Reimagining (Accessible) Digital Musical Instruments: A Survey on Electronic Music-Making Tools

Abstract

This paper discusses findings from a survey on interfaces for making electronic music. We invited electronic music makers of varying experience to reflect on their practice and setup and to imagine and describe their ideal interface for music-making. We also asked them to reflect on the state of gestural controllers, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in their practice. We had 118 people respond to the survey, with 40.68% professional musicians, and 10.17% identifying as living with a disability or access requirement. Results highlight limitations of music-making setups as perceived by electronic music makers, reflections on how imagined novel interfaces could address such limitations, and positive attitudes towards ML and AI in general.