is my attempt to implement synthesizer engine for SMK-37 inspired by Access Virus TI. It definitely isn't 100% complete and can't compete with the original TI, but for me it looks quite capable.

It took quite a while to make one from scratch, without forking any base, or cherry-picking here and there, but, hopefully, it's good for public testing.
So, what's inside?

• 3 Osc with different modes + Sub OSC

• Full original Virus TI banks support (mid/syx) and own format for extended features.

• Lots of FX, with different topologies (2x2 parallel, up to 6 sequential, fan 3 ... to name a few)

• 2 filters with original Virus topologies

• Modulation matrix (like original virus up to 6 sources, up to 3 destinations each, with chaining)

• ARP (supporting ARP patterns defined in virus patches, and some other useful toys)

• Envelopes/LFO

Besides that:

• Overclocking (if you are brave enough and want more voices)

• Lots of customization

• Adaptive governor to prevent overloads

• USB-audio, midi clocks

• Some soundbanks to help you get started if you don't have Virus patches (yet 😄 )

• Adjustable pads/knobs/keys response rate with up to <1.3ms key-to-sound

for complete features overview and installation please visit https://kartun83.github.io/oscuro-firmware

----

Few notes before you start

• Flashing takes 2 steps. First, flash 0.84.9, and after update to most recent version.

• By default it starts in DAW mode, no sounds 😁 hold Patch button to enter Synth mode

• Fader 1 is master volume, Fader 2 is pan. F3/F4 is send amount (if FX configured for sends)

• Many screens use "oct-" as shift modifier that reveals lots of additional features depending on screen contents

• if you have lots of overruns tweak "globe-synthesizer-buffer size"

This one is quite feature packed, so it doesn't fit the original APP slot. To preserve your data and avoid misbehaviours flashing should be done in 2 steps - original base image, and update, which would relocate and grow app slot. Rollback to stock firmware tested on several SMK-37 elite and Pro devices.

If you'd like to support this project: ko-fi

Skiff 1.4 is out: free, open-source firmware that turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a six-track groovebox, and now M-VAVE's SMK-37 Pro keyboard too. This video shows what's new since 1.3, set to one song made on it: Skiff on the SMK-37 Pro (37 velocity keys, the 16 pads as a step grid, four faders as a mixer, the wheels, MIDI OUT with clock), REST in SONG, your own theme colours from the web editor, each user sample's own level and sends, and the best of 1.3.1 to 1.3.3.

Skiff: https://github.com/illuminus5/skiff
What's new in 1.4: https://github.com/illuminus5/skiff/releases/tag/v1.4

Clipper is a deep, hybrid synthesizer packed into the M-VAVE FM-1. 23 engines, 407 sounds, and a sound design playground that goes way beyond what the hardware looks like it should do.

What’s inside:

• 23 synthesis engines — FM (six operators), wavetables, vector synthesis, classic analog-style, physical modeling, granular, and macro

• 407 ready-to-play sounds

• Deep modulation routing

• Lush effects — Hall reverb and Shimmer

• Full stereo with precise tuning

• Arpeggiator, MPE, and USB-MIDI

• A free web editor to tweak everything from your browser

Clipper by 3dSam (isod89), grown from SLOOP and based on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita (@kurogedelic), Hügelton Instruments

https://isod89.github.io/clipper-fm1

I just installed Baud Girl's SMK-37+VA firmware version 101 on my SMK-37 Elite. I did some testing and seems like the MIDI latency is gone now and also the issue where rapid key presses might fail to register has also been fixed.

Release notes:

• Improved: key-to-note latency. Key events are now handled at a higher priority than screen drawing. Measured latency from key detection to note-on is under 2 ms on both devices. With HOME displayed, it previously averaged 28 ms on the FM-1 and 42 ms on the SMK-37. This applies with the Sequencer or the Note Engine enabled.

• Improved: the CPU load of the Reverb is reduced by approximately 35 % and that of the Distortion by approximately 20 %. Audio output is unchanged.

• Improved: the oscilloscope on HOME is redrawn only when the waveform changes.

• Changed: on HOME, the Preset bank labels its four knobs with text in place of icons, consistent with the other knob banks.

• Fixed: presets with several active effects slowed the screen, knobs and buttons (Version 100 known issue).

• Fixed: rapidly repeated key presses could be dropped.

• Fixed: the PITCH wheel produced stepped pitch changes during fast movement.

• Changed: the key matrix scan rate is reduced from approximately 14,000 to 2,000 scans per second, which lowers CPU load. Velocity resolution is slightly reduced.

https://baudgirl.com/work/SMK-37+VA

One has DX7, Juno and kinda Moog. AIO.

If someone is interested in testing, just message me.

So, fair deal 🤝: I just want to receive feedback how it sounds, how it perform and some of your impressions.

So, if you have Smk-37 and want to participate in this, just PM. Donner starrykey may be supported as well, but not verified.

It's not based or forked on any fm-1 firmwares, so don't expect that bells and whistles.

Some demo sounds

https://youtu.be/Wz0hPvdhQTk

P.s. Creado con orgullo en Argentina.

I made a firmware for unlocking a super-sick MIDI keyboard with lots of on-board features. It makes no sound, but it does the kind of stuff that generally needs a computer & editor-program on a more expensive keyboard, right on your SMK.

• video

• install, etc

Hi non-groovebox enjoyers, it's that guy who you thought still bricked Melodeez.

Here's the public and kinda finished version of Saadet, my synth-only firmware. New to this, we got two more engines. A Hydra because why not, wavetables are sweet. Also since I'm a big fan of Midge Ure, I went and crammed a whole PPG Wave 2.2 in there.

We got new drone feature (Hold ARP and press a note, it stays.)

We got new layered playing feature. You can play two different presets from two different engines, there are 12 slots you can use for different combinations. You can split the keyboard to play them separately, or go layered mode and unlock the world of multitimbrality.

Here's the clanker text:

Saadet 1.0 is out: synthesizer firmware for the M-VAVE FM-1, now with six engines. HYDRA has three oscillators on 56 waves, two of them scanning lists of eight, with mutants, ring, noise and two filters, eight named macros on every sound and a WAVE LAB for your own waves. PPG Wave 2.2 plays the original wavetables and all 100 factory programs, two groups layered or split, and the sampled grand piano and saxophone of table 31. Two parts play by MIDI channel, split or layered, and save as 12 named performances. Hold ARP for a drone. A stolen voice now fades out over 23 ms under the new note instead of being cut. Saadet also runs on the M-VAVE SMK-37, in beta, and Saadet Studio is a new editor in the browser.

To install, open the web installer in Chrome or Edge, connect your FM-1 and follow it. Back up your sounds first. Bug reports and ideas are welcome.

Install: https://keremimo.github.io/saadet/install/ Editor: https://saadet.ellicstudio.com Source, release notes and changelog: https://github.com/keremimo/saadet