The Jam-O-Drum interactive music system: a study in interaction design

TLDR: It is demonstrated that this interactive music system embraces both the novice and musically trained participants by taking advantage of their intuitive abilities and social interaction skills.

Abstract: This paper will describe the multi-user interactive music system known as the Jam-O-Drum developed at Interval Research Corporation.1 By combining velocity sensitive input devices and computer graphics imagery into an integrated tabletop surface, up to six simultaneous players are able to participate in a collaborative approach to musical improvisation. We demonstrate that this interactive music system embraces both the novice and musically trained participants by taking advantage of their intuitive abilities and social interaction skills. In this paper and accompanying video, we present conclusions from user testing of this device along with examples of interaction design methods and prototypes of interpretive musical and game-like development schemes. Our research was conducted in two phases with two different development teams and will accordingly be addressed herein as Phase One and Phase Two development.