Kassav in toronto

This will be my first post not necessarily related to the Mac and access technology. I’ve been busy this summer checking out live music in toronto all over the city. Several exciting acts have played here this summer and I’d like to comment on them.

Last night’s concert featured legendary zouk band, Kassav. If you’re not familiar with Kassav or zouk music, imagine a style of music that combines French, Caribbean, Latin, jazz and pop influences and you have Kassav. Their songs are sung in French Caribbean creole which is akin to the English you’d hear spoken in Jamaica, so it is not French in the traditional sense.

The band itself is comprised of a large backline including several percussionists, a bassist, guitarist and two keys players. Add to that a horn section and then the front line vocalists and you’ve got quite an audio challenge on your hands when it comes time to mix on stage and in the studio. this is where the music becomes as delightful as eating your favourite dessert. the band’s recordings from the early days in the early 80s to today are an audio engineer’s dream come true. While the band plays very complex material ranging from big dance hits to slower ballads (zouk love), the audio recordings are rich, spacious and a treat to listen to. The editing and placement of instruments, as well as the stellar arranging, are almost surgical in nature as horns, strings, synth tracks, layered percussion, bass, guitars, vocals and effects coexist in a type of audio utopia where no one sound fights with another for your attention.

ONe of the first thoughts I had in my head after hearing the band was coming to Toronto was, “How are they going to pull off that type of audio fidelity and clarity on stage?” Last night, Kassav played at the Phoenix concert Theatre in downtown Toronto and whoever did their mix should be given a silver medal. the mix was incredible and band was beyond tight. The horn section seemed to be an extension of the percussionists and keyboardists as they lined up perfectly syncopated shots and riffs without effort. I watched and listened very closely for a miscue, a wrong note, a late entry… something that would indicate these musicians put their pants on one leg at a time. Sadly, no such moment came as the band was clearly well-rehearsed and comfortable with each other.

As for the audio, there were issues with one of the singers’ mics. This is the second concert I’ve been to where it sounds as if the mic is going into overload distortion when the singer sings a little louder. The overall mix was great and the sound system in the Phoenix handled everything as well as it did when I saw Sly and Robbie perform there a few years ago.
The performance was stellar with the band clearly knowing what their fans wanted and getting the audience involved at several points. I’d highly recommend attending a Kassav show, even if you don’t speak French creole.

If you are planning on mixing a large band for the stage, take lessons from Kassav.
I’ll return with more thoughts on the iPhone, as well as Apple’s new Logic Studio, just released. Stay tuned.

An Accessible Phone

After a long search for an accessible cell phone and five years of having no accessibility whatsoever with a Samsung brick, I took the plunge into the world of the iPhone last week and am very excited to use this piece of technology which is accessible out-of-the-box for those with a visual disability.

First, some issues you may have noticed if you’re using iPhone 3GS. I have personally have had issues with the Apple Mobile Manager application unexpectedly quitting during a sync in iTunes. Forums online propose many solutions including turning off Genius in iTunes to doing a full restore. So far, no issues since turning off Genius, but your solution may vary if you are having this issue. I have not yet seen anything from Apple on this, so stay tuned.

The laptop itself is working quite well, despite Safari seeming to crash on facebook. I suspect this is an issue that is still being worked out despite the last update. Other than that issue, I have been having a very good time using the laptop to check mail, browse the web and create documents, all without missing a beat. Organizing rules in Mail is quite easy and painless, as is organizing music in iTunes.

Another joy has been using the Apple remote and Front Row. Not only can you use the remote to skip back an forth through your iTunes playlists, but you can use it to interact directly with the program to select whether you want to play music, TV shows or videos and whether you want to play songs by album, artist, genre or any other category offered. I highly recommend a remote, especially if you’re planning on hooking up your Mac to a stereo as I did on the weekend.

As for the iPhone itself, it is truly a game changer in the world of access technology. The phone is intuitive to use once you master the gestures needed to use the touch screen. The audio quality is comparable to a land line and using apps and other features of the phone is quite intuitive. Apple offered me a one hour tutorial on the phone, however I doubt I need it since I have the phone nearly mastered. I am looking forward to putting some third party apps on it and taking them for a spin.

So far, I’d give the phone a 9.5 out of 10 in terms of quality. There have been few software issues and Apple should be commended on creating a phone that is accessible. If you’re blind and looking for a phone that will talk to you, consider the iPhone on your shopping list. For the price, it is well worth it, especially if you’re the type of person who needs to be plugged in to e-mail and reachable by phone.

The voice quality is much better than Eloquence, the staple for JAWS users the world over, but not as great as Alex. You can adjust speaking rates and some verbosity options in the phone as well, making it somewhat customizable.

