Small Ponds Software
Small Ponds Software

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Hi, I'm TJ.

I build software for things I actually care about — music, fitness, live performance, and keeping life organized.

Most of what's on this site started as something I needed and couldn't find. Keeping a group of 40-year-old guys actually interested in going to the gym. Making it easier to schedule rehearsals, play together, and stream without it becoming a production. Staying on top of a full life as a dad without dropping things. Either way — no roadmaps, no blueprints, only "this should exist, so I'm gonna build it."

Music & Hardware

A lot of the work here is music-adjacent. Two of these are modular stage rigs built around swappable cartridges — no laptop required. One is a Mac plugin for guitarists who know the tone they want but don't want to spend an hour finding it. The gear I want tends not to exist, so I end up building it.

Fitness

Getting older friends to stay consistent at the gym is harder than it sounds. One of these wraps workouts in an RPG — characters, XP, stats, squad challenges, championship belts. It makes showing up feel like something. Available on iOS and Android, currently in beta with real gym members.

In Progress

One of these is an ambient system for surfacing what matters without constantly checking things. Another is moving toward a proper stage-ready build. A lot of what's here is still moving — that's kind of the point.

CoachBaddy

Your gym sessions, gamified.

MuscleDaddies turns every workout into an RPG. Pick a character, earn XP, level up stats, compete for championship belts, and challenge your squad.

Request Beta Access

MuscleDaddies is in active testing. Drop your info and we'll reach out when a spot opens up.

Choose your character — MuscleDaddies and MuscleBaddies, each with unique art and stat bonuses

Warrior
Warrior
Banshee
Banshee
Quarterback
Quarterback
Cyborg
Cyborg
Hoisting Steel
Hoisting Steel
Alien Warlord
Alien Warlord
Terminatrix
Terminatrix
Enforcer
Enforcer
Captain
Captain
High Elf
High Elf
Sci-Fi Star
Sci-Fi Star
Knight
Knight
Goalie
Goalie
Swordmaster
Swordmaster
Android
Android
Golfer
Golfer
Power Forward
Power Forward

STR

Strength stat. Heavy lifts, compound movements, and raw power.

SPD

Speed stat. Explosive movements, cardio bursts, agility drills.

END

Endurance stat. Long sets, high reps, sustained effort.

INT

Intelligence stat. Form, technique, mobility, and recovery.

Championship Belts

Compete for stat belts across your gym. Top Strength? You hold the belt until someone out-lifts you.

Strength Belt Strength
Speed Belt Speed
Endurance Belt Endurance
Overall Belt Overall

Monthly Challenges

New challenges every month — themed goals, community leaderboards, and exclusive rewards for those who show up.

Co-Op Mode

Team up with a partner for paired workouts. Shared XP bonuses and synced progress.

Leaderboards

Compete against your gym, your squad, or the whole community. Monthly resets keep it fresh.

Leveling & XP

Every rep earns XP. Level up your character, unlock new abilities, and watch your stats grow as you get stronger in real life.

Achievements

Hundreds of unlockable achievements — from first workout milestones to endurance streaks to hidden challenges only the dedicated will find.

Unlockable Characters

Start with a base roster and unlock new MuscleDaddies and MuscleBaddies as you hit milestones. Rare characters for the truly dedicated.

Squads

Form a squad with your gym crew. See everyone's character, track squad XP, send pokes when someone skips leg day.

Apple Watch

Full companion app on your wrist. Track workouts, check stats, and get nudges without pulling out your phone.

Status

Currently in closed beta with gym testers.

MUSICBOY

Swap a cartridge. Play a new instrument.

A pocket-sized music rig with swappable cartridges. Each one turns it into a completely different instrument — synth, bass amp, vocal processor, drum machine. No laptop. No setup. Just plug in and play.

CARTRIDGE SELECT
KEYS
VOCAL
BASS
GUITAR
DRUMS
KEYSBOY v0.1

Full synth workstation. Multiple sound engines including analog modeling, FM, chiptune, and sample playback. Dial in your sound with on-screen faders, switch patches on the fly, and play live with zero latency.

