development log
Yes, I started the flagship before VWM is finished
FF00 VWM works inside its current alpha boundary, and the problem pulling me forward now is bigger: building a local music collaborator whose actions can be trusted.
Yes, I know it is a little ridiculous to start the flagship program while FF00 VWM is still an alpha.
VWM is not abandoned. It works inside the boundary I published, and nobody is currently blocked on a failure that demands an emergency detour. There is still work on its multi-monitor acceptance matrix, per-output Apply behavior, and hot-plug handling. That work remains written down. I am simply not going to pretend that finishing every possible VWM edge is the only valid thing I can build next.
The problem occupying me now is music production. I want a local collaborator that can listen to references, understand the tools actually available in a session, help write MIDI, and shape a synth without producing imaginary JSON calls or confidently describing work it never performed.
That frustration became FF00 Studio.
The important distinction
This is not “put a chatbot beside a DAW and hope.” The model is deliberately not the authority. Rust and C++ code own the capability inventory, validation, revision checks, audio graph, state transitions, and success reports. The model can interpret “more metallic” and propose a coordinated change; the executor must prove which Surge parameters exist, show the exact before and after state, and keep the preview reversible.
The first architecture has a Waveform-facing Rack, one isolated worker per Rack, a separate Master application, and Ollama as a replaceable local reasoning provider. Waveform project XML stays read-only. Audio processing never waits for the model, disk, or control IPC.
What I actually built
The foundation is more than a folder name now. The Rust workspace passes seven tests. The transparent development Rack and worker compile against pinned JUCE 8.0.13. The Tauri Master produces a Windows release executable and rejects non-loopback Ollama endpoints in strict-local mode. The protocol, latency, authority, graph, and sidecar contracts have their first deterministic forms.
That still does not make FF00 Studio usable. The Rack has not been installed and reopened through Waveform yet. There is no cross-process audio bridge, no hosted Surge, no semantic sound design, and no stem-to-MIDI workflow. Those are milestone gates, not features I get to claim early.
Where it goes next
The immediate test is wonderfully unglamorous: load the transparent Rack in a disposable Waveform project, pass audio through it, save, close, reopen, and prove the state survived. Then I can build the worker bridge and deliberately kill it to make sure Waveform stays alive.
Only after those foundations hold do I get to the part that inspired this: Surge XT, reference stems, MIDI, semantic sound changes, one-shots, drums, mix analysis, and eventually mastering previews.
There is also an increasingly obvious visual task. Too many projects on this site still share fallback or default hero art. FF00 Studio is using the common FF00 mark for now, but a flagship needs its own ASCII language. It is time to make more artwork instead of letting every unfinished card borrow the same face.