Chimera: Prototyping a New DMI for Congenital One-Handed Musicianship Through an Autoethnographic Lens

Chimera is a Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) prototype developed through an autoethnographic lens. That is, a lens shaped by congenital one-handedness as well as extensive experience as both a disabled player of standard instruments and a designer of DMIs for other players. Leveraging Eurorack synthesizer modules as a flexible prototyping toolkit enables an iterative prototyping process that explores the distinctive possibilities of one-handed musicianship. Reflection on a three-month period of iteration and refinement highlights a series of design issues, but also the interconnectedness of physical impairments, and the difficulties of designing for a body in flux. Several directions for future work are outlined. Finally, by discussing the various entangled layers (sociological, technological, musicological) of this instrument prototype, and starting to tease out what Koutsomichalis calls its “stories of a sort”, this paper contributes an until now underrepresented perspective to the dialogue around accessible and inclusive musical instrument design, and disability and musicianship more broadly.