Xfer Records Shrub Brings Serum to the M-VAVE FM-1
43 minutes ago
3 min read
Steve Duda, the developer behind Serum, is working on Xfer Records Shrub, a free firmware that turns the pocket-sized M-VAVE FM-1 into a wavetable synth with a Serum 2 filter inside. It sounds like an April Fools' joke. It isn't, and it is already in private testing.
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What Xfer Records Shrub actually is
Shrub is a stripped-down port of Serum, built only as a synth. There is no groovebox layer, no sequencer-first workflow like some other FM-1 firmware has. According to Synth Anatomy, Duda himself calls it a "toy Serum" on Reddit and says the name fits because it is so small.
The feature list is better than that nickname suggests. The oscillators play 3D wavetables (think of a table of waveforms that you sweep through to morph the tone, which we explained in our post on how wavetable synthesis works). The filter comes from Serum 2 and has several modes. You also get two ADSR envelopes and two multi-wave LFOs.
The effects section covers distortion, chorus, delay, OTT and reverb. On the performance side there is an algorithmic arpeggiator, an 8-lane motion sequencer that animates parameters, and built-in scales.
The trade-off: polyphony or quality
The FM-1 is a small, cheap piece of hardware, so something had to give. Duda describes the choice as polyphony versus quality, and the compromise he picked is a single stereo filter for the whole synth.
In a normal polyphonic filter setup, every note gets its own filter. Shrub mixes all voices into one filter, and the most recent voice is the one that modulates it. Duda says this works fine for straightforward chords and also holds up for arps, because your ear follows the newest note anyway. There will be a voice control section too, limited to the number of voices and per-voice tune and pan.
I haven't heard Shrub yet, so I can't tell you how audible that is. It's an interesting compromise, especially for more complex polyphonic patches where independent filter modulation would normally make a difference. How noticeable that limitation will be in practice remains to be heard. Duda has also mentioned the possibility of exploring a more complete Serum 1 port in the future, although that would likely require further compromises in sound quality. For now, it's just an idea rather than a confirmed project. For a free firmware, that is a reasonable bet.
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Why the FM-1 suddenly matters
The M-VAVE FM-1 launched as a budget six-operator FM synth with 32 algorithms, 128 presets, an arpeggiator and a 16-step sequencer. It costs around 70 euros, or about 80 dollars, so check the current price where you live.
Then the community got to work. Alternate firmware like Felucca, Baudgirl VA, Groove OS and Sloop turned the little box into a groovebox or a multi-engine instrument. M-VAVE answered with FM1 Open, an official open-source firmware with an eight-track sequencer, several sound engines and a browser-based workbench. Synth Anatomy also reports that M-VAVE added multitimbrality and 20 voices this month.
Availability, beta testing and the brick risk
Shrub will be free. Right now it sits in private alpha and beta testing, and no release date has been announced. Duda has invited experienced testers on Reddit and was upfront about the downside: Shrub is not a fork of other FM-1 firmware, so bricking a device is a real possibility. He offers nothing in return except, in his words, the thrill of the brick.
Duda is looking for people who are comfortable testing experimental firmware and can provide feedback before the software is finalized. There has been no confirmed announcement that the recruitment is closed. If you're experienced with flashing firmware and understand the risks, you can check his original Reddit post for details. Everyone else should wait for a public release.
One more thing to keep in mind. Nothing in the announcement says Shrub reads Serum presets, so don't plan on moving your library over. A
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