Digital Musical Instrument Analysis: The Haptic Bowl
This work addresses the evaluation of digital musical instruments for musicians and HCI researchers, but it is incremental as it applies existing HCI methods to a specific case.
The study applied an HCI-informed framework to evaluate the Haptic Bowl, a prototype digital musical instrument, by describing its components and testing its usability and user experience, with plans for a longitudinal analysis of its musical effectiveness.
This experiment is a case study that applies a HCI-informed DMI Evaluation Framework. This framework applies existing HCI evaluation methods to the assessment of prototype Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). The overall study will involve a three-part analysis - a description and categorisation of the device, a functionality evaluation that included an examination of usability and user experience, and finally an exploration of the device's effectiveness as a digital instrument. Here we present the findings of the first two parts of the framework, outlining the constituent components of the interface and testing the functionality of the device. The final stage of analysis will involve a longitudinal study and will be carried out in order to assess the musical affordances of the device.