well said
On 10/05/2014 10:35, Alan Macdonald wrote:
Fantastic stuff Slau. The jump in accessibility I've noticed from PT
nine to eleven point one is substantial but it's great to know avid
aren't resting on their laurels and more improvements are still to
come in the future. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say thank you
for all the time and work you have put into this personally. I'm on
track to pass my final year at college in a month and certainly would
have struggled without both the pt upgrades and this group.
Cheers everyone,
Alan,
Oban, Scotland
Sent from my iPhone
On 10 May 2014, at 04:59, Slau Halatyn <slauhala...@gmail.com
<mailto:slauhala...@gmail.com>> wrote:
As some of you may already know, I was asked to write something for
the Avid blog regarding Pro Tools accessibility. The article was
published this afternoon at:
http://www.avidblogs.com/music-daw-software-for-blind-and-visually-impaired-audio-professionals/
Because of the way the story is laid out, it appears not to read
entirely chronologically. So, I've pasted the contents of that post
below. There were several photos in the post which are not included
below.
I was introduced to Pro Tools while enrolled in the audio program at
Five Towns College in Dix Hills, New York, during the mid ’90s. Most
of my early training in college was on large format consoles and
multitrack tape machines, which were de rigueur in the studios of the
day. Computers had certainly found their way into the recording
environment nearly a decade earlier, but more so in the role of MIDI
sequencers.
During the years I was in school, however, the digital audio
workstation (DAW) had gotten its foot in the door of the control room
and the DAW that led the way was Pro Tools, which I began to work
with in my senior year. I sat there in front of the monitor, staring
at a graphic representation of a waveform, wondering whether the
hours I spent learning how to splice quarter-inch tape with razors
had been wasted…
I had the advantage of taking a one-on-one advanced digital audio
class with my professor as a result of my need to use adaptive
software known as inLARGE, a screen magnifying program for the
Macintosh. Several years earlier, I had been diagnosed with a retinal
condition that impaired my vision. When I entered college, most of
the gear I used was highly tactile: mixing consoles, outboard
processors, tape machine remotes, etc. By the time I was preparing
for graduation, things had already begun to change. Evidence of this
glowed from a VGA before me—everything, all under one roof, one box.
Little did I know that this was the paradigm of the future, and
little did I know that 20 years later, I’d be so closely involved
with Pro Tools and its accessibility for blind audio engineers and
musicians.
After graduation I started a recording studio of my own, BeSharp, in
New York City and for a number of years I kept one foot firmly
planted in the analog multitrack world while occasionally using a
computer for virtual tracks slaved to tape. As my vision gradually
grew worse, however, it became more difficult or even impossible to
perform certain tasks at the studio. LCD displays were dim, VU meters
were a blur and tweaking outboard gear became tedious. All the while,
I was experimenting with an LE version of Pro Tools, using the
outSPOKEN speech synthesizer on my Mac to access it without having to
look at the screen.
With the introduction of Pro Tools HD, I finally made the jump over
to the digital world. For several years, everything went well. A
small community of blind Pro Tools users emerged and shared tips and
techniques. While the program was almost entirely accessible, the use
of a control surface proved to be indispensable for efficiency and
tactile feedback. To me, it felt not that much different from the old
days, only now I didn’t have to deal with aligning my tape machines
or worry about one of my console channel strips crapping out in the
middle of a session.
Around the time that Pro Tools HD was introduced, Apple was touting
its new OS X operating system. Unfortunately, there was no screen
reading software available for the new OS, but most blind Pro Tools
users simply continued using their rigs under the old OS 9.
Gradually, with Pro Tools’ support of OS X, blind users started
missing out on newer plug-ins, new virtual instruments and Pro Tools
features, not to mention all the benefits of OS X.
In 2005, Apple introduced OS X 10.4 Tiger with a built-in screen
reader known as VoiceOver. This was revolutionary: now a blind user
could walk up to any Mac running Tiger, press Command-f5 and have the
computer start speaking. One of the first things I did was purchase
an upgrade to Pro Tools HD 7.1 to use with Tiger. Unfortunately, when
I launched the application, the only thing I could access was the
menu bar. No other windows were readable. With the introduction of
this built-in screen reader in the new operating system, the
accessibility we enjoyed earlier was now broken.
In 2006, I was invited to visit members of the development team at
Avid in Daly City, Calif. I demonstrated the level of accessibility
afforded blind users with outSPOKEN under OS 9 versus VoiceOver under
OS X. It was clear to everyone that Pro Tools was unusable with
VoiceOver and something needed to be done. But it so happened that
Pro Tools was about to undergo a major change in the way the graphic
widgets were drawn to the screen. This meant that things would be
changing anyway and we’d probably have to wait until the transition
was complete before the accessibility issues could be addressed. I
kept in touch with key members of the Pro Tools team, stopping in to
visit at various conventions and trade shows or whenever I was in San
Francisco.
