Well said! If I was in your shoes I would imagine that I would have
stated the same. When Pro Tools and/or Logic becomes fully accessible
will you be purchasing a copy? I only need one thing from the people
to vouch for and that is if both Apple and Pro Tools become accessible
that we will buy it. How many votes do I have? This is where the tires
meet the road.
On Jan 9, 2008, at 11:27 AM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
I'd have pretty much the same options that I've got now since my OS9
powerbook got stolen - hunt down outdated hardware and software,
survive with it best I can, or switch to Windows and stay slightly
more current with a less respected software package and maybe less
efficiency. That said, I'd have way bigger fish to fry if I'd just
gone blind, what with orientation and finding the confidence to
still run a session and suchlike.
I'm not particularly genned up on Ray Charles' career, so you might
need to forgive my ignorance, but as i understood it he came up the
ranks from being a grafting musician not a grafting engineer. The
two situations and two paths leading to greater things from them are
so totally different. I'm not knocking Ray, I'd say that the
blindness can still be turned to your advantage nowadays as a
frontman, look at Raul Midon.
I don't know enough about investment to be absolutely sure of the
process of getting that accessible dividend statement in to your
hands, but seeing as stuff like that is bound to come from an
electronic format in the first place, surely it's just someone doing
a bit of converting or exporting and emailing it out. I'm not
surprised you have good results, it's not a huge amount of work, and
there's money involved. True, there's money involved for
Digidesign, but blind users make up such a tiny percentage of their
revenue, I can understand why we're not at the top of the priority
list. If it were as simple as labeling a few buttons or tinkering
with a few bits of code here and there I'd be joining you in being
slightly less patient, but as far as I know Pro Tools isn't even in
COCOA yet. Maybe Jerry or Rick could shed some light on the
problems that need rectifying in more detail either on or off list,
i'd be curious to know more.
Anyway man, not taking issue, I admire the amount of get up and go
you seem to have at your disposal. If you've got it, use it
wisely. I just wasn't quite sure how a few bits from the last post
related to the pro tools issue, and wanted again to drag back to my
original point that it really isn't as clean cut as "pro tools
works, now I have a career at my fingertips" for anybody on here.
Scott
----- Original Message ----- From: "Shaun Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:39 PM
Subject: Re: ProTools: The path to accessibility
Scott if you could see and used Pro Tools and suddenly you went
blind what options for work would you be left with. I just feel
that if Pro Tools is the leader then they should lead by example. I
know for a fact that Apple does this because it shows. I know that
Skype does this because it shows. I wonder if Ray Charles took the
attitude that most people take because they are blind would have
ended up. It is hard and it is being imp-lamented and it is
something we are considering and it may be in our next version or
upgrade or it's not possible or it's not affordable for us to do
are all excuses. I want to hear a plan for accessibility just like
they have a plan in place if they want my investments. As a
investor if I get a dividend statement that isn't accessible you
can bet the house that I will have one that is within 1 week at
the most with no excuses. Sorry folks but being poor, black and
blind has long taught me that I can make a change. We can start a
Accessibility for Pro Tools foundation and put some money into the
development of Pro Tools for the blind if they can figure out what
is needed. It sounds like they don't know what is needed. When I
pull their Dun and Brad street report and the financials and I
can't see any money being put into Pro Tools and accessibility
then all the hoopla about what I know and don't know can be proven
in black and white from there own accounting firm. You see my dear
people I do my research and I do it well. You want accessible
software, then fight for it and stop making excuses. A corporation
in the U.S. is looked at as one person which is the reason for
incorporating, so one big company is one person as far as the law
goes. Again not mad, but fed up.
On Jan 9, 2008, at 10:16 AM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
Hey all,
While Rick's message covers the history beautifully, I thought it
was worth adding to the thread to throw out a few thoughts about
the future. Much of this is just my oppinion and based on my
experiences, but maybe it'll make a penny drop for someone
somewhere.
Let's just say that, in a year, 2, 3, however long, Pro Tools
released an accessible version. It would be a groovey Tuesday
indeed! The next week would be one of the most frustrating times
of my life no doubt, because I'd realise just how many of the
current plugins are still completely inaccessible. Then what
happens? the fun starts all over, with more corporations,
companies owned by corporations, individual developers etc.
