29 firmwares listed
M-VAVE FM-1
A pocket FM synthesizer with 27 keys, seven encoders and a colour screen. Its USB update path is open enough that the community now writes whole new instruments for it.
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Custom firmware for the hardware you own
Affordable instruments and controllers are more open than they look. Some take whole new firmware over USB; others load plug-ins or hand their pads and lights to your software.
Maru wants to make creating, installing and managing that software simple, on many devices at once. We may publish firmware of our own for some of them. Mostly we want to help you build yours, and to make sure you can always get back to where you started.
Start here
More devices
Catalogs for other devices open as their community grows and we can describe a safe way back to stock.
What you should be able to do
Put your synth on a device
Design an instrument in the browser, install it on a pocket keyboard and take it with you.
And bring it back
The same instrument opens in your DAW and in the browser, with the same sound and presets.
Make a controller yours
Turn a grid of pads and LEDs into a sequencer, a chord tool or a light show for one instrument.
Share what you made
Send a sound or a whole firmware as a link that anyone can hear before they install it.
Always get back to stock
Every install shows how to undo it, and every device has a recovery page.
Build on other people's work
Fork a firmware or a module, change it and publish it, with the original author credited.
Some of this works today, much of it is still being built. The statuses below say where each device stands.
Hardware we build on
Three ways in, from replacing everything to simply taking control. This is where we are looking, not a promise of support.
Replace the firmware
The whole program on the device can be swapped through its own update path.
- M-VAVE FM-1Firmware catalog
A pocket FM synth with keys, encoders, a colour screen and a speaker. Dozens of community firmwares install over USB.
37-key controllers on the same chip as the FM-1, with their own community firmware.
The one Launchpad with an open firmware API: write your own grid application in C.
- Electrosmith Daisy(opens in a new tab)In development
An open audio board behind many DIY synths and pedals, with an open SDK and bootloader.
A palm-sized ESP32-S3 computer with a keyboard, screen, speaker and battery.
Load your own code
The maker publishes an SDK for plug-in effects, oscillators or patches. The rest of the firmware stays theirs.
- Korg logue SDK(opens in a new tab)Exploring
Custom oscillators and effects for the NTS-1 mkII, NTS-3, microKORG2 and other logue synths.
- Polyend Endless(opens in a new tab)Exploring
A stompbox that runs one effect at a time, written in C++.
A Eurorack module with a C++ plug-in API, Faust support and Lua scripts.
- 4ms MetaModule(opens in a new tab)Exploring
A Eurorack module that runs VCV Rack patches and ported plugins.
Drive it over MIDI
No firmware change. A documented mode hands the pads, LEDs and screen to your software.
Programmer mode gives software every pad and every RGB LED: grids, step sequencers, games.
DAW mode over SysEx: knobs, pads, LEDs and the Launchkey's screen follow your instrument.
- Intuitive Instruments Exquis(opens in a new tab)In development
A hexagonal MPE keyboard whose Developer Mode exposes keys, encoders and colours.
What custom firmware is
The program the instrument runs, replaced through the maker’s own update path. It changes what the keys, knobs and screen do. Nothing is opened or soldered.
What can go wrong
An interrupted install can leave a unit that does not start. Most can be brought back, some only with a small USB tool. Every device in the catalog has a recovery page.
What Maru does today
It lists. Every install button leads to the author’s own page, and listings follow a published policy with no paid placement. See also Maru on hardware.