VOL
CUT
RES
REV
BASSBOY v1.0

SansAmp-style DI blend processor. Four amp models — Clean/SVT, SansAmp, Darkglass, and Vintage SVT — with DI blend that lets you mix clean signal with amp tone, or use crossover mode to keep lows clean while driving the mids. Compressor (VCA, Optical, FET, VarMu), octaver, chromatic tuner, and output limiter.

DRV
BLND
COMP
OCT
VOCALBOY v0.2

Live vocal processing. Reverb, delay, pitch correction, harmonizer, and looper — all controlled from a touchscreen while you sing. Built for performers who want effects without a pedalboard.

REV
DLY
HARM
LOOP
GUITARBOY v0.2

Full guitar amp sim and effects rig. Four amp voicings — Clean, Blues, Thrash, Metal — with a 12-stage chain: noise gate, compressor, Tube Screamer, wah, amp engine, 5×5 cab sim with IR reverb, phaser, tremolo, chorus, and delay. Input calibration profiles let you normalize any guitar so your tone stays consistent.

GAIN
TONE
DLY
REV
DRUMMERBOY v0.1

12-pad sample drum machine with step sequencer. Three kits out of the box — 808 Boom, Acoustic Kit, and Lo-Fi Beats — with 16/32-step patterns, swing, choke groups, and per-pad pitch, pan, decay, and filter. Drop a folder of WAVs on the SD card and it auto-maps to pads. MIDI learn, live recording from audio input, and 6 preset snapshots.

VOL
PAN
PTCH
SWNG
COMING SOON

> ...

 

WHY MUSICBOY
NO LAPTOP
ZERO LATENCY
SWAP + PLAY
TOUCHSCREEN
FITS IN A BAG
LIVE-READY

5 active cartridges. Working hardware prototype in hand.

MUSICBOX

Five cartridges. One box. TV screen. No laptop.

MusicBox is the big-stage version of MusicBoy. Same swappable cartridges — but now five slots run simultaneously, an Xbox controller navigates a retro OS on your TV, and a multi-channel audio interface handles all the outputs at once. Plug in, pick your rigs, and play.

ACTIVE SLOTS
EMBER — GUITAR
OCEAN — BASS
MINT — KEYS
BERRY — VOCAL
CLASSIC — DRUMS
SLOT OVERVIEW

Five tall cards on a 1080p TV display — one per slot, each glowing in its cart's neon color. Per-slot VU meters pulse in real time. See everything running at a glance without touching a keyboard.

EMBR
OCEN
MINT
BRRY
CLSC
MIXER SCREEN

Five-channel mixer strip with VU bars, volume faders, and mute/solo per slot. Hit SELECT on the gamepad to pull it up from anywhere. Volume changes fire live OSC commands to each cart's audio engine.

VOL
VU
MUTE
SOLO
CART BROWSER

Navigate carts with the D-pad. Each cart shows its color identity, name, and version. Palette swatches preview the slot's neon theme before you load it. Scans both internal cartridges and USB/SD mounts automatically.

SLOT DETAIL

Drill into any slot — see DSP status, audio routing, OSC bridge port, and live metering. Restart a cart, reassign its audio output, or eject it cleanly without touching the others.

MUSICBOX vs MUSICBOY
5 SLOTS LIVE
TV DISPLAY
XBOX GAMEPAD
MULTI-CHANNEL AUDIO
SAME CARTS
STAGE-READY

Status

OS scaffold complete. Phase 4 (live cart wiring) next.

Ambient Task & Life Awareness System

Everything in your life — work, family, fitness, music, side projects — organized in one calm dashboard. Capture anything, focus on what matters, and never lose track of what's next.

Focus Squares

Two glowing focus slots at the top of your dashboard — a primary and secondary focus. Drag any item in, and it stays front and center until you mark it done. No more losing track of what you sat down to do.

What's Next?