One day I received a call from Avid informing me that some work had
been done to make Pro Tools compatible with VoiceOver. I flew to the
West Coast to get a sneak peek and offer some feedback before the
next release of Pro Tools. It was extraordinary to suddenly have
access to Pro Tools version 8 when the previous accessible version
was 5.3. I was once again back in step with my sighted colleagues,
using the latest tools of our trade. An accessible Pro Tools
empowered me to walk into any studio, fire up VoiceOver and operate
Pro Tools, all the while amazing the young studio staff who probably
never knew one could operate a DAW without looking at a computer screen.
Things were really looking up—for a while. Then came the big change
from Pro Tools 10 to 11. Accessibility didn’t entirely break but we
did begin to lose a few key features, which raised some serious
concerns. I attended another meeting in Daly City where a few ideas
were tossed around. The issue was that the initial work of making Pro
Tools accessible had been approached as a skunkworks project, using
whatever extra resources were available at the time. Since that
project hadn’t been part of the normal workflow, some UI elements in
Pro Tools 11 were changed without regard for their connection to the
accessibility API (application program interface). Rich Holmes,
director of product management for Pro Tools, had a brilliant idea.
He pointed out that Avid had pushed for international language
support in Pro Tools version 11 and accessing the program through
VoiceOver was essentially the same as accessing it in another
language. Taking matters through official channels, we got the OK
from the top to make VoiceOver support part of the normal process of
development and quality control. Rich appointed Ed Gray, director of
Partnering Programs (who happens to be legally blind himself), to
coordinate accessibility-related efforts at Avid.
With a user interface as feature-rich as Pro Tools, the work of
making it accessible is a long-term project. We’re continuing to
address a few areas that still need attention. One of our current
challenges is to get third-party developers to make sure their
plug-in controls are labeled properly. Some proprietary controls in
many plug-ins remain invisible to VoiceOver. Avid and Apple are
prepared to offer guidance in the process, but the first step is
simply to raise awareness of the issue. At this year’s Avid Developer
Conference, part of Ed’s presentation was devoted to the issue of
plug-in accessibility. This is the kind of visibility the blind Pro
Tools user community had hoped for. Avid has led the way, making all
of its new AAX plug-ins accessible. Hopefully, others will follow
Avid’s example. We still have challenges like the inaccessible iLok
License Manager. Pace Antipiracy is aware of the situation and has
indicated that they will address the problem in the near future.
With the release of Pro Tools 11.1, we’ve seen a huge improvement in
accessibility. Not only were things fixed that had been inadvertently
broken in the transition from version 10 to 11, but blind users can
now access features that were previously inaccessible.
Students and other first-time Pro Tools users often approach me
looking for guidance, and they’re amazed at how accessible it is. I’m
always happy to share the good news and assure newcomers about Avid’s
commitment to making Pro Tools fully accessible. This has prompted
the newest members of our community to invest in Pro Tools systems
and encouraged veteran users to upgrade their hardware and software.
Users like Rick Boggs, who blazed a trail early on by helping make
early versions of Pro Tools accessible, has rebooted his video
description work with Audio Eyes <http://www.audioeyes.com>, a
company that trains and employs blind engineers using Pro Tools to
produce audio-described movies and television programs. I See Music
<http://www.iseemusic.org>, a company started by Byron Harden in
Chicago, is setting up students with new Pro Tools systems and
offering training as part of a state-funded rehabilitation program
for aspiring blind audio professionals. Colleges that held on to
older Macs running older systems for their blind students in audio
courses have now begun to upgrade those rigs to newer hardware and
Pro Tools 11. At my own studio, we’re in the process of migrating
over to a new control surface and an HDX system.
All in all, it appears that access to Pro Tools is back on track.
That track may have resembled a roller coaster ride at times, but I
have a good feeling about the future. A group of blind Pro Tools
users I had assembled as beta testers a few years ago continues to
contribute to accessibility testing and feedback. There’s a public
forum at Google Groups
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/ptaccess> with an email
list <mailto:ptaccess+subscr...@googlegroups.com?subject=> where
members exchange tips and techniques. The blind Pro Tools user base
continues to grow steadily and I’m happy to see the next generation
of users helping each other. In the grand scheme of things, the blind
community may be a small portion of the Pro Tools user base, but the
issues we raise are not trivial. It comes down to being able to use
Pro Tools or not. The personal interest that the folks at Avid have
taken is particularly meaningful because they genuinely understand
the magnitude of the work they’re doing. With each accessibility
improvement, they’re handing us blind Pro Tools users the tools of
our trade, which has a direct impact on our livelihood and truly
makes all the difference in the world.
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