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Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend

People ask what I actually use to build things, make music, and stay sane. Here's the current loadout.

Productivity

  • Obsidian

    The Vault. Source of truth for projects, strategy, daily notes, and operational state. Markdown-native, local-first, git-versioned.

  • ChatGPT / local LLMs (Ollama, LM Studio, OpenWebUI)

    For coding help, architecture work, legal wording, and creative drafts.

  • Apple Notes

    Fast capture for ideas and quick thoughts.

Workstations

  • Mac Studio M1 (64 GB RAM)

    Primary heavy workstation and high-capacity execution node. Heavier development sessions, local AI workflows, and multi-tool engineering work.

  • Mac mini M1 (16 GB RAM)

    Always-on operator node. Runs the agent stack, background services, scheduled routines, and infrastructure-style tasks. The machine that keeps showing up.

  • 13" MacBook Air M2 (16 GB RAM)

    Mobile dev and control client. Capable participant in the workflow, but never the source of truth. There for mobility, not authority.

Audio Interfaces, Conversion & Routing

  • RME Fireface UFX III

    Main interface for tracking, mixing, and low-latency monitoring.

  • Ferrofish Pulse 16

    AD/DA expansion over ADAT for more ins/outs when the session gets ridiculous.

  • Digital routing

    Helix LT to RME via AES for clean digital guitar tones without extra conversions.

  • Loopback (Rogue Amoeba)

    Virtual routing between DAWs, browsers, OBS, and anything else that makes noise.

Studio Monitoring

  • ADAM T-Series nearfields (T5V class)

    Main monitors for mixing and critical listening.

Instruments

  • Taylor Big Baby Acoustic Guitar

    Go-to acoustic for writing and recording.

  • Music Man StingRay Bass

    The bass that just works in a mix.

  • Fender Stratocaster Fat Strat (USA)

    Main electric for everything from clean to pushed tones.

  • Wurlitzer 200A

    Real electric piano when "close enough" samples aren't cutting it.

  • Keyboards & controllers

    Novation Launchkey, Arturia MiniLab MkII, Korg MicroKey for playing in parts, synths, and drums.

Guitar, Outboard & Analog Toys

  • Line 6 Helix LT

    Main guitar floorboard for amps, cabs, and FX in both studio and live contexts.

  • Lexicon PCM70

    Classic reverb for giving sounds an actual space instead of a preset.

  • Empirical Labs Distressor EL8-X

    Grab-anything compressor.

  • Pultec-style EQP-1A, Warm Audio WA-2A

    Tone shaping and vocal leveling with actual hardware feel.

  • Cabling

    Mogami cable with Neutrik connectors because noise is not "vibe," it's just noise.

DAWs & Audio Software

  • Reaper

    Main DAW for recording, mixing, sound design, video editing, and weird routing experiments. Also the runtime target for the Reaper CLI bridge project - corpus ingestion, SQLite search, and deterministic live control from the command line.

  • Logic Pro

    Songwriting, composition, beat making, and quick ideas.

  • Final Cut Pro

    Video editing, scoring, and delivery.

  • Gig Performer

    Live instrument and FX host for creative routing and performance setups.

  • HISE / JUCE ecosystem (learning and R&D)

    For building custom virtual instruments and DSP prototypes.

  • OBS Studio

    Live recording, streaming, and content capture.

Game Dev & Art

  • Godot

    2D platformer and prototype work, including Shadow Lands and similar experiments.

  • Blender

    3D asset creation and pipeline to Godot via GLB export. Automated smoke testing, shared export paths, and import verification.

  • Sprite & asset workflow

    Custom 2D sprite sheets (e.g., Shadow Lands pencil character), AI-assisted generation, and manual slicing for Godot.

Languages

  • TypeScript, JavaScript

    Daily driver languages for web apps and services.

  • Go

    For audio streaming, waveform generation, and backend services (JBM Go Monolith, etc).

  • Python

    FastAPI microservices, audio analysis, and tooling.

  • SQL

    Postgres-first mentality with attention to schemas and migrations.

Frameworks & Runtimes

  • Remix.run / React Router 7

    Main web app frontend stack for production apps.

  • NestJS (Node)

    API and backend services for apps like JustBeatz Music.

  • FastAPI (Python)

    Lightweight APIs and microservices.

  • Go chi / standard library HTTP

    Simple and fast HTTP services in Go.

Databases, ORM & Queues

  • Postgres

    Primary database for almost everything.

  • Drizzle ORM & Prisma

    Dual-stack schema and data layer, depending on project history.

  • Supabase

    Hosted Postgres + auth where it makes sense.

  • Redis, BullMQ, Asynq (Go)

    Job queues for CPU heavy work like waveform generation and media processing.

Cloud, Infra & Deployment

  • AWS (S3, CloudFront and friends)

    Media storage, presigned URLs, and CDNs for audio and video delivery.

  • Fly.io, Railway, Vercel

    App hosting depending on the project and deployment style.

  • Docker / Docker Compose

    Local dev environments, multi-service stacks, and reproducible setups.

Editors, IDEs & CLI

  • Cursor

    Main editor with AI-assisted coding.

  • Claude Code CLI

    AI coding agent for complex refactors, multi-file edits, and codebase-wide tasks. Runs inside the terminal against the actual repo.

  • Codex CLI

    OpenAI's coding agent for parallel issue fixing and automation tasks.

  • OpenClaw

    Personal AI operator platform running 24/7 on the Mac mini. Handles scheduled ops, event responses, and receipts for everything it touches.

  • SMALL Protocol CLI

    Deterministic execution governance for agent tasks. Defines intent, constraints, plan, progress, and handoff as layered artifacts.

  • JetBrains (IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, WebStorm family)

    Deep language tooling and refactors for bigger codebases.

  • Terminal + zsh

    Git, Docker, Go, Node, Python, and whatever else needs to run.

  • pnpm / npm / bun

    Package managers depending on project age and requirements.

AI, ML & Local Models

  • ChatGPT (OpenAI)

    Architecture help, code reviews, legal drafting support, and general problem-solving.

  • Ollama on Apple Silicon

    Local LLMs for coding and reasoning when cloud is overkill.

  • LM Studio / OpenWebUI

    Local model management and experiments.

  • ComfyUI

    Image and sprite workflows, including sprite sheets and style-consistent assets.

  • Models experimented with

    Moondream, nomic-embed-text, LLaVA, DeepSeek-Coder variants and similar "fits in 16 GB RAM" models.

Video, Streaming & Content

  • OBS Studio + Loopback + RME UFX III

    Live streaming, recording, screen capture, and multi-source audio routing.

  • YouTube / course content

    Referenced heavily for game dev, audio, Go, and infra techniques.

Life, Legal & Operations

  • Google Calendar

    Scheduling hearings, calls, and project work.

  • PDF tooling & annotation

    For compiling exhibits, declarations, and court-ready packets.