Stuck? Hit "Next Step?" and AI analyzes everything on your plate — overdue items, priority scores, time of day — and recommends exactly which project to tackle next, with reasoning.

Work
Coding
Family
Fitness
Music
Personal
Social

Brain Dump

Capture from anywhere — typed notes, emails, Slack messages, Zoom transcripts, iMessages. Throw it all in and ATLAS sorts it into the right domain and project automatically.

Quick Prioritization

Three tiers — Top, 2nd, and Other. Drag items between lanes to reprioritize in real time. Everything organized by domain and project so you can batch your focus.

Calendar Sync

Connect Google Calendar and your events flow in automatically. Meetings, deadlines, and appointments land right alongside your tasks — no switching apps.

Daily Wins

A live ticker shows what you've completed today. Hit "End Day" for an AI-generated summary of your wins, broken down by domain, with a motivational close.

Stats & Streaks

Track total wins, daily streaks, and completion trends by domain. Stacked bar charts show where your time actually goes — daily, weekly, or monthly views.

Status

Live and in daily use. Desktop ambient layer in development.

B.R.I.S.C.O.E.

Browser-based live show control for bands — mixer, lyrics, stream, and MIDI cues from any iPad on the network.

Monitor Mix

Every band member controls their personal in-ear mix from a tablet. Color-coded faders with real-time VU meters, per-channel EQ, compression, and gate — no engineer required.

Lyrics Display

Full-screen lyrics pushed to all connected devices. Section navigation, adjustable font size, and auto-scroll synced to the metronome. Singers never miss a line.

Show Control

BPM clock with beat-accurate MIDI and OSC cue timeline. Program changes, control changes, and triggers fire precisely on the beat. Load show files per song.

Stream Control

Switch OBS scenes, start/stop stream and recording, monitor cameras — all from the same interface. Live overlays with waveform visualizer and animated graphics.

Briscoe listening Briscoe speaking Briscoe sniffing Briscoe walking

Meet Briscoe

Bot Responsible for Interesting Streaming Choices Over Electronic-media — an AI show assistant who listens to the crowd, watches the stage, and switches cameras on beat. He analyzes live chat sentiment, audio levels, and beat positions to make real-time production decisions — so you can focus on performing.

Mixer Integration

Full OSC bridge to professional digital consoles — auto-discovery on the network. 32 channels, 16 aux buses, real-time metering, EQ, compression, and gate control.

OBS + MIDI

OBS WebSocket v5 for scene switching and broadcast control. Any USB MIDI interface auto-detected for hardware cue output.

Status

Live and deployed for performances. Overlay system and B.R.I.S.C.O.E. AI in active development.

Ghost Runners

Band organizer built for musicians. Coordinate schedules, vote on mixes, build setlists, and message your band — all in one app.

Request Beta Access

Ghost Runners is open to new bands. Tell us who you are and we'll get you in.

Smart Scheduling

Every member marks their weekly availability on a time grid. The app calculates overlap and highlights the best practice times — color-coded from "everyone's free" to "nobody can make it."

Mix Voting

Upload rough cuts, works in progress, or final mixes. Band members vote yes or no — majority rules. Track status from idea to final mix with color-coded progress.

Setlists

Build setlists with key, tempo, lyrics, and Spotify links per song. Claim lead vocals, drag to reorder, and share with the whole band.

Channels

Discord-style messaging with text, announcements, and ideas channels. Unread badges, real-time sync, and auto-sorted by activity.

Events

Schedule practices, gigs, recording sessions, and meetings. RSVP tracking with confirmed, declined, and pending counts per event.

Multi-Band

Switch between bands with a tap. Each band has its own mixes, setlists, schedule, and channels. Admin roles control who can manage what.

Status

Live at ghostrunnersproject.com. Web primary, iOS and Android supported.

A Mac AU/VST3 plugin for guitar and bass. Type a song, an artist, a vibe — it dials in the amp, tubes, cab, and full effects chain.

Request Beta Access

ToneBar beta is invite-only. Drop your info and we'll send you a code when a spot opens.

