Abstract:
The design of traditional musical instruments is a process
of incremental refinement over many centuries of innovation. As a result, the shape and form of instruments are
well established and recognised across cultures. Conversely,
digital musical instruments (DMIs), being unconstrained by
requirements of efficient acoustic sound production and ergonomics, can take on forms which are more abstract in
their relation to the mechanism of control and sound production. In this paper we consider the case of designing
DMIs that resemble traditional instruments, and pose questions around the social and technical acceptability of certain
design choices relating to physical form and input modality (sensing strategy and the input gestures that it affords).
We designed four guitar-derivative DMIs to be suitable for
performing strummed harmonic accompaniments to a folk
tune. Each instrument possesses a combination of one of
two global forms (guitar-like body and a smaller tabletop
enclosure) and one of two control mechanisms (physical
strings and touch sensors). We conducted a study where
both non-musicians and guitarists played two versions of
the instruments and completed musical tasks with each instrument. This study highlights the complex interaction
between global form and input modality when designing for
existing musical cultures and varying levels of expertise.
