Great article on why fast matters in software. Linear is always a good example.

Fast eliminates cognitive friction. Raycast surfacing the right application before you finish typing feels like an extension of your mind. Superhuman's sub-100ms rule—plus their focus on keyboard shortcuts—changed the email game in a way that no one's been able to replicate, let alone beat. I recently used Mercury to pay another business that uses Mercury, and its instant settle felt surprising in a world where bank transfers usually take days.

This is because the effort to make software fast often requires stripping away non-essential features. Compare how fast a streamlined project management tool like Linear loads versus an enterprise app like Workday (or worse… Oracle). In a world obsessed with adding rather than refining, speed becomes the ultimate expression of respect. It says, "We've thought deeply about what matters and eliminated everything else."

There's still no Switch 2 game yet that I'm desperate to play. I still just want Metroid Prime 4 and Silksong. Both of these should be Switch 1 games.

This is the direction education is heading. Not getting the answer straight away but being "taught" the concept is a super cool use of AI.

I have a new synth setup.

Sadly my Yamaha Reface CS broke; the internal speakers stopped working and it would randomly turn off about 5 seconds in to powering it on. I looked into getting it fixed but the repair shops all seemed to be north-side of Melbourne (at least an hour drive from home) and it realistically could have cost anything to actually get things fully fixed.

So I decided to go with a more robust computer based setup.

Here is the list of what I now have:

• LPK25 MKII 25-key Keyboard Controller
• USB‑C to USB‑B cable
• Arturia Mini V4 (demo version currently)

The LPK25 is a small but mighty keyboard. It instantly connects to my Mac and I just needs some kind of software instrument to get up and running. The octave buttons work well which I'll likely need to use a bit given the small size.

What has been the biggest surprise for me is exploring different software instruments available on macOS. Whilst there are a lot of cheap options out there the quality of Arturia's software instruments immediately stood out to me after giving a few instruments a demo.

The sound of the Mini V4 is just magical; it sounds thick and warm just like a good synth should. I usually set the patch to default and then tinker from there. It's so fun messing with the different knobs. There's a lot for me to learn but there are a million tutorials.

Owning your own physical Minimoog Model D would be so awesome but also crazy expensive. So emulation is very much a better option for hobbyists.

In terms of my little art project replicating game music we are now full steam ahead. I also now have a subscription to musescore so I can access the sheet music I need.

On my Mac I can run Mini V4 as a plugin in GarageBand and record as MIDI. I do also love the flexibility Mini V4 gives you in that you can run it as a standalone app just for playing.