I got permission to post this here. If list messages from other lists are off topic, apologies in acne but this other list isn't mac or ios related so many would miss this.
Danny. adv Begin forwarded message: > From: Alex Hall <mehg...@gmail.com> > Subject: [Blind-Guitarist] quick review of Ampkit for Mac > Date: 8 December 2012 4:25:22 AM AEDT > To: "blind-guitar...@yahoogroups.com" <blind-guitar...@yahoogroups.com> > Reply-To: blind-guitar...@yahoogroups.com > > Hi all, > I emailed yesterday about Ampkit for Mac. Well, I found a support link and > emailed the company, not expecting much of anything in the way of a response. > Within ten minutes or so, though, I had a reply from a real person, not a bot > or a copy-and-pasted response. The company also seems to know about > accessibility and wants to improve it, though the language in the emails I > got from them did not make it sound like it is way up on their list. Still, > it is there, and they asked if they could contact me about accessibility > questions when they improve things, so that's a good sign as well. > > Now, the app itself. In its current form it is definitely useable, especially > if you have help tags on and know how to label controls; the help tags almost > always describe what the control does, so you can easily label it correctly. > You mostly have tables, buttons, and checkboxes, so it is easy enough to get > around., and the menu bar is just what you'd expect. > > There are four views: setups, presets, favorites, and recordings. With the > first three, you have two tables. The first is a table of different options > (basically a list of presets, setups, or favorites). As you arrow down the > first table, the second table changes. That second table lists the gear in > the selected setup or preset, in order from first to last in the chain. That > is, the first piece of gear listed is the first item in the chain, so the > noise gate is usually first and your amp model is usually last, for instance. > You can remove gear (amps, pedals, and microphones) by hitting cmd-delete on > any item in that second table, or add gear by hitting cmd-g, finding the item > you want, and pressing enter (hit cmd-g again to close the gear panel). Right > arrowing on a gear item opens its properties, which are usually sliders and > buttons, all easy enough to change with the keyboard even without > interacting. If you do interact with a table row, vo focuses on the first > item, whi ch is the name (like phaser or trebble) and speaks the item description, handy for new guitarists who may not know what some setting changes in the overall sound. > > The recording is pretty easy too. Press cmd-r to open the recording panel, > then space to toggle recording on and off. You can change the lead-in time, > or time delay before recording starts, but there is no audio indicator when > the app begins recording so you may have trouble timing multiple tracks. You > can select a backing track to play as you record, too, and that backing track > can be a pre-installed loop or a recording you made. So, you can record the > rhythm of your song, then set that as your backing track and record your lead > or bassline over that. You can only have one backing track at a time, so no > playing your full song as you record a new layer, but support said that full > multi-track recording is on their list for the future, as is an audio > lead-in. To view your recordings, hit cmd-4 and arrow through the table. > Space will play or stop a recording, and cmd-delete will erase it (with no > confirmation). To export a recording, use cmd-shift-e. I was unable to test > this as I am still using the demo version, which runs for thirty minutes and allows no saving of presets or exporting of recordings. > > There is also a metronome, which works well and has a lot of options for > signature and sound. Cmd-e will bring it up, and, once you are in the > metronome panel, space will start and stop it. It continues even as you > record, so you can turn it on once and have it just keep running. To turn it > off you must open the panel and press space again, there's no global hotkey. > Speaking of hotkeys, I feel it worth mentioning that cmd-shift-o toggles your > amp on and off, so you can just press that to mute everything without turning > off your guitar or input source. > > The app is $50 and is in the App Store, so no license keys or anything to > worry about. It runs well even on my mac mini with just 2gb of ram, and has > no delay like Garageband can have. It is also much easier to use than > Garageband as it is simpler and designed only for guitars and basses, not any > instrument. Support is very responsive and helpful, and they seem willing to > work on improving the already not-bad accessibility of their product. Plus, > this app has an iOS counterpart, so you can buy it for your iPhone and rock > out anywhere. I don't have that app and don't plan to get it, but hey, maybe > one day we'll all use our iPhones as gig amps... > > > Have a great day, > Alex (msg sent from Mac Mini) > mehg...@gmail.com > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blind-Guitarist/ > > <*> Your email settings: > Individual Email | Traditional > > <*> To change settings online go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blind-Guitarist/join > (Yahoo! ID required) > > <*> To change settings via email: > blind-guitarist-dig...@yahoogroups.com > blind-guitarist-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > blind-guitarist-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! 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