XR Musical Keyboard: An Extended Reality Keyboard with an Arbitrary Number of Keys and Pitches

Tatsunori Hirai; Jack Topliss; Thammathip Piumsomboon

XR Musical Keyboard: An Extended Reality Keyboard with an Arbitrary Number of Keys and Pitches

Abstract:

We introduce the Extended Reality (XR) Musical Keyboard, a system allowing users to overlay a virtual keyboard onto a tabletop surface, such as a standard PC keyboard. This virtual keyboard is highly customizable: users can freely program the number of keys and their respective pitches. Modern software instruments offer advanced capabilities, including microtonal scales (pitches outside the standard 12-tone equal temperament). However, playing these instruments often remains challenging due to the lack of corresponding physical hardware. Our proposed solution addresses this gap by projecting a programmable virtual keyboard onto a tangible object within the XR space. This approach combines the software's flexibility with the tactile feedback of a physical surface, enhancing playability. Users can simplify the keyboard layout (e.g., fewer keys than a piano) or expand it beyond conventional limits to explore new expressive possibilities, particularly for microtonal music. We conducted a small pilot study (N=4) involving participants mostly inexperienced with keyboards to gather preliminary feedback on the interface's ease of use for performance.