Eruption
Loaded: Eruption
Style 2550
Artist 2798
Song 2010
Custom 24
Hendrix clean neck
hot-rodded Marshall crunch
Texas blues SRV
Beatles Vox AC30
late night ambient clean
Metallica rhythm
Stairway to Heaven solo
vintage Fender sparkle
Jaco Pastorius bass
doom bass fuzz wall
ToneBar plugin interface

2,800+ Tones

Songs, artists, genres, amps, vibes, and eras — guitar and bass. Built-in library covers decades of tone, and when it doesn't know, AI takes over.

39 Amp Archetypes

27 guitar amps and 12 bass amps covering every major family — British, American, high-gain, boutique, and beyond. Paired with 7 tube types and 5 transformer configs.

16-Effect Chain

Gate → Comp → Fuzz → TS → Wah → Pitch → Env Filter → Amp → Phaser → Flanger → Trem → Chorus → Wow → Delay → Tape Sat → Reverb. Every parameter searchable.

Powered by AI

Type anything — "that 90s alt-rock clean tone," "woman tone," "something warm and slightly broken." If it's not in the library, AI interprets your description and assembles a full amp + FX chain from scratch. No manual dialing. No guessing.

AU + VST3 + Standalone

Runs anywhere on Mac. Load it as an Audio Unit or VST3 in any compatible DAW, or use the standalone app to dial in tones without opening a session.

Bookmarks

Found a tone you love? Bookmark it. Saved tones are one click away, always visible at the top of the plugin — no menus, no digging.

Bass Ready

Full bass amp support with dedicated archetypes and cab models. Flip the BASS toggle in the cab section and the library filters to bass tones automatically.

MIDI Learn

Right-click any slider to assign a hardware CC. Mappings save automatically and load on startup. Program Change messages step through your saved bookmarks.

Download ToneBar Beta

Enter your offer code to download the installer. macOS 12+ required.

macOS 12 Monterey or later  ·  Apple Silicon or Intel  ·  18 MB

The world's first ice cream truck sonar.

Tap to report a truck. We triangulate locations from everyone listening. The whole neighborhood pings together on one pastel sherbet map.

LIVE NOW conear.app
MODEL CN-7

PRESS BUTTON TO BEGIN · MODEL CN-7

PINGS01
EST
LAST87s
SHOPS00

I HEAR IT

Pick loudness 1-5. We weight your ping by how loud the truck sounds and combine with everyone else's reports.

I'M NEAR IT

Drop a ground-truth pin at your spot. Overrides hear-reports nearby. Anonymous, no signup, takes one tap.

Crowdsourced Triangulation

One report is a hunch. Five reports is a pin on a map. Loudness ratings from multiple users combine into a weighted estimate with a confidence circle.

Anonymous Reporting

No account, no signup, no friction. One tap and you're on the sonar. Drivers can opt in later to broadcast their own location.

Auto-Decay

Reports vanish after ~15 minutes. Trucks move, so the map stays fresh. No stale pins, no zombie data.

Why Cone-ar?

Mister Softee and Alsies have apps, but only for their own trucks. Ice Cream Radar is Europe-only. Scoop only works if the driver opts in. Cone-ar is the only US crowdsourced, multi-brand, anonymous tracker that works without driver signup.

Pastel Sherbet Look

Warm cream and beige map, strawberry pink reports, waffle-cone yellow accents. Summer arcade vibes, not another generic dark-mode map app.

PWA First

Add to home screen, works offline, no app store. Loads in a second on a phone, even on a slow neighborhood signal.

Privacy by Design

No passive mic listening, ever. The mic only activates when you tap to scan. Time-bounded, single purpose, your call.

Coming: AR + AI

Phase 3 adds an AR view (point your phone, see the arrow to the truck) and route prediction from historical data. Already on the roadmap.

Status

Live at conear.app — try it on your phone.

Music moves you. Now we can prove it.

