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so back in 2016-2017 i was first introduced to tracker composition (and music composition in general) through this play store app called 8Tones. unfortunately it's not available today, but i remember finding it one time while i was in my orchestra class lol. there i produced my first two songs and videos posted on this channel, _Cryztalyze_ and _Shogun Shock_ ! eventually this new trail of chiptune composition led me into FamiTracker just a bit later that year, and i would be fairly active in music making for the remainder of middle school. i became inactive the following years, but i would discover Cakewalk during the pandemic, around 2021. back in middle school, at the same time i discovered 8Tones, my friend had already introduced me to BandLab (the parent company of Cakewalk). somewhere during the pandemic i vaguely remember revisiting the app on a whim, and that's where i discovered the Cakewalk DAW. it was free as well, as long as i had a BandLab account (which i did), so i tried not to pass up the opportunity and wanted to see how far the jump was between tracker production to a more traditional workspace. in terms of sound design, the difficulty curve was definitely sharp! i had planned different songs and tunes i wanted to make, but i realized there was a long way for me to discover and hone in on the sounds and styles i liked (there are a lot of unfinished projects just laying on my computer lol). today i still believe i can further refine my sounds. it was only in 2022 where i felt comfortable enough to produce and release tracks made in Cakewalk, starting with my AIB remix. my motivation definitely wavered back and forth during those years and still does today. i guess i've always been very particular and picky with what i've wanted to express (maybe a bit too picky lol). in retrospect that may had been another factor that let me transition to this new style of production; there were more sound possibilities and experiments to choose from, versus FamiTracker which had its own limitations on how much i could express and fit into one track (though that's just the tambre of chiptune-style music and not really anything negative at all). i was also finding myself tended toward EDM genres during the pandemic as well, and i've noticed my structural style nowadays has changed versus 5-6 years ago. (though i still love and respect chiptune styles and it'll always stay with me despite how much has changed

very cool@@natebait ! 👍

i was born and grew up in california, but i'm also filipino-american :p ngl i'm a bit self-conscious of my accent since i feel like i pronounce my "l's" very weird, it's been a thing i've always noticed for years now 😭

@@natebait Oh, it's strange that I think we sound similar then, we are not even slightly similar in any of that, I'm from Minnesota and as white as you can possibly get. Weird, but oh well, still neat.

i've been thinking of doing dora's island song in BFB 1 for a while now lol, so far this ideas seems easier to work with than others and is also kind of up to speed with my familiarity with EDM also thank you so much for reminding me about those maps i genuinely forgot that existed 😭