On my last album, Vespertine, I became obsessed with my laptop and my laptop speakers: I was trying to make a bubble you could exist in, a paradise.

For the string and music-box arrangements, I used a classical program called Sibelius, where you have all the instruments of a big orchestra in a laptop. You get a picture of sheet music and a mouse that operates as a pencil, so you write it out and press Play, then print it and hand the music to the orchestra.

I recently got a thing that's become a favorite called MOTU 828. It's a firewire rack that replaces the soundcard, which means I can plug my microphone straight into my laptop, and it's got the best recording quality there is.

A gorgeous thing is happening now as technology becomes more common. It's like years ago, when there was a piano or guitar in everyone's home and everybody would know how to use them. It's excellent, because if one's human spirit wants to write a song, it's more likely to be captured now. Good music always wins.