An Accessible Software Interface for Collaborative Music Performance

This paper describes an observational study focusing on an accessible musical instrument software prototype. This interface was designed, on the one hand, with no requirements concerning the level of musical knowledge and ability of users, and, on the other side, to overcome possible physical and cognitive impairments. Specifically, the software prototype implements a MIDI controller that supports a wide range of common input devices (e.g., joysticks, game controllers, keyboards, eye-tracking systems, etc.) to set musical parameters. The prototype was developed in \textit{JUCE}, an open-source and multi-platform framework. The results of the observational study were expected to unveil how robust and ready-to-use the system was perceived by various categories of users. To this end, we involved both impaired and non-impaired users, moreover presenting different degrees of musical knowledge. Usability tests showed an average level of flexibility in supporting and mapping a wide range of heterogeneous controllers. The prototype was able to obtain preparatory feedback to broaden its development in the field of musical parameter control.