Patrick Gaydecki started programming in 1987. He has a showcase entry (Vsound 2.7) in the Delphi 26th Showcase Challenge and we got to interview him about his programming experiences. Visit the Vsound website to get more information. 
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When did you start using RAD Studio/Delphi and have long have you been using it?
I started using Borland Turbo Pascal back in 1987. In 1996 I migrated to Borland Pascal for Windows, then Delphi when it first appeared in 1995. I am currently using the latest version, Embarcadero RAD Studio 10.4 (Sydney).
What was it like building software before you had RAD Studio/Delphi?
In my company we have always developed programs with have a graphical user interface. Before RAD studio, we had to develop everything from a low-level, even down to components such as buttons, dialog boxes and of course graphing/charting components. A simple program shell would take days to craft, rather than minutes.
How did RAD Studio/Delphi help you create your showcase application?
Our customers are musicians – mainly players of electric violins. Vsound includes the user interface and the hardware – called a pedal – that modifies the sound produced by an electric violin (or an acoustic violin fitted with a pickup), producing an output that matches the timbre and voice of a high quality acoustic violin. Our customers need to be able to quickly and easily adjust the parameters of the system to produce the sound that they want, so an intuitive GUI is critical. Delphi has exactly the tools for the job.
What made RAD Studio/Delphi stand out from other options?
In a word, speed. It is so simple to create attractive, powerful applications. The compiler is also remarkably efficient, generating stand-alone executables in seconds, for both Mac and Windows.
What made you happiest about working with RAD Studio/Delphi?
Many things, but in particular the speed with which we can create attractive visuals that do the job they are supposed to do. The software is also doing quite a lot of calculations – Fast Fourier transforms for example, and Delphi is very fast at this.
What have you been able to achieve through using RAD Studio/Delphi to create your showcase application?
A user system that has high visual impact that is also robust and fault tolerant. Using both the VCL and Firemonkey, we have developed platforms for Windows and Mac OSX with a minimum of code conversion.
What are some future plans for your showcase application?
Wait and see! We have a range of new products in the pipeline, with an amazing new app to support our latest hardware. As ever, we will be focusing on both form and function. RAD Studio allows us a lot of flexibility in this regard.
Thank you, Patrick! Check out his showcase entry through the link below.