Tools and Techniques for the Maintenance and Support of Digital Musical Instruments

There are multiple barriers to the long term use of digital musical instruments. Among several issues related to instrument accessibility, many DMIs remain as prototypes in research labs never becoming a robust and stable instrument. Technical support is an important part of the long term use of a DMI. Though all musical instruments can eventually break, managing how they are going to be fixed and built within a research organisation can help with the continued usage of the instrument. We apply reliability analysis techniques to estimate the reliability, availability and maintainability characteristics of the T-Stick. Using these characteristics we estimate the amount of spare parts needed to maintain a 99% availability target for the T-Stick. This analysis provides insights on expected maintenance time, costs, and personnel needed when supporting and building DMIs.