[RWP] Fw: Support: Alchemy/Alchemy player accessibility

Tue Oct 2 14:08:26 EDT 2012

    Now how nice is that?

that's excellent Roy.

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www.affordablestudioservices.com
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roy Shtupler" <shtupler at 013.net>
To: <midimag at midimag.org>; <realmusicians at freelists.org>; "Reapers Without 
Peepers" <rwp at reaaccess.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 1:01 PM
Subject: [RWP] Fw: Support: Alchemy/Alchemy player accessibility

> hi friends
> this is the response I received from CamelAudio support; I'll definitely 
> make a skype session with them and do it.
> best
> Roy.
> http://elephant-dolphin.bandcamp.com
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Camel Audio Support" <support at camelaudio.com>
> To: <shtupler at 013.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 3:46 PM
> Subject: Re: (Case 27150) CASupport: Alchemy/Alchemy player accessibility
>
>
> Hi Roy,
>
> Thank you for writing, and for your interest in Alchemy. You are correct 
> that the text is bitmapped, thus preventing your screen reader from being 
> able to pick up on the text.
>
> We've had some discussions about switching from bitmapped text, but this 
> would be a very large programming task and so it is not something we could 
> do for Alchemy 1.x releases. Possible for v2 or beyond, but no decisions 
> have been made yet on it, as it would require quite a large investment in 
> time and money to accomplish anything near full screen reader 
> compatibility for Alchemy - due to the very visual nature of how some of 
> the current editing features were designed.
>
> That said, a few months ago I was able to help a blind customer get setup 
> with Alchemy Player. This is how we approached it...
>
> Additional hardware/software required:
>
> A MIDI controller with a large selection of knobs, sliders, and or 
> touch-pads is needed. Optimally, with enough MIDI transmitting controls to 
> cover 19 parameters in Alchemy Player.
>
> A free program called Auto Hotkey is also needed. This program lets you 
> record your mouse movements and keystrokes, then play them back by running 
> the script file. http://www.autohotkey.com/
>
> Another free program, called TeamViewer, is also required. This is used to 
> let me remotely control the customer's computer, to help setup the HotKey 
> script and assign the MIDI controls.
>
> The last program we'd need is Skype, so we can talk during the setup 
> process.
>
> The process for getting everything working is relatively straight forward, 
> so this is something that a sighted friend could assist you with if you 
> would prefer that to having me remotely control your computer.
>
> Step 1: Loading of presets / SFZ files.
>
> For you to be able to load files into Alchemy Player, the movement of a 
> mouse clicking on the File button would need to be recorded. From there, 
> your screen reader could take over as it would recognize the text in the 
> menu. Selecting the Load option would launch a standard system file 
> loading browser, that your screen reader would also recognize.
>
> Note: for this to work, the synth would need to always load into the exact 
> same spot on your screen. Otherwise Auto HotKey would miss the file 
> button.
>
> Step 2: Controlling the parameters.
>
> Alchemy Player's "Performance Controls" can be assigned to hardware 
> controls via a MIDI Learn function. To assign them, someone would need to 
> right click on a parameter, then select MIDI Learn from the menu. You 
> would then move a knob/slider on your controller and Alchemy would assign 
> that MIDI CC number to the performance control. Doing this for each of the 
> performance controls would allow you to make an excellent range of 
> adjustments to the presets.
>
> The functions that are actually assigned to performance controls is up to 
> the sound designer who created the preset. As a result, the effect moving 
> a knob has on the sound can be different from preset to preset. However, 
> in all cases, the we've made sure that only the most useful functions for 
> that sound were assigned to controls.
>
> Note: if you load an SFZ or WAV file instead of an Alchemy Preset, Alchemy 
> Player automatically assigns the most commonly used functions to the 
> controls.
>
> Once you can trigger the script to click the file button, and the MIDI 
> controls are assign to Alchemy Player's performance controls, you'll have 
> nearly full access to all the features of the synth.
>
> Of course this is only a small portion of the controls available in the 
> full version of Alchemy, but it would at least let you load sounds and 
> make adjustments to them.
>
> I should also mention that Alchemy Player is limited to only loading 
> presets created/sold by us. The settings for sounds you modified would be 
> remembered in your song, but could not be saved as a new preset that could 
> be recalled for future projects. For that functionality, the full version 
> of Alchemy would be required. However, the same hotkey script and MIDI CC 
> mapping for the performance controls would still be applicable to the full 
> version of Alchemy.
>
> If you would like me to help you get setup for using Alchemy or Alchemy 
> Player in the way I've discussed above - or if you would like some advice 
> while a friend helps set things up - then just let me know.
>
> Chris
> ==========================================
> Camel Audio Support
> http://www.camelaudio.com
> ==========================================
>
> You can check the status of your enquiry here:
> https://camelaudio.fogbugz.com/default.asp?27150_11kov8bcd1fq8esl
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "shtupler at 013.net" <shtupler at 013.net>
> Reply-To: shtupler at 013.net
> Date: 1 Oct 2012 22:28:01 +0100
> To: "support at camelaudio.com" <support at camelaudio.com>
> Subject: CASupport: Alchemy/Alchemy player accessibility
>
>>Product: Alchemy Player
>>
>>hi all
>>
>>my name is Roy , a musician and computer programmer.
>>
>>am now testing v1.25 of Alchemy player , and wish to also test v1.50 of 
>>the full Alchemy demo.
>>
>>my hosts are Reaper v4 and Sonar 8.5.3.
>>
>>since being blind , am using a screen reader to help me interact with my 
>>windows pc.
>>
>>first , I am glad to say a big thank you for the large list of automatable 
>>parameters; this allows us to access and tweak parameters using our host's 
>>generic ParameterName/value method and change the values this way.
>>
>>as for the native interface , unfortunately my screen reading progrmas 
>>can't see anything on this window; it appears as totally blank , with just 
>>the title visible.
>>
>>so I can't access the file menu or any other element that doesn't appear 
>>on the automatable parameters list.
>>
>>tried changing the GuiMode parameter in the config file from 0 to 1 , 
>>didn't make any difference.
>>
>>I suspect the text is bit-mapped , therefore would greatly appreciate the 
>>possibility of switching from bit-mapped to normal ascii text , e.g via a 
>>setting in the registry or the config file; maybe adding keyboard 
>>shortcuts to elements such as the menus would be a wonderful solution to 
>>start with.
>>
>>please correct me if something's already there and I'm missing out on it.
>>
>>I know many blind musicians/sound designers who'd be really eager to use 
>>this powerful synth/sample manipulation tool.
>>
>>imagine all the wonderful things I could do , using even my own samples 
>>with its morphing and granular features.
>>
>>I truely hope we can work together to make Alchemy/Alchemy player more 
>>accessible to us.
>>
>>keep up this wonderful instrument
>>
>>Roy.
>>
>
>
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