Chemnitz-based Olaf Bender originally started out with experimental film manipulation during his high school days that put him in touch with the East German underground band AG-Geige, of which he became a member in 1988. After the fall of the Berlin wall, Bender continued to work in graphic design, art and the music business, eventually setting up the label Rastermusic in 1996 together with
Frank Bretschneider. The label merged with Carsten Nicolai's Noton imprint in 1999 to form
Raster-Noton, Germany's singular experimental music imprint, for which Bender has created a distinct appearance and product design. Musically Bender is an autodidact, assembling sine tones to complex and powerful sound fabrics. His longest still-running project is
Signal, a collaboration with Bretschneider and Nicolai, but it is his Byetone moniker, which has been receiving the most attention lately, with a single and album in 2008, even leading to an unlikely remix for Berlin's
Modeselektor.