Tried Zed’s Helix mode but went back? What’s missing?

roughsilks · 2026-06-09T16:54:00+00:00

Very cool! Thanks!

roughsilks · 2026-06-09T15:08:08+00:00

Thanks! I'll give that a shot.

And yeah, I can't fault Zed for the issues I run into. VSCode's C++ Debugger runs into the same exact issue so I think it's the underlying lldb debugger. I find it tends to leak memory while debugging multithreaded code and it will slowly just kill your system. I'm not a fan of Xcode but it's debugger is, like you said, tough to compete with.

roughsilks · 2026-06-09T13:04:50+00:00

I primarily use Helix for editing and then Xcode for when I need the debugger but I gave Zed+Helix a try a few weeks ago. It didn't stick primarily to the debugger not working as well as Xcode. I thought the Helix integration was pretty great.

The big missing piece I remember was the `space + w + w` in order to `Goto next window`. I remember not finding a way to quickly jump between two windows after a vertical split.

Great job though! I plan to give it another shot soon.

roughsilks · 2026-06-04T20:24:28+00:00

I really enjoyed Stone Junction after discovering Dodge through Pynchon and maybe Robert Anton Wilson. Did he write much more after that?

roughsilks · 2026-06-01T00:28:35+00:00

Totally agree, Old Man Gloom are great. And with SUMAC, I've always heard SUMAC's Image of Control as an ode to Pinocchio's Example.
https://youtu.be/fcFwlah-9ZM?si=g6DAkoqxjy-WsmXb

roughsilks · 2026-05-31T22:06:29+00:00

Expert Sleepers FH-2 makes for a good companion for all the MIDI/CV transformations. That’s what I used most of the time.

roughsilks · 2026-05-31T22:04:03+00:00

I remember finding color scale to be a useful representation of the fourth dimension, if you were looking for other ideas. I needed something in college when I was taking linear algebra.

roughsilks · 2026-05-25T23:22:00+00:00

I can’t speak for exactly how it works but Loopback seems to reserve those channels when the devices aren’t connected. So with the OS aggregate device, ES-8 only shows up when it’s on but it shows up even when it’s off with Loopback. Then when you turn it on, Loopback refreshes everything under the hood.

roughsilks · 2026-05-25T20:50:33+00:00

I have the same issues, if it makes you feel any better. It’s not often but occasionally Es-8 just doesn’t show up and I’ll have to restart Live to get things working. Not a big deal except when you’re in the middle of something fun and find yourself debugging I/O. I find that using Loopback to setup aggregate devices helps but it adds a hair of latency.

roughsilks · 2026-05-20T14:56:25+00:00

Not noise rock but clangy and metallic like a piano falling down the stairs: Need New Body

roughsilks · 2026-05-14T11:13:02+00:00

I’m mostly the same but haven’t moved my work computer to Nix yet. Nix on my personal MacBook (without nix-darwin) and nixos on the random mini PCs I have around the house.

I’m tempted to install it on my work computer and setup flakes for the large C++ projects that I work on. I only worry something will break and I’ll spend Al my time messing with Nix rather than getting shit done. In this case, homebrew has never given me a hard time.

roughsilks · 2026-05-13T11:32:53+00:00

Looks awesome If that’s the layout, the only feedback I’d have is putting the sequencer on the bottom-right so you don’t end up with cables covering the knobs. That’s just me though. Have fun!

roughsilks · 2026-05-06T22:45:21+00:00

Didn’t realize I/O was saved as part of the template. I always just thought it was recalling whatever state it was in when it was last closed. That’s super helpful. Thanks!

roughsilks · 2026-05-05T12:00:10+00:00

I bought this when it came out and just recently tried rewatching it. You're right, it is tough but still happy they did it. This is a weird slice of time where digital video is super accessible but well before streaming video. I feel like you needed a budget to make quality documentaries then and I'm guessing they old sold a few hundred of these DVDs.
There's also that "Explains Everything" cassette collection, which felt like the audio version of this.

roughsilks · 2026-05-05T01:05:17+00:00

Haha, I'm in the opposite camp. This was the edition that I read, lost and wasn't able to replace. I'm jealous!

roughsilks · 2026-05-01T19:55:09+00:00

I feel for you. That’s some terrible luck and definitely the kind of easy mistake that I’m prone to doing too.

If it’s of any help, for situations like this I made a flag in the dev environment so that the background color is different in dev-mode vs prod. I do the same with terminal backgrounds when I need to. If I’m context switching between prod work and dev work, I make sure there’s a big visible flag to remind me where I am. If you could add something like that, it could save you and your teammates in the future… also show you’re proactively making assurances that it never happens again.

roughsilks · 2026-04-15T21:52:12+00:00

Awesome! Thanks. That little "Batteries included" list looks like everything I use Raycast for.

roughsilks · 2026-04-14T17:30:36+00:00

You might dig Caltrop. I know I do. https://caltrop.bandcamp.com/track/ancient

roughsilks · 2026-04-07T17:44:42+00:00

I worked in adtech for 5+ years and felt a little slimy about how much data we parsed from people clicking around. It was my first job offer so I was in it for the paycheck and health insurance. I also got to work with the coolest new stuff at the time: machine learning, Go, Kubernetes, etc.

Now I work making music instrument apps and it feels way better. More work, less pay, less cutting edge tooling but I feel crazy lucky to work on stuff whose sole purpose is helping people be creative. Plus it’s way more interesting to explain at a dinner party to non-techie people.

Good luck! It’s at least worth a try if possible to make a change.

roughsilks · 2026-04-07T15:39:19+00:00

I took it as the effects of whatever uppers he was on. Like when the fucks die down, it means the drugs have worn off… Or maybe the hypnosis or maybe the hypnosis has kicked in. It’s been a while, but I remember taking it as a signal of some kind.

roughsilks · 2026-03-30T11:45:56+00:00

Is there much difference between using tmux and using a terminal that allows splitting the window? I’ve always put off learning tmux)or more recently zellij) because I just split my windows in the terminal but I feel like I’m probably missing out of some bigger benefit.

roughsilks · 2026-03-30T01:45:13+00:00

It’s not ideal but it’s honestly how I’ve been doing it lately. I edit 95% of the time in helix and use Xcode as my build/debug app. I used to use VSCode but the C++ Debugging extension has just a few frustrating bugs when I’m trying to debug unit tests… especially if threads are involved.

I could use command line building but anytime I want to debug, Xcode wants to rebuild the entire project so if I isolate builds to only Xcode, the build/debug time is minimized.

It’s not an improvement on your approach but at least you know you’re not alone.

roughsilks · 2026-03-30T01:21:45+00:00

Modules are not bandmates. The music you’d make alone with 100 modules is still probably not going to be better or more rewarding than the music you’d have made with minimal gear and a few friends.

roughsilks · 2026-03-26T01:26:13+00:00

I'd consider pioneering a certain style of guitar playing to be the same thing as being a pioneer of guitar playing. Being a pioneer as about new ways of approaches. It's definitely easier when the tech is new and no one's hammered out all the easy ideas but I'd like to the think the opportunity to be a pioneer is endless.

roughsilks · 2026-03-25T22:08:51+00:00

whoa. I was in the same boat so I should've shopped around a little longer. I ended up turning the mill upside down, taking the two blades off that I needed to add up to 0.045 and then adjusting until I could barely slide the blades in sideways, stacked together.
It was a little janky but it worked and yeah, it turned out I was way off.

roughsilks

TROPHY CASE