by FilmInk Staff
An evening exploring electronics, bespoke instruments and sonic experimentation
The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) and APRA AMCOS will present Finding Your Own Sound, an evening of ideas, demonstrations and hands-on discovery at SynthTemple in Kew on Thursday 12 November 2026.
This members-only event is open exclusively to current AGSC members, APRA AMCOS members, or members of both organisations.
Finding Your Own Sound brings composers, musicians and instrument makers together to explore how curiosity can become a creative practice. Through personal approaches to sound, instrument design and performance, the event will consider how an unfamiliar instrument – or a familiar tool used differently – can open new directions in composition.
The evening will feature presentations and live demonstrations from:
- Cornel Wilczek, an Australian screen composer and music producer whose work combines acoustic instrumentation, electronics and sonic experimentation. His screen credits include Talk to Me, Bring Her Back, Apple Cider Vinegar and The Newsreader. He will open the evening by exploring the relationship between instruments, experimentation and compositional identity.
- Michael Lillis, the maker behind Lillis Instruments and the Resonator, a handmade instrument that uses an audio signal to excite strings through sympathetic resonance. He will explore how acoustic behaviour, instrument design and experimentation can turn resonance into an expressive compositional tool.
- Rod Cooper, an Australian experimental instrument builder, performer and musician who has spent more than four decades exploring handmade instruments and experimental sound. Working across metal, wood, electronics and video, he will demonstrate how unconventional materials, instrument construction and physical interaction can lead to distinctive musical outcomes.
- Morgan McWaters, the Melbourne-based founder of WORNG Electronics, which specialises in Eurorack synthesizer modules with a particular interest in stereo sound and inventive signal processing. He will share a designer’s perspective on modular synthesis and the relationship between instrument design and creative practice.
- Tony Osmond, co-owner of SynthTemple and a passionate synthesizer collector dedicated to making rare and unusual electronic instruments accessible to musicians. Together with studio manager Steve Jones, he will showcase some of SynthTemple’s more distinctive instruments and creative approaches.
Their demonstration will explore guitar pedals arranged in series and parallel chains, expressive wind-controller performance with synthesizers and the distinctive Hartmann Neuron. Each offers a different way to make the instrument – and how it is played – part of the compositional process.
A short closing conversation will bring the evening’s ideas together before attendees are invited to explore SynthTemple’s working collection of vintage synthesizers. Food, drinks and informal conversations with contributors and fellow music makers will continue during the hands-on session.
SynthTemple is a recording facility in Kew housed in a heritage-listed Art Deco former motor works and bus depot. Its vintage synthesizer collection sits alongside recording and production spaces, including two Dolby Atmos studios. Designed for musicians to play, write and record, it provides an ideal setting for an evening centred on experimentation and discovery.
Event details
Thursday 12 November 2026
Arrival, food and drinks from 5:30pm
Presentations from 6:00pm
Hands-on exploration from 8:00pm
SynthTemple
Unit 3/51 Barkers Road
Kew VIC 3101
AGSC and/or APRA AMCOS members only.
Register for free at: https://findingyourownsoundmelbourne.eventbrite.com
Presented by the Australian Guild of Screen Composers and APRA AMCOS.
