The Design of Tangible Digital Musical Instruments

TL;DR

This paper provides guidelines on incorporating haptic feedback into digital musical instruments to enhance musicians' physical and emotional engagement, aiming to bridge the physical-digital divide in musical interactions.

Contribution

It introduces design guidelines emphasizing the role of haptic feedback in improving tangible digital musical instruments for better user experience.

Findings

Haptic feedback enhances physical engagement with DMIs.

Guidelines improve the design and usability of tangible DMIs.

Haptic feedback addresses the physical-digital divide.

Abstract

Here we present guidelines that highlight the impact of haptic feedback upon the experiences of computer musicians using Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). In this context, haptic feedback offers a tangible, bi-directional exchange between a musician and a DMI. We propose that by adhering to and exploring these guidelines the application of haptic feedback can enhance and augment the physical and affective experiences of a musician in interactions with these devices. It has been previously indicated that in the design of haptic DMIs, the experiences and expectations of a musician must be considered for the creation of tangible DMIs and that haptic feedback can be used to address the physical-digital divide that currently exists between users of such instruments.