The Novel MIDI Controller: Designing & Implementing a User-Centred MIDI Controller

This project was my master's degree dissertation project, which I started and completed during the summer term of 2022 at the University of St Andrews. My dissertation which explains every detail of this project can be downloaded and viewed here. This dissertation received a distinction grade of 19 on the University of St Andrews 20 Point Grading Scale.

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Project Abstract

Traditionally, MIDI controllers have been designed to cater towards musicians with extensive experience in music theory and ample experience playing musical instruments. However, many people with musical interests can feel intimidated or discouraged to get musically creative with these practices. The non-musicians with a creative urge is a largely overlooked audience in the domain of music composition and music production. In this project, the user-centred design method was employed to design a new touch-free MIDI controller in Processing and Java with the Leap Motion controller sensing user interactions.



First, a literature review was performed to prepare enough background knowledge to tackle the project’s aims.

Then, an initial user research study involving semi-structured interviews and observation studies was carried out to gather user requirements. This fulfilled the Understand Needs step of the user-centred design method. The design/researcher script of this user requirements study can be seen here.

The findings of this initial study were then used to inform new design ideas from which a new MIDI controller called the ‘Novel MIDI Controller’ was implemented along with a set of gesture-based interactions. This fulfilled the Design Solutions and Prototype Candidates steps of the user-centred design method. Examples of the design sketches and screenshots of the Novel MIDI controller can be seen in the images above, and of course in the dissertation.

The resulting MIDI controller system was then evaluated via observation studies, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires with willing participants. This fulfilled the Evaluate UX step of the user-centred design method. The design/researcher script of this evaluation study can be seen here.

Overall, the Novel MIDI controller accomplished what it set out to do, which was to make music composition and music production more accessible towards non-musicians and musicians alike while encouraging creative thinking. The gesture-based interaction paradigm was particularly lauded by users for enhancing creativity and accessibility. The project concludes with a summary of objectives achieved and recommendations for future work.

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