Hi Tristram, agreed, for the most part. Of course Sonar is a successful product, but it's just not what most people use, in my experience, anyway. I'd love to learn more about the ProTools platform, in terms of accessibility, but don't know where to find out. Did once tentatively ask this list but nobody answered, so I thought I'd better take the hint and regard it as off-topic.
Thanks for your post; much appreciated. Cheers Amie----- Original Message ----- From: "Tristram Llewellyn" <tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 5:40 PM Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Jaws and Cubase
Well to answer you first question, here is a page listing those who have put their name to Sonar for what it is worth:http://www.cakewalk.com/Artist/default.aspHowever in any case artist endorsements are not where it is at anyway, they get paid or a free copy or something to say what a good time they have with it.To very quickly go off on a tangent here most of what you hear in sequenced material coming out in charts or whatever either side of the pond has not been exclusively produced in either Cubase or for that matter Sonar. The days when Cubase was used (because there was hardly anything else) throughout pro studios all over the world are long gone. In the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) market Pro Tools rules with attendant starting price tag of around £10,000 hardware and about half again in plug-ins (at least!). Cubase or Sonar may be used to start off a project but you will quite rarely find it used to finnish a top flight project. I am not trying to say it is rubbish (see later) but just to fill you in on how it fits into the general landscape these days. Last year recording in a studio I had access to a Pro Tools system with a 196 channels and a price tag of somewhere in the region of "if you have to ask you can't afford it" hooked up to a a 96 chennel Audient analogue desk considered quite cheap at £25,000 and soon to be replaced by something about 5 to 7 times more expensive. There wasn't a Cubase to be seen anywhere, although I am sure the studio owner could have dug us out one if we had needed it and would probably have been a hire in option.So, what I am saying is that the best thing to do is choose the path of least resistance and also what works for you, in terms of the former for most new users this will be at presently that is Sonar, it could be something else in five years. Maybe if you were a very competant Cubase user to start with and then subsequently lost your sight later on and stuck with the same version you could manage somehow if you had been already very used to keyboard shortcuts etc. I have known of people who were able to do that (at least for a time). However, not only is Sonar not a bad choice (you can check out some of the mailing lists devoted to using screen readers and Sonar) but it is the right choice given the context that Cubase by no means holds the position it once did as pre-eminent.Accessbility for most third party programs can be problematic at some level or other via the screen whether it would be Sonar, Cuibase or whatever because the developers are not at all focused on accessibility. Fortunately there is a tremendous growth in external controller type interfaces and many plugins can be controlled either by inserting MIDI controllers directly into the sequence or via external control surfaces as themselves.I hope that helps, for what it is worth I do own and use Cubase is my hours off work and although I am not a JAWS or screen reader user I spend many hours supporting screen readers and I know from personal experience how Cubase operates in this context I can test it anytime I want. Leaving accessibility asside I would definitely consider Sonar seriously, whilst once it would have been a Mickey Mouse option these days it certainly bears comparison with Cubase and also happens to be more accessible.Regards. Tristram Llewellyn tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Technical Support Sight and Sound Technology -----Original Message-----From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of amie.slavinSent: Monday, April 07, 2008 3:49 PM To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Jaws and CubaseSo where are all these successful mainstream users of Sonar? I keep hearinghow great Sonar is for accessibility, and how it's challenging Cubase forindustry standard status, but have yet to come across it at all, other thanin the context of VI access. Also, how does Sonar handle plugins, created by third parties? I use Cubase, but with lots of help. Know of one userwho used Cubase both before and after losing her sight, and says she uses itby memory. Darren, will write more off-list. Cheers Amie www.roughdiamondproductions.com/sound-artist----- Original Message ----- From: "Tristram Llewellyn" <tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 12:04 PM Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Jaws and CubaseThere are no JAWS scripts for it, that is certainly true but it is not the whole story. Cubase is full of owner drawn controls which are quite non-standard and therefore not scriptable, so nobody has bothered when you can get Cakewalk Sonar to talk better. Your contact may be getting on well with Cubase through a combination of sheer determination and the generous provision of keystrokes and perhaps it is an earlier version as well. The important point is that you are much less likely to be able to replicate that experience yourself. If one were looking at sequencing for music Cubase would no longer necessarily be the automatic choice it once was in any case. Cakewalk Sonar is just as good and they are hungry for customers and are real advocates of the Windows platform itself unlike Steinberg who split their development between Windows and Mac. All of this means you get really good software for something that is equal to or cheaper in price than Cubase and can be made to talk either with the Caketalking scripts or others that are freely available. Regards. Tristram Llewellyn tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Technical Support Sight and Sound Technology ________________________________ From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Darren H Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 6:15 AM To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [jaws-uk] Jaws and Cubase Hi folks I've heard a lot of stuff about Cubase not being accessible for jaws users. Is this actually the case or is it just that Jaws has no scripts available for it and there's a lot of mucking about with the Jaws Cursor to get it to operate properly. I ask because I know of one blind Jaws user, using jaws 4.5 who uses Cubase very successfully. Yes, it's not for the fainthearted, but it obviously can be done. To my next question. Why are there no Jaws scripts available for Cubase as it's such a popular software application that uses standard windows operations. I'd appreciate any input. Cheers Darren Hartland www.bigmixentertainment.co.uk ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. 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