Hi,
Well, I'm no expert on visually impaired but if you're a coder you will
probably find Csound and SuperCollider usefuls (www.csounds.com,
www.audiosynth.com).
For Csound you basically use your fav text editor and in SuperCollider
you
can set the font size to your liking. Both quite a steep learning
curve.
Csound is quite lousy in real-time (but that may change in the future
on a
Mac according to the earlier post from Dr. R. Boulanger but the Direct
Csound on PC is apparently good). SuperCollider also understnds MIDI
so if
you have a MIDI guitar or a MIDI pickup ( I use the Roland GR-50 with a
MIDI
pickup - can't recall the model, though) you can very nicely use your
guitar
and your skill as means of control.
Then, you can convert your PII into a Linux Box and there are a few more
options with similar (dis)advantages
(http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/linuxsound/). According to a recent
study
done by Karl MacMillan and friends Linux seems to pretty much lead in
terms
of audio latencies (alongside with MacOS X).
cheers
./MiS
on 8/8/01 7:41 PM, tim kugel at guitardo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello,
first, sorry for previous pedantic attempts to add commentary - I was
pissed
I am asking a general question here - I'm a visually disabled person
(low
vision). I am getting interested in going beyond synths and need
info about
coding type of music work. I want advice from anyone willing
regarding the
visual interface for the different systems and programs around. How
large,
simple-looking, what is the manual like, (like font size used, size of
diagrams) what kind of contrast is used in the software, is it
changeable,
etc.
I generally have problems with large documents because of eye strain,
and .pdf
is not a great tool because I seem to need to move the page back and
forth as
well as magnify it - a doubly slow process. 18 pt. font is what I
need.
I am aware of a dozen or more softwares (I mean the music software
now), but
because this list is about all I can handle reading, I am probably
unaware of
some. I have had some programming experience (15 years ago though).
I have
seen Kyma demonstrated at my house and have a trial version of
max/msp. I am
able to see but only a few words at a time and with my right eye very
close to
the monitor. The max/msp manuals are long - 371 pages in tutorials
alone.
I am not planning to throw away all my other equipment and use only a
laptop,
though I'd like to be able to work while I travel - I have always
played
guitar and want to include that as a controller and acoustic source
still - I
like microsound and experimental 20th century music more than
dance/"techno"
music in general (but have no grudge against dance-related stuff -
love it!) -
so maybe that gives you an idea of what might be suitable.
I like the Nord editor, and can use it. I've also tried software
synths for
the Mac a little (Propellerheads and NI) and own a P2 but prefer the
Macs. My
eyes are not as bad as some folks with this affliction - and if you
feel, for
example, that a particular hardware tool has a great visual interface
(like
the su700?) please mention it, even if in usage it is kind of non
microsound
typically.
Thanks in advance for those who choose to help me, and reply off line
if
appropriate.
Cheers,
Tim
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