Workspace and Environment: Tim Exile

Background
I began music in general from 5 (when I started to play the violin),
DJing from 14, making electronic music from 16. You can find me under Tim Exile, formerly just Exile. You can find my 2 albums on Planet Mu records and lots of singles on various drum n bass labels such as Moving Shadow, Beta Recordings, Frequency, Renegade Hardware etc etc. I also did an EP on Mosquito records, Cristian Vogel's label. You can also check out one of my live improvised shows. Head to youtube and search for Time Exile for some examples.

Favorite Hardware?
Probably my live laptop... it's lasted for 4 years, is still going strong, and bang for buck it's probably been the most versatile over the years.

Favorite Software
I'm currently enjoying Pro Tools again after a dark period from 6.0 to 7.0 where it really wasn't great. I know it back to front and it's now very stable and simple. I like the degree of accuracy you can achieve with it.

Does your physical space and environment affect your music?
Hugely. I moved to Berlin so I could afford to have a separate space for my studio without having to make too many compromises. Having a room which is just for making music makes a huge difference to my output. I'm in an apartment block though, which sometimes hinders my sense of immersion as I know other people can hear my experiments and bad vocal takes! I also get bad back pain & RSI due to spending too much time hunched over a computer editing at the speed of light when I was younger. I now have to be very careful that everything is set up in an ergonomic way

First piece of hardware
A Sequential Circuits Pro One

Wishlist
A Faster Computer (as always).
A high-end mic preamp.
A high-end mic.
A false room for sound isolation.
Bass Traps.
A really good software solution for making all sorts of controller and HID devices talk to all sorts of software. A really good universal non-windows USB MIDI driver. A new version of Pro Tools with more audio tracks and freezing function. A new version of Reaktor with better usability . Protools TDM would be nice but it's a way away I think.

Mobility
My live setup is pretty much a mobile studio. 2 laptops, MOTU 828, Alesis Photon x25, Doepfer Regelwerk, M-Audio MIDIsport 2x2, M-Audio MIDIsport UNO, Wireless headset mic, wireless logitech wingman joystick, Akai MPD16, Korg Kaoss Pad, Evolution UC16. Lots of leads, lots of things to break, lots of things to crash, lots of things for airlines to lose!

How many different setup have you had?
I'm now on my 11th setup! I've never counted before. That's a hell of a lot isn't it! Due to moving regularly my studio has actually shrunk over time. I still find it difficult to actually part with things I've owned but over the years I've sold all my hardware. My studio is now a museum of MIDI controllers, a couple of laptops and a desktop.

Tim Exile was born in Cheltenham, UK and ended up in Berlin for musical
reasons. His new album will be released within the new few months.