Connecting MIDI Interfaces to the Musical Metaverse

The integration of physical control surfaces with virtual reality environments presents significant challenges, particularly in the Musical Metaverse where users are musicians who are often encumbered by their instruments while engaging in musical practices. This paper presents MUSMET-Bridge, a standalone embedded system designed to connect USB MIDI control surfaces directly to standalone VR headsets through wireless networks, reducing the interaction overhead introduced by the use of a laptop. The system offers superior portability through its pocket-sized design powered by standard power banks, eliminates cable clutter that complicates performance setups, and provides plug-and-play operation that abstracts technical complexity from end users. The system was designed for MIDI-to-OSC message conversion for controlling Musical Metaverse applications, and was tested with the PatchWorld XR platform. We conducted a comparative evaluation study that examined the setup procedures and user experience between the proposed system and conventional laptop-based workflows using TouchOSC. Our results indicate a reduced setup complexity, with MUSMET-Bridge reducing average setup time while achieving comparable usability scores and maintaining identical responsiveness and precision for musical expression. The system demonstrates potential for enhancing accessibility to the Musical Metaverse while reducing the interaction overhead associated with current computer-mediated connection setups.