Volker Staub studied piano from 1981-1985 with Friederike Richter and from 1982-1990, composition with Johannes Fritsch in Darmstadt and Cologne. During his studies, he focused intensively on the work of composers John Cage and Morton Feldman and the visual artist Joseph Beuys.

Since 1981, his work as a composer includes building musical instruments. He has built percussion instruments made of wood, fur, metal, stone and glass, as well as string instruments and electro-acoustic instruments with discrete or continuous sound qualities. He uses these instruments in his compositions sometimes exclusively, at others he works with traditional instruments. He constructed sound installations, for example, atmospheric instruments, and wrote numerous pieces for traditional instruments from solo to orchestral works.