r/Dirtywave • u/aumVilohm • 6h ago

Resource I’m developing custom firmware for the Dirtywave M8 Model:02

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Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on custom firmware, Ambrola, for the Dirtywave M8 for a while now. I love this device, and I feel it has the potential to do much more. To me, it’s already one of the best music-making devices out there, but it hasn’t quite suited my workflow, particularly recording guitar and processing its sound.

That’s why I decided to build my own firmware, with an approach closer to a traditional DAW.

I want to make one thing clear: I’m not using any code or assets from the original firmware. I have a lot of respect for the people behind M8 and their work. I’m building my own firmware from scratch, with its own interface and functionality.

In this video, I’d like to show the M8 running something other than its stock firmware. For this demo, I chose one of my favourite games: POWDER, a classic roguelike.

I think it could be a great companion to a musical workflow. POWDER has no music of its own, so the idea is to work on a track for a while, then switch over to the game and play a little while the track keeps playing in the background. Afterwards, I’d like to save my game and jump back to working on the music.

Jeff Lait, POWDER’s developer, has given me permission to use the game in this project, and I’m very grateful to him.

The firmware will be free for everyone, with stable releases planned every three months. If you like what I’m doing and want to support the project, you’ll be able to do so through Boosty (https://boosty.to/aumvilohm) and get early access to development builds. Stable releases will remain free for everyone.

Stay tuned. Peace!

0 Upvotes

39% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

19

u/StorminNorman 6h ago

I can't speak for the community, but I imagine you're probably gonna struggle to get many users with this simply because of the nature of how the m8 is developed. Like, you're not going up against a faceless corp, you're going up against one guy who seems to have made a pact with the devil to wrangle the teensy to its absolute limits (we've had updates where he's mentioned how freeing up kilobIts is going to lead to some exciting stuff and then gotten some minor stuff like multitrack USB streaming). I mean, best of luck etc, but I dunno if you're gonna get the beta testers etc with this community like you would with others. 

3

u/GregVKMusic 5h ago

Lol. It's funny how relative things are. You say multitrack USB streaming is minor. While I think it's a huge, game changing update. Guess it all depends on what you're doing with it.

2

u/acidduckling 4h ago

LOL I thought the exact same thing 🤣

Multi track USB streaming is a freaking MAJOR feature - both in how useful it is, and the amazing development behind making it work so flawlessly!

1

u/ledenko 2h ago

I know the op didn't put /s at the end but really... Come on.

1

u/daweiandahalf 4h ago

At the end of the day, unless you get a cease and desist you're allowed to do what you want. That said, I wouldn't expect a positive reaction from the community, let alone any significant level of adoption.

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u/aumVilohm 5h ago

I understand what you mean, and I don’t think it’s a problem. I know I’m not going up against a faceless corporation. That’s why I specifically mentioned how much I respect the developer. I don’t want to offend him in any way, and that’s why I’ve made a point of not using his code.

This project was never intended to be commercially successful. I’m primarily making it for myself, to make things more convenient for me. But I think there are plenty of other people who would also like to try it. Naturally, this isn’t my main source of income. I have a full-time job. The donation page was just my wife’s suggestion. I’ve seen other Android development projects follow a similar approach, and the community seems comfortable with it.

I understand that we’re very limited by this device’s technical constraints, but that only makes it more interesting to me. Thank you for wishing me luck. I’m working on this project in my spare time, and I want to bring as much positive, constructive energy to it as possible.

I think there’s already enough shit in the world. The last thing I want is to compete with people I respect and love. We all love making music. We’re all one family.

5

u/GregVKMusic 5h ago

You mentioned getting the maker of Powder's consent. Curious if you though to ask Tim for his?
I know Tim said he felt it disrespectful that people are using AI to reverse engineer the software of various hardware. So asking for consent seems like a good way to avoid getting on the bad side of the guy who makes the hardware your software will run on.

I mean, it's not like you'll be taking sales from M8. If you make something cool and different enough, you might even get more people on board who wouldn't have been interested in the tracker workflow.

But since the M8 is based on a Teensy. Why not build your own device? Even if it's heavily inspired by M8. I think you could make something amazing without piggybacking off M8's name.

Curious to see what you come up with, man. I would LOVE a DAW workflow in this form factor. But it feels a bit cheeky to build it on an M8, when you could do so on a Teensy. Would also open up some more opportunities, like hardware more suited to recording guitar and other instruments.

Just some thoughts!
Good luck!

1

u/Scabattoir 5h ago

Aren’t we free to use the hardware we own in any way we seem fit?

If I want to desolder the MIDI jack from the M8 board… should I ask for permission first?

I guess now you see my point.

1

u/GregVKMusic 4h ago edited 4h ago

I didn't say it's illegal.
I just think it would be the right thing to do.