I’d like to see Apple make some improvements with the hardware interface for the iPhone. First, it would be nice to see a mag safe sync/power cable that would keep the phone from being pulled off of a table or desk while charging. Second, the phone should be able to charge only when connected to AC power and automatically know if your laptop is plugged into the wall or not. If not, it should sync with available battery power. This would save both the laptop battery life and frustration from the user who needs to use both toys at once.

If you are going to buy the phone, get a case that allows you full access to the entire screen, as some covers can hide the status bar near the top. Particularly annoying if you’re using VO and cannot touch the status bar. Also, keep a polishing cloth on hand for the screen as you will be tempted to use it at all times and the screen can become oily very quickly.

One Week Later and Taking the iPhone Plunge

It has been just over a week since the mac Book Pro arrived. So far, it still works. Getting used to the mac has been like riding a bike–a little wobbly after not having been on for a while, but once I got the hang of it, everything has been smooth riding. My Mac rehab has come with a few curve balls, like learning the iTunes interface, navigating with Safari and interacting with iCal

My thoughts are generally favourable towards the Mac. Just the hardware engineering alone is worth the price of admission. The MBP comes complete with Bluetooth connectivity, wi-fi, lots of battery life and very stylish and durable construction. Typing on it will feel much less intense if you are used to PC keyboards that can be quite laborious and loud.

On the software side, the little things about OS X Leopard make the Mac a treat to use. One ting I appreciate is the virtually universal presence of spell check in just about everything. I am still trying to figure out iCal and Address Book, but I am impressed so far. I’m really looking forward to the innovations in Snow Leopard, especially with Voiceover.
That has really surprised me–Voiceover. I originally thought the settings panel would have been much more complex, but Voiceover seems to work on the KISS principle. there are a few things I’d like to see though, such as quick navigation keys in Safari and the ability to jump quickly between edit fields. Also, I have not yet found a function equal to Say All in JAWS. If anyone can provide help in that regard, I’d appreciate it.

I’ve also installed iWork 09 and have made it a point to look through Pages and Numbers. So far, the application seems pretty solid. I will also install OpenOffice, which is fully VO compliant. In future posts, I’ll be focusing a bit more on how VO works with these applications in a practical way.

Regarding the iPhone…. I had an opportunity to test the new iPhone 3GS this past Saturday. It was quite an experience having such a tactile interface. I’ve decided to go ahead and purchase one, so I’ll be relearning the mac and teaching myself the new iPhone at the same time.

Until next time…

Homecoming

This is a quick blog entry to update you on the progress of my homecoming to the Mac.

The system arrived on Monday night. I was impressed with the job Apple did at packing my laptop and how quickly I was able to open the box without giving myself serious cuts.

I didn’t boether following the manual’s recommendation to plug the laptop in. I figured I’d turn it on initially, get it set up and then give it a good charging. The unit was fully charged.

Setting it up took less than ten minutes, minus the Voiceover tutorial. I opened Mail, set up my mail settings and downloaded a bunch of messages from the server. During this process, I got a notice that software udpates were available. I downloaded them using the house’s wireless connection and I was amazed to see that I was getting over a meg a minute for a transfer rate.

The downloads installed themselves, as well as the firmware update for the new Mac Book Pro.

Today, I set up iTunes and imported my first CD. Now, I am comfortable enough to get on here and blog without having to set up special software.

For those of you reading in Canada, Global National did a story on the accessibility of the new iPhone. the word is getting out.

I’ll report more once I have a chance to play around a bit more with the MBP.

Until next time….

Back to Mac

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computer in a garage in the late 70s, I don’t think they realized how much of an impact their tinkering would have on the modern world, let alone the world of the blind.

My first experience with apple computers came when I was young and the CNIB hosted a program whereby blind and low vision children would receive computers as part of a technology training program. I qualified under the low vision category. The first computer I used was an Apple IIe, complete with a spinach screen and two 5.25” floppy disk drives.

The Apple went back and I lived for some time without a computer. That was until high school when I got my first Mac—a Macintosh LC with 4 megabytes of RAM and a 40 MB hard drive. The screen was a 12” 8-bit CRT display and I even got a microphone with it. The LC was a decent little computer for its time and I had loads of fun using Hypercard, SuperPaint and ClarisWorks to complete assignments for school and just have fun.

After the LC I upgraded to the Macintosh LC 630. Now, I had a CD-ROM drive and could enjoy CDs. I also had a 350 MB hard drive and 20 megs of RAM. That was huge in the mid-90s and I appreciated it a lot. Sadly, the monitor I had had an awful colour gamut, but was usable enough to do things like some sound editing, more Hypercard and communicating with FirstClass, a BBS client that allowed me access to Mac run bulletin board systems.

