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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12
Newbie
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OP
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 12 |
Peter & All:
There are a couple of us out here busting our buttooties to make PG Music products more accessible to sight impaired folks all over the world. Heretofore, Jaws for Windows was the only screenreader to have a scripting language. Others have now gotten into the game, which means more blind & severely sight-impaired folks can now have access to your products. What it also means is that the 2 of us writing scripts are gonna have to work at least doubly hard, & we now just fixed the previous scripts that had been broken by changes in later versions of the software. It does seem in all fairness that a sight-impaired person really should be on your beta testing team. The 2 of us writing scripts do so on a volunteer basis. It's tough that we have to buy the software we're scripting then spend hours scripting it besides. I can assure you sight-impaired folks are in fact buying your products, & it's primarily due to our efforts toward making the software accessible that they are. Obviously if we're apprised of the changes in advance, we can script them & make the software accessible as soon as it hits the market. & now not only do we have a couple additional screenreaders entering the areana, for which scripts for your products will be needed, but it looks as though we need to devote some efforts toward RealBand. For u & for us, it really seems like it'd be a fair thing to do to allow the scripters of your products on your beta team.
Please consider the request, & thanks for your attention. I will provide contact details privately on request.
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502
Veteran
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Veteran
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 38,502 |
Peter, I know how busy you folks must be up there, but this one also needs attention.
Was thinking of perhaps generating an all-text BB overlay that just lists the controls and buttons in some kind of mission-critical order or perhaps will Shift-Tab or Ctrl-Tab from smaller text window to text window with the text controls grouped according to usage. Nothing fancy needed, actually, likely ASCII could do do it.
At the same time, this could perhaps be used to kill two birds with one stone and allow for aliasing control features in MIDI or ASCII or keyboard type commands for those wanting to use hardware controllers with BIAB, too. Maybe.
At any rate, I know several sight impaired songwriters and musicians who are not able to use BIAB using the JAWS program, going back as far as 7 to 10 years ago.
If I can be of any help, Peter, I'll do what I can.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box Wishlist
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 249
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 249 |
There are some simple things which the developers of BIAB could do in order to make BIAB work better with screen readers and/or make it easier for us scripters to enable screen readers to work more seamlessly with BIAB.
These include such things as:
- Following Windows keystroke coventions a bit better - As I've described in previous posts, most places in BIAB where there are radio buttons, BIAB does not follow the expected behavior. This has been difficult to overcome even by scripting BIAB.
- Often BIAB has many child windows within a main window. It would be easier to script if these windows had unique names which didn't change as the user interacted with the windows.
- It is difficult to obtain status information such as volume panning, etc. of instruments. One method for dealing with this, as MAC suggests, is to have this info easily accessible in a text list or table. For Sonar, The CAkewalk folks added and invisible "Access" window which contains a lot of status info. Sighted users couldnt see this, but the screen readers could grab this info and feed it back to the user and/or take appropriate action based on changes.
I'm sure there are other ideas, some simple and some not so simple, for addressing these issues. The problem with beta testing is that by the time a revision is ready to beta test there is often too much code and/or structure which is "frozen" to make meaningful and helpful changes.
Anyway, hopefully someone out there in BIAB land is listening and can begin incorporating needed modifications into these products and/or at least starting to follow Windows coding, structure and keystrokes coventions a bit more closely as new code is developed.
Thanks, Mac, for your support.
-- Pete (the other JAWS scripter)
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2024 German for Windows is Here!
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 für Windows Deutsch ist verfügbar!
Wir waren fleißig und haben über 50 neue Funktionen und eine erstaunliche Sammlung neuer Inhalte hinzugefügt, darunter 222 RealTracks, neue RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, "Songs with Vocals" Artist Performance Sets, abspielbare RealTracks Set 3, abspielbare RealDrums Set 2, zwei neue Sets von "RealDrums Stems", XPro Styles PAK 6, Xtra Styles PAK 17 und mehr!
Paket | Was ist Neu
Update Your PowerTracks Pro Audio 2024 Today!
The Newest RealBand 2024 Update is Here!
The newest RealBand 2024 Build 5 update is now available!
Download and install this to your RealBand 2024 for updated print options, streamlined loading and saving of .SGU & MGU (BB) files, and to add a number of program adjustments that address user-reported bugs and concerns.
This free update is available to all RealBand 2024 users. To learn more about this update and download it, head to www.pgmusic.com/support.realband.htm#20245
The Band-in-a-Box® Flash Drive Backup Option
Today (April 5) is National Flash Drive Day!
Did you know... not only can you download your Band-in-a-Box® Pro, MegaPAK, or PlusPAK purchase - you can also choose to add a flash drive backup copy with the installation files for only $15? It even comes with a Band-in-a-Box® keychain!
For the larger Band-in-a-Box® packages (UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition), the hard drive backup copy is available for only $25. This will include a preinstalled and ready to use program, along with your installation files.
Backup copies are offered during the checkout process on our website.
Already purchased your e-delivery version, and now you wish you had a backup copy? It's not too late! If your purchase was for the current version of Band-in-a-Box®, you can still reach out to our team directly to place your backup copy order!
Note: the Band-in-a-Box® keychain is only included with flash drive backup copies, and cannot be purchased separately.
Handy flash drive tip: Always try plugging in a USB device the wrong way first? If your flash drive (or other USB plug) doesn't have a symbol to indicate which way is up, look for the side with a seam on the metal connector (it only has a line across one side) - that's the side that either faces down or to the left, depending on your port placement.
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows® Today!
Update your Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows for free with build 1111!
With this update, there's more control when saving images from the Print Preview window, we've added defaults to the MultiPicker for sorting and font size, updated printing options, updated RealTracks and other content, and addressed user-reported issues with the StylePicker, MIDI Soloists, key signature changes, and more!
Learn more about this free update for Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows at www.pgmusic.com/support_windowsupdates.htm#1111
Band-in-a-Box® 2024 Review: 4.75 out of 5 Stars!
If you're looking for a in-depth review of the newest Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows version, you'll definitely find it with Sound-Guy's latest review, Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows Review: Incredible new capabilities to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs.
A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
"MIDI SuperTracks partial generation showing six variations – each time the section is generated it can be instantly auditioned, re-generated or backed out to a previous generation – and you can do this with any track type. This is MAJOR! This takes musical experimentation and honing an arrangement to a new level, and faster than ever."
"Band in a Box continues to be an expansive musical tool-set for both novice and experienced musicians to experiment, compose, arrange and mix songs, as well as an extensive educational resource. It is huge, with hundreds of functions, more than any one person is likely to ever use. Yet, so is any DAW that I have used. BIAB can do some things that no DAW does, and this year BIAB has more DAW-like functions than ever."
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!
There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.
If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.
We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!
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