The contemporary digitization process has significantly influenced our interactions with commonplace instruments and tools, a trend particularly noticeable in the realm of music. Even musicians of modest proficiency are now compelled to navigate the landscape of computers, musical software, and increasingly digital and sensor-laden devices and instruments. Moreover, this phenomenon necessitates a thorough exploration into the design of new systems tailored to user requirements. A user-friendly and transparent system assumes paramount importance, as it serves to avert disruptions to the spontaneity of performance and amplify the overall user experience. Numerous instances of research endeavor to grapple with this technological challenge within the realm of literature. However, identifying designs that embody intuitive functionality and deploying evaluation methodologies well-aligned with the ever-evolving technological landscape of music remains a complex task. The present research comprised a comparative assessment—focused on usability, user experience, and performance—of two distinct user cohorts: novices and experts.

During the evaluation, participants engaged in playing an electric guitar. This instrument could be connected to a conventional commercially available multi-effect unit or two alternative devices conceived and crafted by the author. This study’s overarching goal pertained to explore disparities between the different multi-effect pedal board configurations in terms of their usability and the corresponding user experiences. To this end, the two samples were administered with questionnaires and a semi-structured interview. The first questionnaire comprised ten queries to gauge participants’ musical proficiencies (novices vs. experts) and included three items to measure personal innovativeness. The second questionnaire, a modified rendition of the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3), was incorporated to delve into diverse facets of usability. The experimental session entailed participants performing three tasks, each executed across the various systems under assessment.

References:

Fanchin, M., Pluchino, P., & Gamberini, L. (2020). NOVEL MUSIC INTERACTIONS: THE SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE IN BEGINNER AND EXPERT MUSICIANS. IADIS International Journal on Computer Science & Information Systems, 15(2).