Born in the USA, Archer is a composer of both acoustic and electroacoustic music. He migrated to the UK in 1971 and completed a Doctorate in Music Composition at the University of York. He has been Coordinator and administrator of the Composers Desktop Project (CDP) since its inception in 1987. CDP is one of the most comprehensive software tools for sound transformations and composition ever developed. He has authored most of its Reference Documentation and Tutorials. Archer is a Visiting Research Fellow at ICCM where he conducts research into electroacoustic music composition and sound design.