Accessible
Groove Pizza

Open the prototype on a computer with a keyboard. Tab moves between the instructions, tempo and slice controls. With the instructions focused, use the left and right arrows to move through the directions.

The project recommends Chrome. Read its on-screen instructions for the full key mappings and audio modes.

Read the prototype instructions and source ↗

Make a beat using keys, spoken guidance and sound, with a visual rhythm display available alongside them.

• Keyboard control: select drum layers and beat positions, switch notes on or off, and start or stop playback. Alternative key mappings offer different ways to navigate the pattern.
• Spoken guidance: Practice mode uses built-in speech with quieter music to help you follow your selections.
• Sound cues: Sonify mode replaces many spoken cues with sounds. Perform mode turns off speech, lowers control cues and brings the music forward.
• Visual options: the circular grid shows the rhythm, while the three drum-set choices also switch the interface’s color palette.

Explore the keyboard mappings and audio controls.

Willie Payne and Alex Yixuan Xu developed this reworking of Groove Pizza at NYU, advised by Amy Hurst and S. Alex Ruthmann. Their aim was to make creating drum loops more approachable for blind and low-vision musicians, bringing keyboard interaction and auditory feedback into the design from the start.

The team presented the prototype as Non-Visual Beats: Redesigning the Groove Pizza at ASSETS 2019. Read the official demo transcript and poster description.

William Payne, Alex Yixuan Xu, Amy Hurst and S. Alex Ruthmann. 2019. Non-Visual Beats: Redesigning the Groove Pizza. Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’19), 651–654. DOI: 10.1145/3308561.3354590.

Read the ASSETS 2019 poster description · Publication record

Explore the related Groove Pizza project for the original instrument and teaching resources.