Ombak

in the browser: the same code the FM-1 runs

Turn your phone sideways for bigger controls.

Off. Sound starts when you switch it on: headphones bring out the gongs and the shimmer.

Two minutes in

  1. Switch it on, then press SEQ (Space): the gong opens the cycle.
  2. Play a white key (Q–K) now and then: your gendèr sounds, and the ensemble lands on that note at the next beat, the kotekan turning toward it.
  3. Turn KNOB 2 (DENSITY) up for a flowing kotekan, down for the core alone.
  4. Turn PRESETS to another gamelan; it arrives with the gong. Try GONG KEBYAR, and press SEL on HOME for an angsel, or SELONDING, the iron gamelan.
  5. Open STILL and turn ALGORITHM (←) down for meditation: a note every ten seconds, the suling breathing.
  6. Hold FX and turn KNOB 2 to FREEZE the space. Let go and it drifts back.
  7. Black keys 6–10 (6–0) bring the parts in and out; black key 11 (-) is the ending: the ensemble slows and closes on the gong.
  8. Hold any button a moment and the screen says what it does.

Screen reader

Ombak says what its screen shows, as it does on the FM-1 with the FM-1 Screen Reader: pages, knobs as you turn them and messages, read by your own screen reader.

Who reads it

Mouse and touch

  • Drag a knob up or down, or use the scroll wheel over it.
  • Click or touch buttons and keys. Several fingers at once work on a touch screen, so you can hold a key and turn a knob.
  • Holds with a mouse: Shift-click (or right-click) a button or key to hold it down, click again to let go.

Keyboard

  • Tab moves between the knobs, buttons and keys. On a knob, the arrow keys turn it (Page Up / Page Down faster). On a button or key, Space or Enter presses it for as long as you hold it; Shift+Space keeps it held down until you press it again.
  • While the FM-1 has focus, shortcuts play it: white keys 1–8 Q–I, 9–16 A–K; black keys 1–11 1–0, -; Space SEQ (the cycle), Enter REC, P PLAY, L FX, Shift SEL (held), Esc HOME, Z / X OCT− / OCT+, ↑ ↓ turn SELECT, ← → turn ALGORITHM.

Saving

Ombak keeps the work playing, its loop, your MINE slots and the settings in this browser, as the FM-1 keeps them in its memory. Factory reset forgets them. It is the firmware, not a recording: what you hear is Ombak running, at the FM-1's 44.1 kHz. Ombak is inspired by the gamelan of Bali and Java, with gratitude to their musicians; the manual names its sources. The emulator is X0X's (Charles Vestal), whose idea came from Groove OS's.