SoundPower scores every song in your library by how it actually affects your pace. Spotify plays in the background while you run, the Watch captures pace + heart rate, and a custom Power metric ranks your library by which songs make you faster.

LAUNCHING December 2026
iOS + WATCHOS App Store

Request Beta Access

SoundPower is in private beta. Apple Watch + Spotify required. Drop your info and we'll send a TestFlight invite when a spot opens.

DASHBOARD

Power Score, at a glance

Your 30-day Power number, trend arrow, and a live sparkline of how your last month of running has actually moved. Open the app, see whether your music is helping.

LIBRARY

Every song, ranked

A sortable, searchable list of every track you've run to, scored by its real effect on your pace. Sort by Power, by recency, by skip rate. Time-window aware: today, week, month, year, all-time.

RUNS

Timeline replay

Scrub through any run with a horizontal power-gradient timeline. Album-art song bars with power-colored borders. Pinch to zoom in on the exact moment a track hit.

Custom Power Metric

Not just pace. SoundPower weighs speed against heart rate so a fast easy song counts more than a fast hard one. Rolling baselines mean a slow song on a slow day still reads honestly.

HealthKit + Spotify

Apple Watch captures pace and HR. Spotify supplies what was actually playing. The two streams get stitched together, smoothed, and scored on-device after every run, no cloud needed.

Watch-first capture

Start a run on your wrist. End it. The phone takes over from there: pulls the last 24 hours of Spotify history, trims to the run window, scores the plays, and saves the result to your library.

Why this matters

Every runner has a hunch about which songs work. "I'm faster on a Kanye beat." "I die on slow openers." SoundPower turns that hunch into a number. Pick the right playlist on race day because you have the data, not because it felt right last Tuesday.

Private by default

Spotify tokens live in iOS Keychain, never on a server. Firestore rules lock every row to your auth ID. Refresh tokens never leave the device. Your run data is your run data.

Premium analytics

The app stays free. A $2.99/month tier unlocks the deep dashboard on the companion website: trend lines, time-of-day breakdowns, song-vs-song comparisons, and exportable data.

Apple Music + Strava (v1.1)

Spotify is primary at launch. MusicKit support and Strava run imports land in the first point release once the core loop is proven on real Spotify+Watch users.

Coming: social + recs

v2 adds shareable weekly Power Songs, friend leaderboards, and a recommendation engine that suggests playlists for your goal pace based on what's worked for you before.

Status

v1 architecture built, 15 scoring tests passing. Real-device testing next, then a December 2026 launch to ride Spotify Wrapped season.

Your App.

Got something you wish existed? I take on a small number of client projects each year — apps, internal tools, and business software for shops that need something the off-the-shelf stuff can't quite do.

Mobile & Web Apps

iOS, Android, or browser — same approach I use on my own projects. Design first, real people testing it early, no half-baked betas that drag on forever.

Business Software

Internal tools, dashboards, workflow automation, customer portals. Less "enterprise platform," more "the thing your team actually opens every morning."

Secure by Default

I also run a managed IT firm, so security isn't bolted on at the end. It's how I build from day one — auth, data handling, and privacy treated as features, not afterthoughts.

How it works

1

Talk it through

You tell me what you're trying to do and who it's for. I tell you whether I'm the right person for it. No pressure, no sales pitch.

2

Scope & price

A short written plan with timeline, milestones, and a fixed price. You know exactly what you're getting before anything starts.

3

Build & share

Working previews along the way — not a six-month black box. You see and use it as it comes together.

4

Launch & support

Ship it, hand over the keys, and stick around for whatever you need next. The relationship doesn't end at launch.

A working portfolio, not a deck

Everything else on this site is something I built and shipped. Apps in the App Store, hardware on stages, software running real businesses. You can see it, use it, and judge for yourself.

One person, end to end

No account managers, no offshore handoffs. You talk to the person writing the code. Decisions happen in one conversation, not three meetings.

Tell me about it

A quick paragraph about what you're trying to build, who it's for, and what kind of timeline you're working with. I'll get back to you within a couple days.