Description:

Digital musical instruments are frequently designed in research and experimental performance contexts but few are taken up into sustained use by active and professional musicians. To identify the needs of performers who use novel technologies in their practices, a survey of musicians was conducted that identified desirable qualities for instruments to be viable in active use, along with attributes for successful uptake and continued use of instruments based on frameworks of long and short term user engagement. The findings are presented as a set of design considerations towards the development of instruments intended for use by active and professional performers.

Website: emisurvey.johnnyvenom.com

This survey was carried out as part of John Sullivan‘s dissertation research. Initial findings were presented in a poster at the 2019 International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (CMMR) in Marseille, France. The complete results of the study are part of Sullivan’s Ph.D. thesis and now published in the Journal of New Music Research.

IDMIL Participants:

• John Sullivan
• Marcelo M. Wanderley

External Participants:

• Catherine Guastavino (professor – McGill University School of Information Studies and CIRMMT member)

Research Areas:

• Interface Design
• Interface Evaluation

Funding:

• NSERC

Publications:

• Sullivan, J., Guastavino, C., Wanderley, M. M. (2021). Surveying Digital Musical Instrument Use in Active Practice. In Journal of New Music Research (pp. 469 - 486).
• Sullivan, J., Wanderley, M. M. (2019). Surveying Digital Musical Instrument Use Across Diverse Communities of Practice. In 14th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research. Marseille, France.

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