Metaphysical instruments: prototypes for hybrid and live music-making
Diego Trujillo-Pisanty, Heriberto Olguin-Simon, Nicolás Spitalier-Tron, Paola Ferrari-Garcia, Jordi Fragoso-Terreros, Alejandro Lobo-Barrera, Ximena Peña-Rios, Patricio Pous-Pierson, Fabiola Toledo-Galindo, Julio Torres-Cazares, Roberto Cabezas-Hernandez · Academia Press eBooks · 2023
We present a series of musical instrument prototypes that inquire about how live music can be produced simultaneously in the tangible world and within the metaverse.Our study is centred around a workshop with seven young Interaction Design students and follows a Research-through-Design approach.We invited participants to ask what musical instruments for the metaverse should look like?how they are played?and what affordances do they provide for both tangible and virtual audiences and performers?Participants prototyped working electronic musical instruments that can be played and listened to in both the real world and in virtual space.We took a Critical Design stance and followed a vision-driven design process, foregrounding the non-existent rather than problem-solving or market demands.The resulting physical prototypes deviate from existing musical instruments and offer novel interactions that affect how music is performed and listened to.Our findings show that hybrid music-making provides possibilities for collaboration, explorations of scale between tangible and virtual worlds, and notions that challenge who is in control of the music-making process.We also analyse how mapping between senses and feedback drive experiences for performers and audiences alike.