Contemplative synthesis: meditative aspects in modular-based listening, composition and performance

Contemplative Synthesis: An Introduction Electronic music represents an evolving dialogue between human creativity and technological mediation. It is a medium through which abstract concepts may take audible form, and where the manipulation of electronic systems can give rise to affective, even spiritual, experience. My engagement with this field began serendipitously. As a session musician, I was invited to perform using a bass synthesiser, prompting the acquisition of my first electronic instrument—a Moog Little Phatty. The act of exploring its parameters for the first time revealed a world in which minor adjustments could yield significant sonic transformation. This tactile engagement initiated a long-standing preoccupation with the intersection of sound, its perception, and consciousness. While my initial interest in synthesisers was largely pragmatic, early experiments with these instruments began to provoke deeper questions—specifically concerning the epistemic dimensions of music-making. These questions converged with an emerging interest in contemplative practice, particularly as prescribed in the discipline of Vipassana meditation. The subsequent discovery of modular synthesisers marked a pivotal moment in this process. In contrast to fixed-architecture synthesisers, modular systems are characterised by open-ended configurability and a high degree of user agency. Their non-linear, reconfigurable design invites improvisation, indeterminacy, and responsiveness (Auricchio and Borg, 2020; Randell and Rietveld, 2024)—qualities that resonate with the impermanence and interdependence central to Buddhist contemplative frameworks (Hart, 2018). A single change—a rerouted patch cable, a subtle modulation—can produce wide-reaching, often unpredictable effects. Over time, the modular synthesiser assumed a dual role in my practice: as a musical instrument and as a site for contemplative inquiry. From the outset, I held a preliminary hypothesis: that there must be something inherently contemplative about modular synthesisers. However, I could not yet articulate what that “something” was. Rather than approaching the topic deductively through an existing theoretical framework, I sought to develop a grounded theory through practice-led research. My aim was to allow theoretical insights to emerge from within compositional and listening acts—through sustained engagement with the modular system as both a creative and self-reflective tool.