THOMAS DOLBY

The synth and Silicon Valley pioneer on why we should all be constantly tinkering with machines

“With Bowie and Kraftwerk, electronics were forming the heart of the song. And what was wonderful was that the machines were being allowed to sound like machines – we weren’t trying to make them sound human.

“During the 80s, the race towards the future just went on and on. Each NAMM show [US-based new gear convention] unveiled a machine that literally rewrote the rules, like the Fairlight. I’m not in any way claiming to be a pioneer of electronic music, but I honestly felt like I was making sounds that I’d never heard before… we all were.

“The Atari was affordable in Britain, but the Macintosh was just as affordable in the US. I spent a lot of time over there, so I was able to get my hands on one. I had a very good working relationship with Opcode and Digidesign in the 80s and was quite heavily involved in their beta programme. That led me to Sound Tools, then Pro Tools, and the realisation that computers and music were, at some point, going to become inseparable.

“I’m not one of those analogue fetishists. Most of it had been lost or sold. And, to be honest, I didn’t need it. If I wanted an ARP 2600 – a synth that I never owned – I could get a software version for a few quid and it will sound more or less like the real thing.

“Because of my Mac history, I’ve ended up using Logic. Opcode went away, Studio Vision went away, and I shifted over to Logic after Apple bought Emagic. Those early days were… yeah, it was obviously a very powerful program, but the way you used Logic kind of annoyed me. I had to stick with it, though, because it was obvious that Logic was going to lead the way.

It’s definitely been the right choice.”

“If you look back at the development of electronic music over the last 20 years, it seems like so much of it came out of accidents; trial and error. Drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep and a lot of EDM stuff. It exists because people suddenly had the opportunity to dig right into the innards of their equipment and tinker. This is the golden age of the tinkerer, and God knows what sounds we’re going to come up with next. There are no rules, anymore… no boundaries.”