[mac4theblind] FW: [macvoiceover] New GarageBand Observations
- From: "Bubba" <bubbathegeek@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:27:30 -0400
HI, this is a FYI, that some might be interested in. Thought I would pass
this along.
Sign,
Bubba
-----Original Message-----
From: macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bryan Smart
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2010 3:10 AM
To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [macvoiceover] New GarageBand Observations
Hi everyone. I've spent some time tonight playing with the new GarageBand in
iLife 11. Decided to write a bit about what I've discovered.
Just a preface to say that my comments are colored by the fact that I'm a
fairly high end user. My typical working environments are Sonar on Windows
for sequencing, and Pro Tools on the Mac for editing. Each of these apps has
profoundly complete accessibility as compared to anything offered in
GarageBand or Logic, so it is easy for me to point to ways where they fall
short. Nevertheless, the improvements are significant in the latest version.
The most important part of the new GB is that it is finally possible to
actually select something to edit it. Previously, the largest problem with
GB was, regardless of the features, we couldn't edit anything. The situation
is far from perfect in the new GB, as compares to Sonar or Pro Tools, but,
at least now, it is possible to edit. More on that in a moment.
What most people will notice right away, though, is the improved UI
organization. Apple has reworked the organization of GB's user interface to
better take advantage of groups. After the time that I've spent with Pro
Tools, it is easy to imagine that Apple took a lead from the decisions that
Avid made when designing its interface. It would take a lot of time to
explain what is easily understood through use, but, it is enough to say that
the main GB window is much more hierarchically organized than before. Areas
of the window, such as the loop browser and track editor, show up as their
own group. Interacting with those groups reveals a group of controls, often
containing other groups of related controls. It does seem that, for some
tasks, I spend a lot of time moving up and down through layers of
interaction. That takes a bit of time, but, at least the layers, and
controls in those layers, are well organized now. When you look at the new
GB interface, you'll find that concepts haven't changed, but the
organization, at least from VoiceOver's perspective, has changed.
Now, on to what is newly possible.
The arrangement group now contains many controls. In particular, these
controls now include layout controls that represent the regions of audio or
MIDI data that have been recorded to a track. It is therefore possible to
select a region (such as an existing loop on a track, or a recorded MIDI
region), and copy/paste it to other locations on the time line. Since you
can select individual regions, it is also possible to do things like enable
looping for them,, or to delete them from the track. Selection, in my mind,
is the most important advancement in the new GB. Since we can actually
select something, we have the option of deleting or editing it. Previously,
GB was not too much more than a glorified multitrack tape recorder with
included softsynth. Now, editing is possible, and, without using the mouse.
Next, the track strip interface has been completely reworked. Track strips
are accessed as a group of the arrangement group. The new strips make it
possible to edit all track strip parameters, including the pan control,
directly from the keyboard. Now, thankfully, a control surface is no longer
required to make this change.
I'm not sure yet if it is through direct integration with VoiceOver or not,
but the new GB seems to speak many things automatically. One of them that
you'll immediately notice is navigation by time. When using the left and
right arrows to move the play head in the song, VoiceOver will speak the new
position. Since we can select regions now, and can copy regions to the
clipboard with Command+C, it is handy to navigate with either arrows or
Option+arrows, listening for VO to speak the correct time, and then drop in
the copied region with Command+v.
The old method of moving loops on to the time line is no longer required.
Besides the new loop browser's full redesign, which works great with VO,
selected loops in the browser can now be copied with Command+C, and then
pasted on to the time line with Command+V. There is no longer a need to mess
with manually positioning the mouse. I made a new song tonight, entirely out
of loops, without having to depend on the old methods.
Generally, GB has received lots of VO attention. Most every control now has
a help message. In many cases, the help messages not only explain the
purpose of the control, but provide specific values. For example, when
editing a synth generator's parameters, the help tag will now speak the real
world values that are indicated through modifying a slider. Changing a
volume, for example, might say 80% through VoiceOver as the position of a
slider, but the help message will helpfully tell you that the real world
value is -6 DB. This has happened literally all over GarageBand.
In summary, this is the largest improvement to GB the I can ever remember,
as applies to accessibility. If you use GB, I suggest the upgrade, hands
down! It is absolutely worth the $49!.
GB still has several limitations that prevent it from being anything like
Sonar or Pro Tools. Of course, GB is a taste tester for Logic, which matches
Sonar and Pro Tools in features. However, I mean that GB still lacks
accessibility features that prevent it from being as useful to blind users
as Sonar or PT. Even still, Apple has really done a great job with the
improvements in the new GB. I hope with sincerity that they take the same
approach with Logic. In Logic, a big problem is the same problem that has
existed with GB, being the lack of the ability to select anything The same
approach in Logic, with exposing regions in the arrangement view, would
remove most of those limitations.
I expect that many of the home-based users with few requirements in a
digital audio workstation package will be very excited about the new
GarageBand. I wholeheartedly suggest the upgrade, and hope that Apple
continues to carry these great ideas over in to their professional packages
like Logic. Bravo to everyone at Apple that worked to improve GB
accessibility in iLife 11. I stand eagerly waiting, credit card in hand, to
support similar efforts in Logic.
Bryan
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