some more details about the meeting and your support
Members of this list, I'm writing an open letter to all of you with my concerns and a request. I've been working on the issue of Pro Tools accessibility for a very long time. I wasn't involved with the initial progress back in OS 9 but I did become deeply involved under OS X. I never campaigned for this position, for lack of a better word but I took on the role, firstly, for personal reasons, having wanted to have an accessible platform as an audio engineer and, secondly, for the sake of many blind musicians who needed a unified voice representing the immediate concerns for an accessible Pro Tools platform. I've spent enormous sums of money and countless hours on this project. I never asked for a dime, mostly because of my personal interest in the outcome but also because I never wanted to feel like I was beholden to anybody in any way. There were times, sometimes huge swaths of time, that often passed with no visible results but I knew it was time well spent because of the quality of the relationships I've built and the results we've gotten so far. I now know what it probably feels like to be a politician. Let me assure you that it's no stroll in the park. Sometimes, you are not at liberty to discuss certain details openly for any number of reasons. I have a new appreciation for executive privilege and classified information. That said, I've been as open as I could possibly be with both the list and the periodic updates on the petition site. I also have a new appreciation for how one cannot satisfy the desires of everyone. I can also appreciate that old saying about walking a mile in someone's shoes. Although, as I've said, I've never campaigned for this, I've also fallen into this situation by default. I never asked for this and I only agreed to it, at least in my mind, because I honestly felt responsible and I also felt that I was the right person for the job. Every so often, it seems, I find the need to defend myself against what I essentially find to be restlessness on the part of some people. I don't take it personally because I understand that it comes from a frustration with the status quo or, more accurately, a perceived lack of progress. I, too, feel frustrated some of the time and I share many of the concerns of others on this list. I agree with many ideas and I categorically disagree with other ideas or at least their implementation and timing. I realize that, when I happen to disagree with an approach, I probably lose the confidence of those who see things differently. That's OK. As I said earlier, I accept the fact that I can't satisfy everybody's wishes—it's impossible. What I do feel that I have is the support of the majority of our community and I do appreciate that. As I stated earlier, I feel like a politician and I don't particularly enjoy it. My commitment to the issue of Pro Tools accessibility and to this community are as follows: I will continue my relationship with several key individuals at Avid in the interest of ensuring a future for Pro Tools accessibility. There are a couple of things we're waiting for at the moment that will determine how I feel we should proceed. Pending that initial outcome, I will make a personal decision whether to continue the work I've been doing. Even if the outcome is favorable, I'm not sure that I'll take on any responsibility other than beta testing, as I've done on and off over the years. If the outcome is less favorable, I'll offer my suggestions for a path toward a goal but I won't take on any responsibilities unless an explicit majority of this community give me mandate to move forward with a plan. To put a timeframe on it, essentially, I'll probably have some feeling for which way this will likely go in a few days, maybe a week. In a separate email, I will discuss some more details of my meeting at Avid. Please be aware that I won't engage in a debate on the merits of any given approach. I'm tired of defending and explaining things. Politicians usually have a staff to handle such things. Please don't occupy my bandwidth with a whole bunch of suggestions that will require loads of my time to respond to. This is a public forum and everybody's entitled to express themselves but, just as I am required not to take things personally, don't take it personally if I don't engage in a debate about the merits of a particular approach. I believe what I'm doing is right and that, every step of the way, I've made good choices. I have a short session in about a half hour so the email about the meeting will follow in the afternoon. Thanks, Slau
Re: some more details about the meeting and your support
Sorry, hit the wrong key there... There's obviously things you can't discuss, and that's fine, but as you said, when people don't know the whole truth, they tend to jump to assumptions or whatever, as we have obviously done with suggesting Avid be brought into the loop regarding this bug and so on. But, now you've said all that, I'll personally try and be more understanding etc, but please please please, if there's anything we can do, please let us know. I feel strongly about Pro Tools accessibility, and not because I think it's my right as a blind user to be able to use Pro Tools, but because I enjoy working with Pro Tools, and it's a world better than using Garage Band to record with. Maybe if and when logic Accessibility comes along, I'll feel different, Logic certainly looks like a nice piece of software, but I'm sure there'll always be room for PT. Anyways, I'll stop rambling now, but stay on it, and remember there's a whole community willing to help in any way we can. Look forward to hearing of your progress, and as always, have fun! Take care, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com On 14 Nov 2012, at 16:27, Slau Halatyn wrote: Members of this list, I'm writing an open letter to all of you with my concerns and a request. I've been working on the issue of Pro Tools accessibility for a very long time. I wasn't involved with the initial progress back in OS 9 but I did become deeply involved under OS X. I never campaigned for this position, for lack of a