I discovered that the STM32 chips supported debugging through various Eclipse-based IDEs like System Workbench and Atollic (which ST Microelectronics eventually bought). I'd been missing that capability when developing through the Arduino environment, so I endeavored to try to get that running.  I really HATE Eclipse tho. It seems like the majority of the tools that originate on Linux are needlessly complex and require additional command-line futzing to get anything to work, even if the tool is a GUI tool.
I was able to get debugging to work by November (having started in August; It takes time for parts to come in from China), but I was never able to get it set up so that I could build Arduino-library based software, allow for source level debugging, and still have a printf output. If I develop using the Arduino environment, I get at least two of those things; I just don't get source level debugging.

The reason for the Arduino libraries is that I am hoping to leverage a lot of the well-tested open source libraries out there and save myself a bunch of coding. I looked into writing everything raw on STM32, but found it rather confusing to get started with.

The trucker belt buckle idea solidified by December 1st, having messed around with a more traditional toy synth shape earlier.

The holidays were a busy time, and while I was working on stuff, I didn't really write any more logs until February 17th.  I was also spending some time helping Null Space Labs hackerspace get set up; we'd be packing them up again less than a year later.

About this time, the MAGwest folks asked for a different piece of swag, the Blinky 8-bit Couples Heart Pendant. I thought I could knock that out quickly and get back to the belt synth, but it ended up taking 5 months and basically killing the belt synth for 2018.