foundation degrees confusing me

basically, I'm a student studying a 2 year foundation degree in music tech at my home town, I want to see if I can transfer to a different university to do an actual degree in the same course. Do I have to finish the foundation degree first then do a 'top up year' in the uni I want to go to or can I apply for 1st/2nd year, finish the foundation degree a year early and spend longer at my desired university?

You can do either. Your foundation degree is equivalent to the first two years of a degree but transferring into the final year of a degree elsewhere to top up is a risky choice. Your degree classification would be calculated just on your marks from that year (when you are in a new city, living alone for the first time, trying to make new friends and possibly finding out that there’s differences between what you have studied and what the people who spent 3 years at that university have studied).

Even if you complete your FD it’s often a better option to choose to start elsewhere from year 2 of the degree to spread the disruption. Likewise you might find it’s better after doing yr1 of your FD to start again elsewhere from scratch. You would still have an advantage from your FD studies but it gives you the time to adjust to the new place and course.

ah thats really useful thankyou!
So if I were to start from.year 1 at a different university, only completing half of a 2 year foundation degree, would that gain me any sort of legit qualifications or just the experience needed to be able to start an actual degree at a different university?

If you pass the first year of a Foundation Degree then that will normally give you a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) which most universities will consider for entry onto their courses. Don't describe continuing 1 year as "half of a 2 year foundation degree - that's likely to confuse people. If you look in your course handbook then you'll probably see that you'll have 120 credits at level 4 (equivalent to first year of a degree) - that's the way to describe what you would be applying with.

Your best first step is to speak to universities that you're interested in applying to. Have a look in the Transfer FAQ at the top of the Applications, Clearing and UCAS forum - the first post explains some of the things to think about.