better word but I took on the role, firstly, for personal reasons, having wanted to have an accessible platform as an audio engineer and, secondly, for the sake of many blind musicians who needed a unified voice representing the immediate concerns for an accessible Pro Tools platform. I've spent enormous sums of money and countless hours on this project. I never asked for a dime, mostly because of my personal interest in the outcome but also because I never wanted to feel like I was beholden to anybody in any way. There were times, sometimes huge swaths of time, that often passed with no visible results but I knew it was time well spent because of the quality of the relationships I've built and the results we've gotten so far. I now know what it probably feels like to be a politician. Let me assure you that it's no stroll in the park. Sometimes, you are not at liberty to discuss certain details openly for any number of reasons. I have a new appreciation for executive privilege and classified information. That said, I've been as open as I could possibly be with both the list and the periodic updates on the petition site. I also have a new appreciation for how one cannot satisfy the desires of everyone. I can also appreciate that old saying about walking a mile in someone's shoes. Although, as I've said, I've never campaigned for this, I've also fallen into this situation by default. I never asked for this and I only agreed to it, at least in my mind, because I honestly felt responsible and I also felt that I was the right person for the job. Every so often, it seems, I find the need to defend myself against what I essentially find to be restlessness on the part of some people. I don't take it personally because I understand that it comes from a frustration with the status quo or, more accurately, a perceived lack of progress. I, too, feel frustrated some of the time and I share many of the concerns of others on this list. I agree with many ideas and I categorically disagree with other ideas or at least their implementation and timing. I realize that, when I happen to disagree with an approach, I probably lose the confidence of those who see things differently. That's OK. As I said earlier, I accept the fact that I can't satisfy everybody's wishes—it's impossible. What I do feel that I have is the support of the majority of our community and I do appreciate that. As I stated earlier, I feel like a politician and I don't particularly enjoy it. My commitment to the issue of Pro Tools accessibility and to this community are as follows: I will continue my relationship with several key individuals at Avid in the interest of ensuring a future for Pro Tools accessibility. There are a couple of things we're waiting for at the moment that will determine how I feel we should proceed. Pending that initial outcome, I will make a personal decision whether to continue the work I've been doing. Even if the outcome is favorable, I'm not sure that I'll take on any responsibility other than beta testing, as I've done on and off over the years. If the outcome is less favorable, I'll offer my suggestions for a path toward a goal but I won't take on any responsibilities unless an explicit majority of this community give me mandate to move forward with a plan. To put a timeframe on it, essentially, I'll probably have some feeling for which way
Re: some more details about the meeting and your support
Hi Slau No matter what, you are still the man in charge, the boss and I do appriciate everything you have done so far for PT accessibility. The reason for my suggestion earlyer on the other thread was because I think it might help in some way to maybe speed things up a bit if needed. However Slau, I trust your judgment and that is why I won't aproach the PT expert guys on my own, if there's someone who must do it, it must be you when ever you think the time is right. I'm sorry for sometimes disaggreeing with you, I'm just so passionit about this and it sometimes feals as if we're standing still and more gets broken than what gets improved or fixed. Taking nothing away from the guys doing the PT and music thing as a hobby, much like yourself, sound and music is my life and eventually PT will be my bread and butter. Currently my bread and butter is not exclusively PT because I'm involved in other ventures and because of the industry I can't venture in to the recording world full time at the moment however I have strong future plans to do so. We are already very far with PT accessibility but it is important that accessibility keeps improving if not at least staying the same in future PT versions. As said earlyer the entire PT comunity is currently unsure about the future especially with what's going to happen in PT11 with older hardware and then there's also 3rd party plug manufacturers having to adopt the aax standard. Totally breaking something in a new version of PT for example aax not working when PT10 launched is simply unexceptable and very crucial to someone who use PT to pay the bills. Anyway enough for now, Slau, I'm 100% behind you and your dissisions, hope there's no hard feelings. Chris Norman wrote: Sorry, hit the wrong key there... There's obviously things you can't discuss, and that's fine, but as you said, when people don't know the whole truth, they tend to jump to assumptions or whatever, as we have obviously done with suggesting Avid be brought into the loop regarding this bug and so on. But, now you've said all that, I'll personally try and be more understanding etc, but please please please, if there's anything we can do, please let us know. I feel strongly about Pro Tools accessibility, and not because I think it's my right as a blind user to be able to use Pro Tools, but because I enjoy working with Pro Tools, and it's a world better than using Garage Band to record with. Maybe if and when logic Accessibility comes along, I'll feel different, Logic certainly looks like a nice piece of software, but I'm sure there'll always be room for PT. Anyways, I'll stop rambling now, but stay on it, and remember there's a whole community willing to help in any way we can. Look forward to