Tim Exile

Catch Tim on Do Radio: Tomorrow's World with Jon Kaye 29th-4th December 2025.

Tim Exile (real name Tim Shaw) is a musician, technologist, and creative rule‑breaker. Classically trained as a violinist, he veered off the traditional path early, diving headfirst into jungle, drum & bass, and the wild possibilities of sound design. But it wasn’t enough to just make music. He wanted to reinvent how music could be made.

Unsatisfied with the tools available, he started building his own. He coded live performance systems that let him sample, loop, and manipulate sound in real time. His self‑built “Flow Machine” became his main instrument, allowing him to improvise entire sets from scratch. No playback. No presets. Just pure, live expression.

In recent years, Tim’s journey has taken a few sharp turns, including a serious cancer diagnosis and the demise of his startup, Endlesss. But true to form, he’s still building. His latest creation, Scapeshift, is a generative groovebox designed for live, improvisational play, packed with all the weird, wonderful, expressive freedom he’s always championed.

Show Notes:

In this conversation, Tim shares his journey as a musician and entrepreneur, emphasising the importance of the creative process over the final product. They explore the significance of live improvisation in music, the evolution of music creation technology, and the need for cultural reconnection in a world dominated by media consumption.

Tim discusses his journey through music technology, focusing on his experiences with collaborative music creation, the challenges he faced with health and business, and the evolution of his projects like ScapeShift. He reflects on the importance of learning from past mistakes, the concept of 'system as voice' in music creation, and the impact of technology on artistic expression.