Saw Wave (Third update, please follow)

As they exited the police station, Ryan saw Marvin with his arm around the Central American beauty as they approached the car. The driver had already gotten out and opened the door for him; Marvin climbed in, and they drove off without a second glance.

"He handles booking for a lot of big-name DJs. Dedicated to his work, but flashy—you saw it." Deadmau5 shrugged.

Ryan turned and told Abigail she'd be the guest performer for Deadmau5's set. Abigail was thrilled for him and said she'd come to the festival—if tickets were still available.

Then Ryan got into the car with Deadmau5's crew, while Abigail and her friends continued exploring Panama City.

Not long after they parted, Abigail got a call.

"You're coming too? I thought you didn't have time." Abigail exclaimed.

A short while later, Ryan followed Deadmau5's crew back to the lounge behind Harpoon Harry's Bar. No one had cleaned up in the meantime; the room was still in the same state as before—a mess. Tables and chairs were overturned, cables and PCB boards snapped, and a few splatters of blood dotted the floor.

Given the current situation, Deadmau5 definitely couldn't make it to today's Beach Bash festival.

"Cancel the Daytona Beach nightclub show tomorrow night too. We need to rehearse for Ultra." Deadmau5 surveyed the wrecked room and said.

"I'll come find you tonight, okay, babe? I've got work now," Deadmau5's assistant said to the bikini-clad girl beside him.

The other bikini girl was also asked to leave. The assistant went out to find a few helpers to tidy up the room, while Deadmau5 and another assistant discussed visual animation issues.

"We don't need extra animation control now, and we don't need to sync with the helmet. The VJ's job is actually simpler." The man nodded.

VJ and DJ are similar terms. Originally, VJ specifically referred to people who played music videos on commercial music TV channels like MTV, VH1, MuchMusic, and Channel V—video jockeys. Later, it extended to staff responsible for stage effects. The fancy term is "real-time visual designer"; the down-to-earth term is "the person doing the big-screen visual effects."

DJs often perform in nightclubs, with requirements for sound, lighting, and visuals. Big-name DJs have dedicated people handling exclusive visual effects, including a complete visual system. This visual system is used in MVs and even single covers, forming a DJ's "visual business card." This trend has spread through the industry; now VJ and DJ work is highly integrated, and the Winter Music Conference has a dedicated VJ exchange session.

"What about him?" Deadmau5 pointed at Ryan.

"Don't you get what Marvin means?" The VJ grinned. "Just have him stand there as a mascot. He doesn't even need to stay the whole time—just show his face at the opening."

Deadmau5 thought it over and nodded.

"I actually have performance experience. I could—" Ryan started.

But neither Deadmau5 nor the VJ gave him a chance to speak, moving straight on to the next topic.

Soon, Ryan realized that while he was allowed to be part of the discussion, he wasn't actually given a chance to talk.

Ryan planned to recommend his own music to Deadmau5 that night. Maybe after hearing it, he'd change his mind.

"Can I use this computer?" Ryan pointed to another intact laptop on the table.

Maybe thinking Ryan was bored, Deadmau5 nodded and even entered the password to unlock it for him.

Ryan noticed that, unlike the slim silver Apple laptop, this all-black one had a cool ice-blue backlit keyboard, and an alien-head logo under the screen pulsed with a breathing light.

The desktop was just as cluttered as the one at Trey's place. Ryan spotted plenty of programming tutorials on it—clearly, Deadmau5 was a coder as well as a DJ.

Then Ryan found a ton of video games on his computer. Crysis, BioShock, COD4, Metro 2033—all recent single-player blockbusters, plus online games like WoW.

On top of that, there were photos of various hardware and internal design drawings of the mouse helmet.

Through Deadmau5's personal computer, Ryan could clearly tell he was probably a "tech geek."

Then Ryan spotted a test version of "FL Studio" in a corner. As a veteran DAW software, FL had plenty of fans.

Out of curiosity, Ryan opened it and his eyes lit up. There was a separate test plugin inside, signed by Deadmau5. From the sound wave icon, Ryan immediately recognized it as a sound effect plugin.

He looked up and saw Deadmau5 still deep in discussion with the VJ and assistant. Quietly, he picked up the headphones and plugged them into the computer.

After a quick try, Ryan got excited. The plugin was cumbersome to operate, but it had incredible freedom—almost any sound effect could be customized!

In other words, he could create the unique timbre he had in mind.

But since project files from different software weren't compatible, Ryan had to start from scratch to make a new version of Termor.

Time ticked by.

"Let's go with this: delete all the original opening recordings, replace them with an explanation of today's incident. The high schooler comes on stage at the start, does a LIVE PA set, then plays one track. If he has a complete original, play his music; if not, play one of my old tracks. Uh... Ryan, what do you think?" Deadmau5 paused for a second, struggling to remember Ryan's name.

In the quiet room, there was no response—only the crisp click of Ryan's mouse.

"You're just like Zimmerman—once you start gaming, nothing else matters," the assistant muttered, walking behind Ryan. Then he froze.

"Zimmerman, you have to see this!" The assistant suddenly said, tense.

Deadmau5 moved closer to Ryan. When he saw the screen, he realized Ryan was making music.

At first, it seemed like just borrowing a computer. But for a DJ, letting someone else mess around in his usual software was like a medieval woman forced to ride a wooden horse through the streets—the intense exposure was unbearable.

So he pulled off Ryan's headphones and moved to close the software.

"No, you have to hear this." Ryan grabbed the mouse and hit play.

The laptop speakers were terrible—no bass, the treble was fuzzy, and the sound was heavily distorted. But the industrial intro hit, with a looping buzzing effect and several layers working together. The resulting sound stunned all three of them.

During the bridge, the hoarse, distorted effect gave the lead an unexpected texture. Ryan couldn't help but smirk. This was exactly the unique sound he'd needed back then—"harsh yet thick," "rough yet sharp," with a certain distortion and saturation.

At the same time, Deadmau5's mouth hung slightly open. Before Ryan hit play, he'd never imagined such a sound effect existed.

"You made this just now?" Deadmau5 asked quietly.

Ryan paused, then looked at the plugin interface. Seeing the special saw-like waveform, he had a sudden inspiration.

"How about calling it Saw Wave?" Ryan ventured.

Meanwhile, the music Ryan had reworked came to an abrupt halt just as it reached the buildup.

"Since the software is different, I have to start over, and the vocal samples are still on the computer in Nashville. There's no way I can produce the drop in a short time," Ryan said.

"Nashville... can you call your family to upload it?" Deadmau5 spoke slowly.

"There might be no one home." Ryan shook his head. Trey was on another business trip, filming the music video for That Song In My Head with a female singer named Julian Hof.

"Is that so... If it's convenient, I'll have my assistant take the nearest business flight to Nashville and bring the samples back for you." Deadmau5 continued, seeming eager for Ryan to finish the official version of Tremor tonight.

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