Penumbra

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: use headphones, the drone is deep.

Two minutes in

  1. Switch it on. The clock starts and the drone swells in.
  2. Play the white keys (Q–K). VOX plays in the scene's key, so every note fits. Leave space between them.
  3. Black key 7 (7) is a BLOOM; black keys 8–11 change VOX's sound.
  4. REC, play a phrase, REC again. It loops. REC once more to layer over it.
  5. Turn PRESETS to the next scene: everything glides there, and the loop follows the key.
  6. Hold FX and turn KNOB 1 to throw the shimmer. Let go and it drifts back.
  7. Hold a white key and turn ALGORITHM to bend the note.
  8. Hold any button a moment and the screen says what it does.

Screen reader

Penumbra 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 clock), Enter REC, P PLAY, L FX, Shift SEL (held), Esc HOME, Z / X OCT− / OCT+, ↑ ↓ turn SELECT, ← → turn ALGORITHM.

Saving

Penumbra keeps the journey playing, its loop and its sound 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 Penumbra running, at the FM-1's 44.1 kHz. The emulator is X0X's (Charles Vestal), whose idea came from Groove OS's.