MR-DAW: Towards Collaborative Digital Audio Workstations in Mixed Reality
🤖 AI Summary
This work proposes the first system that integrates mixed reality (MR) with a shared digital audio workstation (DAW) to overcome the limitations of traditional desktop-based DAWs, which hinder natural performance interaction and low-latency remote collaboration. The system enables geographically distributed users to collaboratively manipulate a single DAW instance in real time while freely moving in physical space. It introduces a novel hands-free interaction interface using physical foot pedals to support collaborative loop recording, establishing a new paradigm for music creation in the emerging “music metaverse.” Built upon an MR platform and a networked synchronization architecture, the system was evaluated through qualitative and speculative design methods with 20 musicians, demonstrating significant improvements in interaction freedom and remote collaborative experience, and offering key design insights for future MR-based music production.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are central to modern music production but often encumber the musician’s workflow, tethering them to a desk and hindering natural interaction with their instrument. Furthermore, effective remote collaboration remains a significant challenge, with existing solutions hampered by network latency and asynchronous file sharing. This paper investigates the potential of Mixed Reality (MR) to overcome these barriers, creating an intuitive environment for real-time, remote musical collaboration. We employ qualitative and speculative design techniques to better understand: 1) how players currently use DAWs, and 2) to imagine a speculative future of collaborative MR-DAWs. To facilitate this discussion, we developed and evaluated the usability of a design probe, MR-DAW. An MR system enabling multiple, geographically dispersed users to control a single, shared DAW instance while moving freely in their local spaces. Our networked system enables each remote musician to use a physical foot pedal for collaborative looping, merging a familiar, hands-free interaction with a shared virtual session. Based on interviews and system evaluations with 20 musicians, we analyze current practices, report on the user experience with our MR system, and speculate on the future of musical collaboration in MR. Our results highlight the affordances of MR for unencumbered musical interaction and provide a speculative outlook on the future of remote collaborative DAWs in the Musical Metaverse.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Digital Audio Workstations
Mixed Reality
Remote Collaboration
Musical Interaction
Network Latency
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Mixed Reality
Collaborative DAW
Remote Music Collaboration
Design Probe
Musical Metaverse
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
