He found a groove. Virtual DJ 6’s waveform display felt like a map of memory — peaks for choruses, valleys for breath. Kai didn’t need pristine sync; he needed heart. He looped a four-beat bar and layered a synth pad that swelled like a tide. The laugh returned, processed into a ghostly hook. Sweat prickled down his neck. The controller’s missing knobs meant he improvised with the laptop’s touchpad, thumbs sketching volume swells as if carving a sculpture from sound.