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

Roy Shtupler shtupler at 013.net
Tue Oct 2 14:27:50 EDT 2012 

agree; am seriously considering the full version; they have a discount til 
oct 15th.
best
Roy.
http://elephant-dolphin.bandcamp.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Belle" <cb1963 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Reapers Without Peepers" <rwp at reaaccess.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2012 8:08 PM
Subject: Re: [RWP] Fw: Support: Alchemy/Alchemy player accessibility


>    Now how nice is that?
>
> that's excellent Roy.
>
>
> For all your audio production needs and technology training, visit us at
> www.affordablestudioservices.com
> or contact Chris Belle
> cb1963 at sbcglobal.net
> or Stephie Belle
> sdb1961 at sbcglobal.net
> for customized web design
> ----- 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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