musica.studio / fs1remu
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FS1R.emu
A Windows emulation of the Yamaha FS1R, rebuilt from its firmware
v0.3.2 free · open source · Windows · standalone, no install
what it adds
- ALL 88 ALGORITHMSEvery FM algorithm from the hardware, with the voiced and unvoiced operators the FS1R is known for.
- PERFORMANCES AND PRESETSLoads the original performances from sysex, and reads DX7 banks too.
- FSEQ PLAYBACKThe formant sequences that made the FS1R sound like nothing else.
- MIDI IN AND OFFLINE RENDERPlay it live over MIDI, or render a MIDI file straight to WAV.
why it exists
The FS1R is a 1998 rack synth built around the YMP706, a tone generator Yamaha never documented. It was made for two years, it sounds like nothing else, and a working one now costs more than most people want to spend on a box with a two-line display.
So the engine was rebuilt from the firmware itself, on top of the ROM dumps and hardware captures in rgwan/fs1r_firmware_RE. Where the chip behaviour was undocumented, it was inferred from what the firmware does with it and checked against the hardware.
It is a work in progress and it is honest about that: the per-voice filter, the effects, pan and LFO2 are not implemented yet. What is there is the core FM and formant engine, and it already sounds like an FS1R.
the community
There is a FS1R.emu channel on the musica.studio Discord. Bug reports, feature requests, questions, and screenshots of what you made with it all go there, and it is the fastest way to reach me about this project.
TALK ABOUT FS1R.EMU ON DISCORDgood to know
A single Windows executable with no installer and no dependencies. It touches nothing on your system, and deleting it is the uninstall.
Free and open source. No Yamaha firmware or ROM data ships in the repository.