DOOM on a drum machine

My MP DOOM project logged almost 400 million Codex tokens. And now my drum machine runs DOOM.

Most of that count was cached input. Codex kept reusing parts of the conversation it had already processed. I used GPT-6.1 Sol as the main model, with Terra helping on parts of the build and review.

A knob, a few pads, and a door

Getting a picture on the screen was the start. I wanted to actually play. I mapped movement to four pads, put aim on the big knob, and made pushing it fire. Pad 8 opens doors. The same knob scrolls through menus when you're out of the fight.

The test that mattered

I wanted to shut the MPC down, come back later, and pick up where I left off. The port runs in memory, so we had to give saves a place to live on the card. On the starter, I made a save, quit to the stock MPC, powered it off, and loaded the save after restarting.

What I learned

Codex could build a new version and check the code. I still had to sit at the MPC and decide whether the controls felt right. I got more out of each round by asking for one thing I could verify on the hardware, like whether the knob could turn and fire without dropping the input.

What I'm working on next

More tools for the MPC, plus apps for beatmakers and musicians. The first ones are coming to iOS soon. I'll share what works and what I learn along the way.