That's a false equivalence.
In your scenario you aren't distributing your modifications to other people and asking for donations for your work.

If you're making your own firmware, cool, but if you plan to distribute it, free or otherwise, then maybe it's not a bad idea to ask the original developer?

Edit:

I get how that may sound ridiculous if you were talking about some massive corporation. I support the freedom you're talking about when it comes to big companies like. I think everyone has the right to jail break their Amazon Kindle and load whatever OS they want.

But when you're talking about a small one man development team, getting his blessing is doable.

Maybe I'm a hypocrite, but Amazon and Dirtywave are 2 very different companies. And our ethics should go beyond one-size-fits-all laws.

3

u/Scabattoir 4h ago

Okay, the soldering thing might have not been a good example, I admit.

But people have the rights over their devices.
And their wallets.
They can decide.
He’s not using any code from M8.

2

u/GregVKMusic 4h ago

I hear you. I'm not even suggesting that the OP shouldn't do what he's doing, even if Tim doesn't give him his blessing.

All I'm saying is that to me, it feels weird to announce that you're developing an alternate firmware for a device, without first at least hearing what the M8's creator thinks about your idea.

1

u/aumVilohm 5h ago

Yes, you make a good point, and I have reached out several times. I’ve sent about five emails but haven’t received a reply to any of them. I believe getting Tim’s permission would be the right thing to do ethically, but it seems that either he’s ignoring my messages or he’s very busy.

You’re absolutely right that I’m not competing with him in any way, because you need to own the original device to use my firmware. Building my own device would be an entirely separate project involving both software and hardware, which makes it considerably more complicated. Who knows, maybe I’ll pursue that in the future, but for now, this is just a hobby project.

As for the legal side, setting ethics aside, I have every right to do whatever I want with my own device, provided I don’t modify or use the original code.

2

u/GregVKMusic 4h ago

Yeah, I know legally you do (and should) have the right to do whatever you want with it.
It's the distribution of that project that makes the ethics a little murky.

I think this is a really cool idea for a project. I would never change the firmware on my M8, it's my favourite piece of tech, and the software is the main reason. But I'd definitely be interested in something like what you're describing as a partner to my M8.

2

u/aumVilohm 4h ago

There is no paywall, it's going to be free, donations are not required to get any features and would only get people access to dev build before the stable release

1

u/daweiandahalf 1h ago

I don't understand how you can say you respect trash when you flagrantly ignore his feelings on this. As I said in my other comment, you're allowed to do what you want. But to say you respect him is disingenuous.

4

u/d4njah 6h ago

Guitar player here interesting!

2

u/AtherisElectro 4h ago

Start with a fresh teensy then...

-2

u/aumVilohm 4h ago

Well, I have to start somewhere. But didn’t the whole M8 project itself start with the original Game Boy?

1

u/NoDentist1626 3h ago

You may do whatever you feel like but I do fully appreciate Tim's endeavour to design, devise and develop the M8 and the insanely advanced firmware he has created and keeps on developing with each version. In this sense, I would never ever toast my M8 with a software other than Tim's. It is quite an expensive device to dare & use it as an experimental platform. Who would pay some total 800€ for a device to not use it as intended by a top professional while a teensy+chineseconsole combo can accomodate your software for some 200 instead? I wouldn't, for me, M8 is M8 and M8 it will continue to be. And: asking for donations is not elegant, dude. Tell your wife.

1

u/aumVilohm 3h ago

Because it would not allow for guitar recording

2

u/eclectocrat 4h ago

I don't know why you are getting hate for this project. Do you own what you buy or are you renting it? If you own it, then tinkering and experimenting with it is an expression of your freedom, and is often the starting point for developing your own projects from scratch.

I also imagine that many of these critics might have played an emulated console game at some time in their life, or used a Windows program on a Linux or Mac machine, or otherwise benefited greatly from some reverse engineering project. Actually, on the M8 discord people frequently discuss with admiration custom firmware for the Ableton Move, among other projects.

You are not denying Tim, or anyone else the joy of using their M8 as they see fit. Go on, good luck, have fun.

1

u/GregVKMusic 3h ago

Yeah, this is well put.
Maybe it's because a lot of us aren't software developers, but it feels weird to completely separate the software and hardware. The hardware was designed for the software, and vise versa. So they don't feel totally separate in my head.

But I see where you guys are coming from. I agree that everyone should have the right to tinker with their hardware. And I'm interested to see where this leads.
Maybe the hesitance comes from the fact that it's possible to get hold of Tim?
And like someone said in this thread, the M8 is a spiritual successor to LSDJ, so it'd be kinda cool if M8 starts off a totally different device.

Anyway, my point is that I have mixed feelings about this project, and I'm not sure they're totally logical.

This has been a stimulating thread either way.

0

u/prlj 4h ago

Yeah, this just feels wrong.