I've been gradually separating the SquishBox software from the SquishBox hardware, and I've decided to give the software its own name: **FluidPatcher**. The SquishBox is still the hardware interface, but FluidPatcher is the bit that actually does the interesting work of configuring and controlling FluidSynth.

The original `squishbox.py` interface is now essentially a SquishBox-specific front end that imports FluidPatcher, which means the underlying patching system doesn't need to know or care whether it's running on a SquishBox. Since FluidSynth itself is cross-platform, it makes sense to take advantage of that, so I've also written a wxPython implementation that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides a graphical environment for creating, editing, and playing patches, making it much easier to experiment with complex setups without having to do everything through the terminal. I've even put together a Windows installer with the latest version of FluidSynth so that people can actually try it out without assembling a Linux system first.

I've also put together a **headless Raspberry Pi implementation** that doesn't require any of the SquishBox hardware—no buttons, screen, or custom board. It can run on a bare Pi and respond to MIDI CC messages to change patches. This makes it another way to experiment with FluidPatcher and, hopefully, come up with uses I haven't thought of. I like to imagine somebody dropping a caseless Raspberry Pi onstage and running a long headphone cable from it to the mixer. Punk AF.

The desktop version can also connect to a SquishBox or headless Pi over the network, so I can create and edit patches on my regular computer and immediately try them on the actual hardware without SSHing into the Pi and editing text files. That's made my own patch-building process considerably faster and smoother, and I think it makes FluidPatcher a much more approachable way to get started with the SquishBox.

The long-term goal is to make FluidPatcher useful wherever FluidSynth is useful. Maybe VSTs or other DAW plugins eventually? **FluidPatcher everywhere!**