hearing of your progress, and as always, have fun! Take care, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com On 14 Nov 2012, at 16:27, Slau Halatyn wrote: Members of this list, I'm writing an open letter to all of you with my concerns and a request. I've been working on the issue of Pro Tools accessibility for a very long time. I wasn't involved with the initial progress back in OS 9 but I did become deeply involved under OS X. I never campaigned for this position, for lack of a better word but I took on the role, firstly, for personal reasons, having wanted to have an accessible platform as an audio engineer and, secondly, for the sake of many blind musicians who needed a unified voice representing the immediate concerns for an accessible Pro Tools platform. I've spent enormous sums of money and countless hours on this project. I never asked for a dime, mostly because of my personal interest in the outcome but also because I never wanted to feel like I was beholden to anybody in any way. There were times, sometimes huge swaths of time, that often passed with no visible results but I knew it was time well spent because of the quality of the relationships I've built and the results we've gotten so far. I now know what it probably feels like to be a politician. Let me assure you that it's no stroll in the park. Sometimes, you are not at liberty to discuss certain details openly for any number of reasons. I have a new appreciation for executive privilege and classified information. That said, I've been as open as I could possibly be with both the list and the periodic updates on the petition site. I also have a new appreciation for how one cannot satisfy the desires of everyone. I can also appreciate that old saying about walking a mile in someone's shoes. Although, as I've said, I've never campaigned for this, I've also fallen into this situation by default. I never asked for this and I only agreed to it, at least in my mind, because I honestly felt responsible and I also felt that I was the right person for the job. Every so often, it seems, I find the need to defend myself against what I
Re: some more details about the meeting and your support
Chris, We all feel passionately about it, I'm sure. As I mentioned to Gord, we all want Logic as well. Hell, every DAW should be accessible for that matter. Naturally, Pro Tools has become the first fish to fry. I'll post a separate message about Logic. See also my lengthy post about the meeting details. Cheers, Slau Thanks, C On Nov 14, 2012, at 11:42 AM, Chris Norman wrote: Sorry, hit the wrong key there... There's obviously things you can't discuss, and that's fine, but as you said, when people don't know the whole truth, they tend to jump to assumptions or whatever, as we have obviously done with suggesting Avid be brought into the loop regarding this bug and so on. But, now you've said all that, I'll personally try and be more understanding etc, but please please please, if there's anything we can do, please let us know. I feel strongly about Pro Tools accessibility, and not because I think it's my right as a blind user to be able to use Pro Tools, but because I enjoy working with Pro Tools, and it's a world better than using Garage Band to record with. Maybe if and when logic Accessibility comes along, I'll feel different, Logic certainly looks like a nice piece of software, but I'm sure there'll always be room for PT. Anyways, I'll stop rambling now, but stay on it, and remember there's a whole community willing to help in any way we can. Look forward to hearing of your progress, and as always, have fun! Take care, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com On 14 Nov 2012, at 16:27, Slau Halatyn wrote: Members of this list, I'm writing an open letter to all of you with my concerns and a request. I've been working on the issue of Pro Tools accessibility for a very long time. I wasn't involved with the initial progress back in OS 9 but I did become deeply involved under OS X. I never campaigned for this position, for lack of a better word but I took on the role, firstly, for personal reasons, having wanted to have an accessible platform as an audio engineer and, secondly, for the sake of many blind musicians who needed a unified voice representing the immediate concerns for an accessible Pro Tools platform. I've spent enormous sums of money and countless hours on this project. I never asked for a dime, mostly because of my personal interest in the outcome but also because I never wanted to feel like I was beholden to anybody in any way. There were times, sometimes huge swaths of time, that often passed with no visible results but I knew it was time well spent because of the quality of the relationships I've built and the results we've gotten so far. I now know what it probably feels like to be a politician. Let me assure you that it's no stroll in the park. Sometimes, you are not at liberty to discuss certain details openly for any number of reasons. I have a new appreciation for executive privilege and classified information. That said, I've been as open as I could possibly be with both the list and the periodic updates on the petition site. I also have a new appreciation for how one cannot satisfy the desires of everyone. I can also appreciate that old saying about walking a mile in someone's shoes. Although, as I've said, I've never campaigned for this, I've also fallen into this situation by default. I never asked for this and I only agreed to it, at least in my mind, because I honestly felt responsible and I also felt that I was the right person for the job. Every so often, it seems, I find the need to defend myself against what I essentially find to be restlessness on the part of some people. I don't take it personally because I understand that it comes from a frustration with the status quo or, more accurately, a perceived lack of progress. I, too, feel frustrated some of the time and I share many of the concerns of others on this list. I agree with many ideas and I categorically disagree with other ideas or at least their implementation and timing. I realize that, when I happen to disagree with an approach, I probably lose the confidence of those who see things differently. That's OK. As I said earlier, I accept the fact that I can't satisfy everybody's wishes—it's impossible. What I do feel that I have is the support of the majority of our community and I do appreciate that. As I stated earlier, I feel like a politician and I don't particularly enjoy it. My commitment to the issue of Pro Tools accessibility and to this community are as follows: I will continue my relationship with several key individuals at Avid in the interest of ensuring a future for Pro Tools accessibility. There are a couple of things we're waiting for at the moment that will determine how I feel we should proceed. Pending that initial outcome, I will make a personal decision whether to continue the work I've been doing. Even if the outcome is favorable, I'm not
