The first language I learned was BASIC during school days. The first computer I worked on had a boot floppy—x386 (or 286?). The monitor looked like something from a hospital ICU, minus the beep. Otherwise, identical. I remember the persisting green dot while switching off.
My first "DAW" was a PASCAL program I wrote, using the PC speaker for beep sounds (pre-multimedia era), sending frequency values in Hz to produce music. A string input would generate a melody. Raag Amrithavarshini was convincing even without gamak- the pitch bends
The first actual DAW I used is now in a museum. Its developer creates iOS apps these days. Time moves differently in software years.
My friendship with algorithms is lengthy and laborious. I've watched them evolve from simple IF-THEN statements to neural networks that write marketing blogs and songs that could flood Spotify.
I said it was lengthy and laborious.
Lengthy: Sitting through debates about whether we were in the fourth or fifth generation during Prolog sessions.
But what haunts me still is the laborious part: The practical exam asked me to find a factorial. I know—finding factorial is easy for an exam. But not with a processor console that takes hexadecimal inputs. That's MACHINE LANGUAGE.
I guess people often misunderstand what “rigorous study” means. But I never hated algorithms. Even when they classified my Theme and Variations as Pop in one instance. If you are from India, Theme and Variations is like Niraval in Carnatic. You pick a theme and play the variations of the same.
Actually, I tried a French overture style variation. After writing the scores, either it wasn't convincing, or I found a better inspiration. But I kept the bass part of the overture style for that ceremonial gravity. Algorithm caught it “Pop Beat”.
A distributor put it under different classification, and the platform it was distributed to does not have a slot for that classification.
I realized: Algorithm and me. We both trying to process music through systems designed for three-minute pop songs. Neither of us fits the framework.
That's why we have our pact. Algorithms don't chase me (my Spotify stats confirm this), and I don't chase them. We recognize each other as edge cases in our respective worlds
The algorithm that put my Theme and Variations in the Pop section wasn't broken. It was doing exactly what it was told with the limited options it had. The humans who built the system never imagined someone would upload "Echoes in My Chamber: Theme and Variations"
Edge cases, both of us. That's our kinship.
That failed French Overture style Pop bass happens around 9:02 min. I would strongly suggest you jump there, if at all you are curious.
WARNING: The first nine minutes contain sounds of me questioning my life choices.