Ableton Note

Adding 2 features to the music production app “Ableton Note”.

Project Overview

Existing Apps: Ableton Note, Splice Sounds

My Role: UX/UI Researcher and Designer

Duration: 8 Weeks

Tools: Figma, Figjam, Zoom

Background

Ableton Note is a mobile app that provides a comprehensive suite of tools and features for creating, arranging, and performing music in a digital mobile environment on the go. Ableton Note's mission is to empower musicians and artists by offering an affordable, easy, and versatile platform that facilitates the creative process and enables them to quickly sketch out musical ideas anywhere they are. This app offers a way for anyone interested in trying out music production without paying for all of the costly equipment needed for a physical studio space.

The Problem

  • Ableton Note has a difficult importing process and does not have the option to import samples and audio loops directly from Splice Sounds, which is a very popular sample library platform that offers a diverse range of samples & loops.

  • Therefore, users are restricted to the very limited set of samples and sounds the app offers by default.

  • In relation to the Splice integration, Ableton Note lacks an individual audio track option, and having one would make it easier to manipulate these audio samples and loops that the users are importing.

The Solution

  1. Implementing Splice Sounds integration within Ableton Note, enabling users with immediate access to a larger pool of samples and seamlessly importing them directly into the app.

  2. Implementing an audio track option to improve usability with manipulating audio samples/loops as well as recording into the app.

Discover

The Research Objective

Develop a better understanding of users' experiences with Ableton Note or other similar apps that facilitate making music on a mobile device. My goal in the research is to gather insights into users' challenges, pain points, preferences, and behaviors while using the app so that I can better understand how to build additional features to improve and enhance the user's process and overall experience.

  • Learn the context of its use. Evaluate each user's individual behaviors, preferences, workflows, and use cases for the app. 

  • Understand the pain points and challenges users currently have across the app, as well as those specifically related to the features I am focusing on. 

  • Identify the goals and objectives of users when using these apps to make music. 

  • Learn more about competitor apps, what they offer, and how they function. 

Goals

Competitive Analysis

What do other music production apps look like, how do they function, and what features do they offer?

The competitor analysis I performed included four other music production applications.
I evaluated each application thoroughly to get familiar with their functionalities, along with some desk research to better understand the market and exactly what they offer.

Key Takeaways

It seems that these music apps are pushing to strike a balance between providing ample features and avoiding overwhelming complexity. They are trying to resemble desktop software while also prioritizing simplicity and convenience as a quick-access music-making tool for on-the-go users, which is a very difficult task.

4/4 of these apps do not provide the option to import from third-party apps or platforms, such as Splice.

3/4 of these apps provide an audio track option to intricately edit and manipulate the audio.

3/4 of these apps offer the option for users to record audio directly into the app.

Interview’s And Survey’s

I had a very difficult time getting interview participants for this project. So in addition to the interviews, I created a survey and decided to group both interview and survey results together, as the questions were the exact same.

For this project in particular, after the research, I was aware that I had chosen a more challenging and complicated application.
But I went ahead with it anyway because I am passionate about this type of software and saw it as an opportunity to explore this specific technology.

Details

  • Moderated Remote interviews

  • 6 participants.

  • Recruited from: Discord and Personal network.

  • Age range: 20 - 40+

Affinity Map

I combined all of the research findings from surveys, interviews, the App store and YouTube reviews into 3 different categories

Insights

  • Despite the fact that this was a more complex project, I still wanted to consider all the research data I gathered.

  • However, at the same time, I also understood that some of the user research insights would take a lot of time to implement, so I chose to concentrate on what I believed would require the least amount of effort and time and deliver the highest impact on the majority of users.

Impact vs Effort Matrix

Following the affinity map, I created an effort x impact matrix to focus in on a specific problem that would have the lowest amount of effort and highest impact

Key Research Findings

Optimized Workflow: It's very important for the majority of users to provide them with tools and features that will help speed up their workflow and make it as easy as possible for them to get musical ideas out

Advanced Audio Track: Some users find it fun to be able record and incorporate real-world sounds captured through field recordings

Extensive Sample Library: Regardless of skill level or background, pretty much all users would benefit in one way or another from having a large and diverse sample library that is quick and easy to access.

Define

User Persona

I created 2 user personas that I thought would best capture and represent the target audience, highlighting their motivations, goals, needs, and pain points.

How Might We help the user?

  1. How might we improve the user-friendliness of Ableton Note by effectively balancing aesthetics and usability, ensuring clear labeling and context clues for a more intuitive and seamless experience?

  2. How might we help streamline the importing process and provide users with quick and easy access to a larger library of samples and loops?

  3. How might we help users have more power, flexibility, and customization over audio that is imported and recorded into the app?

Ideation

Based on the research data and HMW statements, I brainstormed and generated ideas for what can be implemented into these 2 new features.

  1. A feature for Splice Sounds integration that allows users to browse, preview, and import high-quality samples directly from inside the Ableton Note app.

  2. Designing an individual audio track to improve usability with audio samples and loops and singing into the app.

The Proposed Solution

1. Implementing Splice Sounds integration within Ableton Note enables users to have immediate access to a larger pool of samples and seamlessly import them directly into the app.

2. Implementing an audio track option to improve usability with manipulating audio samples and loops as well as recording into the app.

3. Enhance the user interface to create a more intuitive experience when navigating through the app.

Develop

Task Flows

Following the ideation, I began creating task flows centered around the new features I was implementing.

Low Fidelity Sketches

I sketched out ideas centered around the features I chose to incorporate into this app. While sketching out initial ideas for pages, I was focused on key screens such as filters, splice import, search, & results.

High Fidelity Wireframes

I transitioned directly from working on low-fidelity to high-fidelity since I wasn't building the branding and UI Kit, as they already existed. This involved replicating screens and pages already in the app, followed by modifying, adjusting, and adding components to seamlessly integrate Splice into Ableton Note. As well as creating page layout and flows for the new Audio Channel feature.

Deliver

Usability Test

6 participants: 3 who had experience with music production software, and 3 who did not.
They were assigned 4 tasks that included importing samples, saving samples, and using an audio track

Following the tests, no significant changes were required, but rather some fine tuning and rearranging a few elements. Overall, users had a good experience going through the app and completing all of the tasks.

Iterations & Revisions

Key Takeaways

Overall, the usability tests indicated that all of the tasks were straightforward and easy, with the participants stating the value they saw in the 2 features.

Following the tests, there were not too many difficulties within the flows; no significant changes were required, but rather a few edits suggested by the participants, such as rewording and rearranging some components.

Future Iterations

  • Adding interactive and immersive tutorials and directions for how to use the app, as well as onboarding when users initially use the app.

  • Adding a few warp mode options in the audio track.

  • Adding Splice logo in the header, making it accessible no matter where the user is.

Prototype

Next Steps

Future Direction

The feature design does end here considering the time constraint for this project; however, here are some things I would do if I had more time or were to revisit the project.

Gather more insights

Conduct some A/B Testing to gain a better understanding and help validate the various designs and layouts for specific pages and flows. For example the Splice import process and also the page layouts for the Audio Track.

Explore more ideas & features

Explore more concepts and ideas from the interviews and surveys. Ableton Note users have a lot of recommendations and suggestions for what they would like to see and use in the app.

Context Clues

Focus on adding more context clues throughout the app while still maintaining and balancing the minimal layout and design. Enhancing the user onboarding process and incorporating subtle cues can help address and improve the learnability and usability of the application.