Although I have mostly been a guitar player I have always been fascinated by electronic instruments. I bought a basic keyboard many years ago to learn piano, but that was about as far as I went. I later got some electronic drums and a little Akai keyboard controller that does not have its own sounds. In the last couple of months I started hearing about the M-Vave FM1. This emulates the classic Yamaha DX7 that was all over hits of the 1980s. It is very compatible and can load the original patches over USB. People were excited as it was so cheap at around £60 and it is very portable with the internal battery and speaker.
I bought mine from ebay, but it is available from various retailers in China. People have called it the Temu synth. I only got it yesterday, but have had a bit of a play.
A few weeks ago an alternative firmware from Baudgirl was announced. This gives a friendlier interface and extends the sequencer. It also added another type of synthesis for other sounds. Since then more of these have appeared with different capabilities. The default software can only use one sound at a time, but can play many notes. Other software can do multiple concurrent sounds (multi-timbral) and add many more types of synthesis. I think some all for real multi-track recording that includes drums.
I plan to try some of these. Some have web emulators so you can explore the features. I was not surprised that people have installed games on it, including Doom. It is really taking off and I wonder if demand could outstrip supply. We may see the price go up.
You can probably tell that I am no expert at product videos. I did this quickly using my old webcam and OBS Studio. I am not sure where the clicking sound came from.
Rock on!