I used CloseView, the Macintosh’s screen magnification program, to enlarge the screen to the point where I could see menus, icons and other screen text.

I also had a Powerbook and used it during part of my first year of university. I don’t remember the specs, but its main purpose was as a note taker.

Near the end of high school, I began losing my vision due to a rare eye disease. Finally, the day I dreaded came near the end of my first year of university. I switched to the PC.

My first PC used JAWS which stands for Job Access With Speech. (Yes, I realize the W stands for “with.”) JAWS is a popular screen reader for the PC. It converts on screen events into synthesized speech, allowing me to control most Windows applications with the keyboard.

My history with JAWS is a shaky one. I initially used JAWS 3.2—a moderately effective package for creating and editing documents in Microsoft Word and Excel and an adequate piece of software for browsing the interwebs. This is when I quickly learned that not all programs for the PC were created for screen readers and that screen readers were very specialized pieces of software. For example, my initial purchase of jaws cost more than $1200 Canadian. Add a software maintenance agreement to that and the cost goes up to over $1500 and that’s not including applicable taxes.

Over the years, JAWS eventually improved to the point where I use it every day for work in programs like Outlook, Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and FireFox. I also use JAWS with Sony Sound Forge. I use SF to record, edit and mix commercials for the radio station, thanks to scripts from The Snowman.
JAWS, My Pcs and Windows were not without their flaws. Hardware conflicts, software glitches, the ubiquitous blue screen of death and other ailments plagued me for many years. I hung on though and each time I got a new JAWS release, I lived with the thought that things were getting better for accessibility to the PC. Unfortunately, JAWS seemed to improve marginally while applications and the web advanced at their own pace. JAWS always seemed to be playing catch up with these developments.

One day, I heard that Apple had developed their own screen reader for the Macintosh platform and I began reacquainting myself with Apple. I read blogs, listened to podcasts and communicated with several people who had taken the plunge and were using the Mac and its built-in screen reader, Voiceover. I held my breath, wondering if this was equivalent to Narrator on Windows. Much to my amazement, it was far from anything Windows could offer. Voiceover was a complete screen reader and allowed a blind person to use a Mac in a very similar manner to their sighted colleagues.

Since Voiceover was built in to OS X starting with Tiger, upgrades came in the form of software upgrades for the operating system and not software maintenance upgrades for the screen reader alone. Again, I held my breath to see if Apple was simply placating the blind with a screen reader for the sake of saying they did something for accessibility or whether they were really serious. OS X Tiger gave way to Leopard and Voiceover leapt ahead light years from where it was before. It had a new voice, better compatibility with Mac applications and a growing user base. This got me thinking a bit more seriously about switching, yet I was still very cautious.

After some more frustrations with JAWS on my current machine, I one day vowed that my next computer would be a Mac. I waited, read, listened and began to seriously follow Apple’s developments.

Last week, I finally took my Neil Armstrong first step and ordered a Mac Book Pro. It arrives tomorrow and I am very excited for what I see as a homecoming—my return to the Mac after a 12 year hiatus. I will report my experiences here with OS X Leopard and Voiceover and give you my impressions of how Apple’s screen reader works on the Mac. As I understand it, there is both a lot to be praised and room for improvement.

If you’d like more information on Voiceover, visit Apple’s accessibility page, or visit the Maccessibility website/a. Both are loaded with useful information, resources and links.

Until next time…

The new Arrival

Welcome to the Flying on Instruments” blog, a kind of “catch all” for all the things that interest me from the perspective of music, technology, audio production and more. In this blog, I hope to post my thoughts, reactions and perhaps some inspiration to those who are looking for information on topics ranging from, but not limited to: accessibility technology, music and sound recording, radio production, community radio, computing for the blind and perhaps a few surprises along the way. Here’s to good blogging.

My first entry after this will be about a new arrival, a Mac Book Pro. It arrives tomorrow and I am excited to report my experiences with switching from PC-based screen reader software to the Mac running Voiceover, OS X’s built-in screen reader for the blind.

Why Flying on Instruments? When airline pilots fly a plane, they can do so in two ways—by visually looking out of the cockpit window or by reading their instruments and gauges on the instrument panel in front of them. The first method is called VFR, short for visual flight rules. IFR stands for instrument flight rules, or flying on instruments in colloquial airline language.

Since I use many technological solutions in my every day life to work, study and play, I thought the name was fitting.

Until next time….