Math wiz and computer science student, Adam Szaruga takes his passion for music seriously. This jack of all music trades not only plays three instruments and writes his own music, he also builds instruments and companies around his passion. Check out his newest project, EQIP– a digital marketplace that is about to change the way music plugins are distributed. This is a student and company you need to watch in 2015.
Read on and get the full scoop on Adam:
Class of:
2015
What is your major?
Computer Science, minoring in Music Technology
What are you currently working on outside of class?
Nowadays when I’m not playing music, I’m working on my business ventures. My good friend Shehmeer and I co-founded EQIP, which is a tool for music producers to explore and purchase professional music production tools (known in the industry as VST plugins). We’ve come up with a way for producers to try out plugins on their own music without having to purchase and install them first.
I’m also tinkering with an analog synth I bought a while back called the Gakken SX-150 – I’m attaching a guitar neck to it along with a few linear potentiometers to see if I can turn it into guitar!
What past projects have you worked on?
I did undergraduate research on Harmonic-Percussive Source Separation (taking a song and separating the drums from the melody).
I tinker with instruments and synths – my proudest achievement is building one of these.
What are your best technical or creative skills?
In terms of technical skills I’m a strong front end web developer, but I’d say my strengths lie in algorithm development for signal processing applications. On the creative front, I play piano, drums, and guitar, and I write music as a hobby.
What’s next on your list to learn?
I’m going to tackle NoSQL and other backend technologies next. Eventually I want to be a one man web-app development team.
Why the interest in startups?
When I graduated with my first degree in math I got a job at a large HR outsourcing company. The atmosphere was very much like the movie “Office Space”, and something about being at the bottom of the totem pole just made me feel miserable. I quit that job after 9 months and went to Tech so that I could figure out what career I really wanted – it eventually dawned on me that the best career is the one you invent for yourself.
What’s your ideal internship?
I would love to intern with a company that designs new instruments or music software. Ideally I’d be a product tester for their newest products… you know, for science.
Post graduation plans?
I’m committed to the idea of being an entrepreneur, so if EQIP doesn’t pan out I’ll probably move on to the next venture. No matter what I end up doing, my overall goal is to make a lasting impact in the music industry.
[photo credit: Hypepotamus]
