The e-Music Box Roma: an open research tool for accessible joint music making

Abstract

Joint music making offers an ecologically powerful framework for investigating human social interaction and synchronization. Yet, experimental paradigms often rely on traditional instruments that limit accessibility, reproducibility, and experimental control. In parallel, the use of music for therapy and rehabilitation is expanding, motivating the development of digital musical instruments that can serve research, educational, and clinical purposes. Here, we introduce the e-Music Box Roma (eMB Roma), an open, reproducible digital musical instrument designed to study music making behavior regardless of musical training. The eMB Roma plays preregistered music with tempo controlled by hand rotary movements. Building on the original e-Music Box (Novembre et al., 2015), the eMB Roma retains its intuitive rotary hand control while introducing major innovations: a fully open and 3D-printable design, modular hardware with integrated slider and button controls, polyphonic output with multiple simultaneous instruments, and MIDI compatibility. Additionally, a dedicated graphical user interface allows real-time monitoring, experiment control, device synchronization (like neuroimaging or motion capture devices), and both solo and joint music-making paradigms. The eMB Roma provides a flexible and accessible platform for research contexts, allowing experimental control, reproducibility, and future extensions. Its open design and modularity make it suitable not only for research but also for therapeutic, rehabilitation, and educational applications, where it can support personalized interventions and quantitative assessment of motor performance.