Korg Forums

[KingJ]

I really like the Korg Oasys, and I would like to have an Oasys-61 in my studio, but right now, it seems impossible. This is because I'm totally blind, and I've been this way since birth, and obviously, I can't see to navigate the touch screen. Are there any workarounds for blind and visually impaired people like me. If there are not, then Korg, please listen to my suggestions. Maybe Korg should come out with alternate models of their high end workstations that have a lot more buttons, and no touch screen. Or, maybe there should be more buttons on the Oasys, the M3, and other Korg products. What do I do? The Oasys is the closest thing to the Synclavier of 2007, and I can't even use it! Is there a way I can hook it up to my PC, and get my screen reading program to read what's on the Oasys's screen? Are there any blind people out there that own and or use the Oasys?

[ski]

Maybe it would be helpful if you could explain what kinds of workarounds exist for blind people so that they're able to operate musical instrument technologies that don't incorporate touch screens.

[Daz]

Hi KingJ,

Glad you got in okay. Welcome !

In recent times I was talking to another blind musician here who was using Korg gear and learned quite a lot talking to him about this subject. The only Korg workstations the he found that he could use were the Tritons that don't use a touchscreen like the Korg TR. Even that was tricky as a couple of us "sighties" (his term) came to appreciate as we learned how to explain certain operations in terms of long lists of button presses.

One thing that struck me during those conversations is how the Kurzweil workstations might be better suited to blind users as they don't use touchscreens and also have the ability to dump their LCD screen contents as text, via a MIDI, to a computer. That requires a little messing with MIDI system exclusive messages, but in theory means that you could at least get to read what is on the instrument's screen using a screen reader or something similar. I am not sure exactly how it would, but I think this is the closest you'll get to a blind friendly instrument from any manufacturer.

Daz.

[Daz]

I just did a little googling to see if anyone had taken advantage of this ability in Kurzweil workstations and found something very interesting. Someone has created a product that might suit you very well. Here is some text about it.

The KeySounds Kurzweil Display Reader (KDR) is a Windows program that allows blind users of Kurzweil musical equipment to have access to the text portion of the LCD's on this equipment by copying the text from the LCD to a computer monitor via MIDI. Once on the computer monitor, it can be read with screen reading or enlarging software. The following Kurzweil products can be read with KDR.

All models in the K2000, K2500, and K2600 series. This includes keyboards racks and samplers.

This program greatly simplifies navigating the complex, multilayered menus on these instruments. As you turn the dial or press buttons on the Kurzweil, the current parameter is automatically read to you. For example, when moving through the patches, you will hear the name and number of each new patch. You can use normal reading commands to read every line of the display. In addition, you can press 1-8 on the number row to hear any particular line with a single keystroke. You can also use F1 to F6 to tell you the current functions of the six soft buttons.

You can read more about this at the following link :

http://www.keysounds.com/kdr.html

You can read more about the Kurzweil workstations here :

http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com

Daz.

[KingJ]

[ski]

Thanks for that info KingJ.

[KingJ]

[Kontrol49]

[KingJ]

[Francois]

A Muse Receptor might be an idea since it has been designed to operate all functions from the front panel. Installing more plugins on it might be the difficult part. As for using it, front panel control is really easy.

[MartinHines]

Kingj,

Unfortunately the electronic musical instrument industry is very small, and they therefore do not devote many (or any) resources towards designing products for use with the visually impaired.

Given you have two keyboards already that you are mastering, I might suggest looking at music software on personal computers for additional sounds.

Alternatively, if you are simply looking for additional sounds something like the Fantom XR rack might work.

[KingJ]

Hey guies, I just thought of something the other night. It may be possible for some blind people to use Korg's touch screens. If everything is always in the same place on the screen, I could probably remember where everything is, with patience, hard work, and of course, someone to show me where everything is. If this is right, and it can be done, would I be able to go through things like MIDI songs, and voices, by either using a data dial, or plus and minus buttons on the Oasys or the M3? PS: I may be able to try some of what I'm talking about on either an Oasys or an M3 tomorrow.

[danatkorg]

[Kontrol49]