BB1 · COMPÁS · STUDIO · BB–23 · BB-BOBTHE BIG BEATCOMPÁS / RHYTHM SECTION FOR THE FM-1
Cumbia, salsa, merengue and bolero. In English or Spanish.
Compás turns the FM-1 into the rhythm section: drums, bass, hand percussion and a 727 full of bongos and congas. You lead from the keys: call the verse, the chorus or the break, and the band comes in on the phrase.
01 / THE BAND
The center keys cue the song parts. The band waits for the phrase, counts you in on the horn and lands together. ALGORITHM moves the energy: base, lift, break.
Each one comes in and drops out when you call it. Thin the band under a singer, then bring everyone back for the chorus.
Ensemble lines for every style, or flip to Acid and let it bite. Tone and Bite are right under your fingers.
Bongos, congas, timbales, agogó, cabasa, whistles and the quijada on the pads. Twenty-nine complete rhythms on PRESETS, and a step editor when you want to write your own.
Bombo, güiro, campana and conga with their four factory patterns, from the Hanan Cumbia drum machine. Then push them further than the original goes: drive, decay, pitch and the sample clock itself. Play it alone or layered over the band.
02 / THE MUSIC
The Colombian coast, Barranquilla and Soledad. Mexico City sonidera, Monterrey, Puebla and tribal guarachero. Lima, Buenos Aires and Chile. Salsa and son with the clave the right way round, merengue derecho and maco, bolero, tejano and conjunto.
La Paloma, La Golondrina, Cielito Lindo, La Cucaracha, Siboney, El Manisero and more, arranged from their printed editions, with the melody guide on or off and the key wherever you sing it.
Take the whole band down to sixty percent, pitch and all, the way Monterrey’s sound systems played their 45s at 33. Then bring it back.
03 / TAKE IT AWAY
He started his show in Corpus Christi in 1983 and put Tejano, conjunto and regional Mexican bands in front of television audiences across the United States and Mexico. Then he got out of their way: “You got it, take it away!”
Compás opens with him, and he steps back in beside the beat lamps whenever a new song lands. The tribute set runs the band from Tejano cumbia to the standards.
04 / THE CONTROLS
Everything you need on a stage is one press or one turn away. The screen shows what is playing, what is coming and how many beats until it lands.
05 / TRY IT NOW
The Compás engine, running in your browser: the same screen, the same band. Press PLAY, call a chorus and see if they keep up.
Open the player →
06 / GET COMPÁS
Open Chrome or Edge and connect your FM-1 with a USB data cable. Pick English or Español. One click installs Compás.
Install Compás →To return to official firmware, use the matching original M-VAVE package.
Compás is free software under the GNU GPL v3. Source code (GPL v3). Kumbia Kit sounds and patterns: Hanan Cumbia by Oficina de Sonido, based on Bleep Labs’ Bleep Drum, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. M-VAVE, FM-1, Roland and TR-727 are trademarks of their respective owners. Compás is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by them. No warranty: you install it at your own risk.