I don't mean to sound cynical, but the music business moves fast,
and access generally doesn't. With the development of technology
in recent years, seems to me that nearly every area of the
industry has shifted toward working freelance for us humble
engineers. How highly recommended would you're name have to be
so that you could actually get away with carting an OS9 rig into
someones studio, ignore the power house of a mac sitting under
the desk, in a lot of cases ignore the desk too, and still keep
the faith of your recording subject? How many of the few fixed
studio positions are you likely to get when, even if you could
use Pro Tools the backbone of it all, you couldn't use maybe 75%
of the plugins they're running on the resident system? In
esscence, this is why I lost the faith, why (for now) I regret
focusing on music for my degree, and why (also for now) I'm
persuing a career in something totally unrelated. Someone's
bound to argue that there's snags in a lot of things if you're
VI, but with some industries it feels to me like mole hills,
whereas music feels like mountains. Of course, if you're working
from your own gaff like Jerry and Rick (to my knowledge) it
changes the dynamic of all this slightly, I just wish they needed
a tea boy haha.
Sorry if it's a bit off topic, but like i said, maybe it'll calm
things down slightly if people realise that it's not as clear cut
as "pro tools works, I have a career now".
Cheers...
Scott
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Boggs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 7:59 PM
Subject: Re: ProTools: The path to accessibility
>Attention all audio enthusiasts and engineers interested in using
Pro >Tools. In light of the recent plea transmitted to this
list, I am >compelled to clarify the very important history and
ongoing advocacy >efforts on behalf of blind Pro Tools users.
Please consider this >information before taking any action
called for in the recent post to >this list.
Many of you are aware of the proven track record that I have in
working with Digidesign to make Pro Tools accessible for blind
users. In fact, for several years, Digidesign published a story
about our successful work in this area on their web site. For
those who don't know, in 1992 I initiated a dialog with the
leadership at Digidesign about possible accessibility for blind
users. By 1994, I successfully arranged a test at the
Digidesign lab which determined that outSPOKEN, the Mac screen
reader at the time, would NOT function with Pro Tools.
Specifically, the Mac would not even boot properly while both
outSPOKEN and Pro Tools were loaded on the machine. However,
through respectful, professional, assertive communication, I
was pleased to find that Digidesign voluntarily made changes to
a "system init" file which resolved the conflict and allowed
blind users to access Pro Tools. The change was made with the
launch of the next generation of the Pro Tools software at that
time and appeared simultaneously with other improvements to the
software.
Since then, I launched the "BlindProducers.com" web site and
made special arrangements with the Digidesign sales department
and a Los Angeles vendor to be able to sell Pro Tools systems
to blind individuals with an appropriate package and sufficient
support to make use of Pro Tools realistic for blind users. I
facilitated the purchase of Pro Tools for blind clients of the
department of rehabilitation after they in fact purchased my own
system. I even later hired blind audio engineers in my studio
to work as Pro Tools engineers. Digidesign is well aware of
all of these facts. Jerry Halatyn and I arranged to meet in
person with the product development team at Digidesign and
demonstrated how blind users interacted with Pro Tools 5.1.3
versus what the barriers are for using Pro Tools 6.0 and
later. We have established a rapport with key leadership at
Digidesign over the years and are working to help them resolve
some SIGNIFICANT technical barriers to accessibility. We can
discuss those technical details on this list at a later time.
In the interest of preserving the good will at Digidesign, and
with respect for their past record of making necessary
accomodations, we ask that all interested audio enthusiasts and
professionals allow us to continue to pursue the existing path
toward accessibility for Pro Tools.
Nobody has a greater interest in finding a resolution than
myself or Jerry since both of us earn a living exclusively by
making recordings with or Pro Tools systems which are now quite
old and out of date.
Please note that rather than bombarding some clerk at
Digidesign with separate and random expressions of frustration,
Jerry and I organized a public display of support for a
resolution with the Pro Tools Petition at www.ProToolsPetition.org
which did render a response from Digidesign.
We ask that all brainstorming on this subject be done in an
open forum and that NO ACTION be taken without careful
consideration of the history and progress made thus far.
Why not stick with what has worked folks? Ask yourselves how
much you really know about what the technical problems are that
face Digidesign this time around. I assure you the barriers
are significant.
Rick Boggs
