[macvoiceover] Re: New GarageBand Observations
- From: James Clark <james.clark131@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:25:25 -0400
at the apple convention they had never spoken about voiceover. By the
way, lyan will be out next somer and it should be a free update
according to my understanding anyway.
On 10/24/10, Bryan Smart <bryansmart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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