Re: some more details about the meeting and your support
No worries, Nickus. You needn't apologize for a difference of opinion. That's your right as a human being. I do appreciate your trust in the near future. I've gotten at least some results in the past, I have a feeling I might be able to get some more results in the near future. There is a very specific circumstance under which we might need a lot of public awareness and support. See my other post about the meeting details for more information about that potentiality. For now, we're good. Thanks, Slau On Nov 14, 2012, at 1:40 PM, Nickus de Vos wrote: Hi Slau No matter what, you are still the man in charge, the boss and I do appriciate everything you have done so far for PT accessibility. The reason for my suggestion earlyer on the other thread was because I think it might help in some way to maybe speed things up a bit if needed. However Slau, I trust your judgment and that is why I won't aproach the PT expert guys on my own, if there's someone who must do it, it must be you when ever you think the time is right. I'm sorry for sometimes disaggreeing with you, I'm just so passionit about this and it sometimes feals as if we're standing still and more gets broken than what gets improved or fixed. Taking nothing away from the guys doing the PT and music thing as a hobby, much like yourself, sound and music is my life and eventually PT will be my bread and butter. Currently my bread and butter is not exclusively PT because I'm involved in other ventures and because of the industry I can't venture in to the recording world full time at the moment however I have strong future plans to do so. We are already very far with PT accessibility but it is important that accessibility keeps improving if not at least staying the same in future PT versions. As said earlyer the entire PT comunity is currently unsure about the future especially with what's going to happen in PT11 with older hardware and then there's also 3rd party plug manufacturers having to adopt the aax standard. Totally breaking something in a new version of PT for example aax not working when PT10 launched is simply unexceptable and very crucial to someone who use PT to pay the bills. Anyway enough for now, Slau, I'm 100% behind you and your dissisions, hope there's no hard feelings. Chris Norman wrote: Sorry, hit the wrong key there... There's obviously things you can't discuss, and that's fine, but as you said, when people don't know the whole truth, they tend to jump to assumptions or whatever, as we have obviously done with suggesting Avid be brought into the loop regarding this bug and so on. But, now you've said all that, I'll personally try and be more understanding etc, but please please please, if there's anything we can do, please let us know. I feel strongly about Pro Tools accessibility, and not because I think it's my right as a blind user to be able to use Pro Tools, but because I enjoy working with Pro Tools, and it's a world better than using Garage Band to record with. Maybe if and when logic Accessibility comes along, I'll feel different, Logic certainly looks like a nice piece of software, but I'm sure there'll always be room for PT. Anyways, I'll stop rambling now, but stay on it, and remember there's a whole community willing to help in any way we can. Look forward to hearing of your progress, and as always, have fun! Take care, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com On 14 Nov 2012, at 16:27, Slau Halatyn wrote: Members of this list, I'm writing an open letter to all of you with my concerns and a request. I've been working on the issue of Pro Tools accessibility for a very long time. I wasn't involved with the initial progress back in OS 9 but I did become deeply involved under OS X. I never campaigned for this position, for lack of a better word but I took on the role, firstly, for personal reasons, having wanted to have an accessible platform as an audio engineer and, secondly, for the sake of many blind musicians who needed a unified voice representing the immediate concerns for an accessible Pro Tools platform. I've spent enormous sums of money and countless hours on this project. I never asked for a dime, mostly because of my personal interest in the outcome but also because I never wanted to feel like I was beholden to anybody in any way. There were times, sometimes huge swaths of time, that often passed with no visible results but I knew it was time well spent because of the quality of the relationships I've built and the results we've gotten so far. I now know what it probably feels like to be a politician. Let me assure you that it's no stroll in the park. Sometimes, you are not at liberty to discuss certain details openly for any number of reasons. I have a new appreciation for executive privilege and classified information. That said, I've been as open as I could possibly be with both the
Re: some more details about the meeting and your support
Thanks, Chris. No worries at all. We're all good all around. Cheers, Slau On Nov 14, 2012, at 4:13 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Being I wasn't much involved in this thread, although I was to a very small degree, I, too, would like to publicly apologize to Slau if perhaps I got a bit carried away. Thank you kindly,
