Every time I delve into audio DSP I'm a little amazed at how simple a lot of the techniques are in an algorithmic sense. The FFT is a notorious outlier but most

Every time I delve into audio DSP I'm a little amazed at how simple a lot of the techniques are in an algorithmic sense. The FFT is a notorious outlier but most effects are elaborate compositions of beautifully simple pieces of code that warrant pages of mathematical background. It's starkly different from "core CS" because almost everything operates on arrays and pure functions. Yet at the same time it presents an immense design space for both software engineering and UX - most of the "secret sauce" in an audio DSP product comes from exposing the right parameters in the right combinations. A low level tool like Max/MSP or PD leads to a different workflow from a "pick the presets" VST plugin, in the same way that programming languages are targeted against certain problem domains.