Hey Keith. nice post. Glad to see you on the list. On Feb 25, 2012, at 10:08 AM, Keith Hinton wrote:
> Hi to all members, new or long-time to Mac Visionaries: > I wanted to take a second to intraduce myself in general to the rest > of you. > Some of you, I've heard on Podcasts, voice wise at least, and I've > even talked to some of you throughout the years in several online > forms, Skype being the latest method. > To start off with, I live in a small town called Prescott, located in > the awesome state of Arizona. > I'm 24 years old-and in just s few short months, on May 23, I'll be > turning 25, so that should be pretty awesome! > > I've grown up computer technology wise first starting with jAWS for > DOS in the second grade, and even what I suspect in the first grade > as an Apple two E machine, though i never used any speech technology > or screen-readers back then, and always had sighted help. > Windows, as years whent on, later became the primary platform, and for > specific screen readers like Serotek's System Access that I pay a > monthly subscription for, I'll generally use Windows (though more and > more often on a VM in VMware fusion,) for that kind of purpose. > Finally, as of June 2011 I finally had something I could sel on > BlindBargains to a Technology Specialest who wanted this Alva Braille > Display I wasn't using, and with the money I earned I was able to pick > up the MacBookPro for $1,366 on Amazon. I got my macbOok Pro, 13 > intch, Core I7, 2.7GHZ, 4GB RAM, 500GB internal hard-drive, Super DVD > drive, with Lion already the default oS as no dVD shipped, back in > November, 08, 2011. > One of my friends who is a member of this list, was actually around > for the unboxing on Skype, a rather fun thing to experience. > At first, I thought that maybe I'd use it for a lot of the things I > kno some folks have, being a listener of both the MacCessibility > roundTablePodcast, and of the ScreenlessSwitchers podcast, just to > name a few, and of course a lot of the Mac podcasts that mike has done > on BlindCoolTech being some of the things that got my mind finally > made up. > Now we get into some of the real background stuff that I'm sure you > folks will be interested in. > I've been a pianest for over 11 years, I first got myf irst little > keyboard when I was like 4 or 5. > Over the years I got better stuff, until I finally was able with some > help from one of my teachers down in tucson, to get what i had most > wanted..the yamaha P85, 88 key waited-keys keyboard, with the coolest > thing that at the time I couldn't take advantage of, MIDI ports. > Finally, just a week or two back, I purchased on recommendations from > a new skype friend I've made in south Affrica, The EMU-XMIDI1X1 USB > MIDI interface cable, and began to try, and record with the already > isntalled iLife11 GarageBand application. > I enjoy the quality of the garageBand instruments, but then I quickly > found out some things about the program. > First, I need a way to export the raw MIDI instructions as a MID (Dot > Mid) file, prefered MIDI type one, but in garageband itself after my > firend and i did some looking around, we concluded that this is not > possible. > Sure, you can export stuff to MP3, etc, but you cannot export the > actual MIDI data. > Also, the ability to edit the MIDI data for mistakes, etc, doesn't > seem to be possible, within the GarageBand editor is a "Scrol Area" > that appears to not be accessible entirely to VoiceOver. > So, I next began looking around for something else I could use that of > course has software instruments (and not cruddy ones, at that.) > I had considered logicPro, because I can actually afford that within > my extremely tight budget that I have to work with, but found a post > from this group that prompted me to subscribe Don't recall the names > of the two posters off hand..sorry about that. > But anyhow, two people posted to some thread, one poster considering > logicProNine, and the other poster a former musician I believe > explained that ProTools is far more accessible to VoiceOver, and that > Apple must reright LogicPro entirely, or something and to go with > ProTools. > So I started looking around at ProTools on places like Sweetwater, > only to discover that basicly as things stand I'll never be able to > save up enough money, not even in a five month basis to afford > ProTools, at least not any time soon,and no, my budget is not likely > to change in the coming year. > At the moment, I'm having to go back and forth between using a free > Windows app called QWS (Quick Windows Sequencer), and an old version > of CakewalkPro Audio Nine that has loads of accessibility problems, > not to mention crappy quality software instruments. > I'd like to do what my friend in South Affrica does for a living-that > is do backtracks for companies as a living, because he's made plenty > of money doing this. > I would like to do nothing else-I wouldn't be happy with any other > type of job, no matter what it's money amount may be, and I know > myself better than most professional councilors who have worked with > me on jobs, etc. > I've also been told flat out that VR will not help those who wish to > work out of the home, and a home-based recoding studio would for sure > qualify. > At the moment, I don't have the money necessary for any type of extra > school/college, so thus, I would never qualify for the Avid student > discounts on ProTools. > I'm curious what thoughts you folks have on this list, especailly any > blind musicians, who have had to deal with start-up costs, perhaps > been in a situation where not a single resource that i know of exists > in my local community for stuff like this, and so on who might be able > to provide me with some advice to solving at the moment, what seems to > be a blow of impossibility to the dreamjob I'd love to do the most > with my life? > As I said, This is what I'd want to do the most. > I have no interest in doing anything else, no other type of job would > bring me the happyness I get more than sitting down at my keyboard, > and probably with the help of ProTools/MIDI, I'll then be able to do > what I'd like to do-that is do the backtracks thing I discussed, and > also I have a goal to produce an album at some point of my own > creation. > I've attempted to setup a donation fund for young musician types like > myself, though I have little hope that this will do any good, even > though I do think it would be nice for folks everywhere to have > ProTools for the Mac, regardless of country, etc. > It's just that i've had little success with any online based > donations, even before the general ecanomic stuff in 2008. So my hopes > aren't super high, though I'm still holding out a small chance. > If you folks are interested in a sample of my tracks composed with the > clunkey Windows tools then exported to garage Band, a few links are > below: > DoWhatYouBelieveInDoing extended acoustic twelve string steal guitar > instrumental track: > http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2433426/DoWhatYouBelieveInDoing.mp3 > Hear is a song I put together for my friend Drew, who is another > musician, though he doesn't own a Mac, Drew Rocks: > http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2433426/DrewRocks.mp3 > All of these were composed using QWs on the YamahaP-85 keyboard, and > then the MIDI instructions were simply put into GarageBand, both are > unedited however, as the feature set in QWS is limited. > Oh, before I forget, a song I composed when I was annoied at not being > able to Afford ProTools and seriously considering qwitting Piano > playing entirely thus completely so fed up with MIDI in general, MIDI > is Blah: > http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2433426/MIDIIsBlah.mp3 > If you're interested in cehcking out the donation fund I've started > (with 139 days remaining before I consider that a lost effort): > https://www.wepay.com/donations/91142 > My Facebook Page if you're interested in checking that out in general > is: > http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheBlindIndipendentMusiciansStartupFund/301682143224869 > I don't mind publicly giving out my Skype ID, considering that most of > my extended family that i've developed over the last four-five years > is all online: > skypedude1234 > Twitter: > keithint1234 > Thanks folks! > Any advice, is much appreciated. > I hope you folks find the tracks I have provided to be interested-and > welcome any comments on them specificly that you may wish to give, > anyone is welcome to comment, even if your not a musician for say on > the tracks. > Take care, and I look forward to hearing from you folks!Happy saturday > to everyone, and God bless. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
