LinuxMusicians

Greetings from Toronto. I'm LR51. You've never heard of me and that's because I am new. I am a visually challenged musician trying to use Linux for the first time to write music. Due to being disabled I don't have many resources and free software really makes life better. I can play games, surf the web, learn things, and even write music. So far I have tried LMMS but had some trouble due to bugs. I have read a few posts so far and decided to join as people here seem genuinely into musicianship. I would like to put together an album of original songs all written in Linux to show how beneficial free software is for us disabled folks. All proceeds I wish to donate to Special Olympics. I will no doubt have many questions but will strive to read all the forums written before me where applicable.

Thanks for all the help so far. I have so far learned about Qtractor, reaper, ardour and similar DAWs which I never knew existed before. I look forward to hearing more useful advice as I ask potentially silly questions. I use Ubuntu and think a music-only distribution makes sense for a very limited amount of people, those with a dedicated studio hardware. Music tools should all work out of the box on all distributions. So I will be looking for tips and tricks in that regard.

Hello LR51 from a fellow forum newbie. I hope the forums help you find what you need to know

Welcome! Your words show that you have a good heart, we are glad to have you here because as @milo would say, we need some Love and Kindness

Hi LR51, welcome to the forums!

I am sure you found all about it already, but I though I would mention that the topic of visual impairment has been discussed in the forum a few times before, for example in this topic. In particular, you might be interested by @jeanette_c work. So, I think you are in the right place, if I do say so myself.

Hope you find the answers to all your Linux music questions!

Cheers!

Hey hey @LR51 ,
if I can, I'd be glad to help. Though I should forewarn you that my workflow is entirely focused around the commandline and a few not so well known tools. They are well suited to some things and not so well to others, Which I know is a great, straightforward answer.
I am not an avid reader, so if you think that I, in particular, could contribute something worthwhile, be sure to mention me or drop me a PM with a hint.
Enjoy the forums and best wishes, Jeanette

@lr51 - Hello and welcome!

I have a disability myself (physical), so I applaud everything you're doing. Good luck and do keep us updated on your progress

Basslint wrote: ↑Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:54 am Welcome! Your words show that you have a good heart, we are glad to have you here because as @milo would say, we need some Love and Kindness

Welcome @lr51! We definitely do need more Love & Kindness in the world. Sorry I'm late to this thread, but I felt obligated to post when I saw the mention.

Always good to hear about people with any disability getting into music, and try to help where I can.
My experience is that people in your position do extremely well if given a bit of design consideration!

Hello,

I'm a plugin developer, what could I do to make my plugins easier for you to use?
I don't currently do anything in particular for accessibility, but I'd like to if I can.

Hi David,
it depends what pluginn API you support. From my point of view it depends on the kind of host I'd be drawn to. With LADSPA and LV2 plugins: create many good ports with sort of self-explanatory parameter ranges. LV2 allows for a lot of stuff. I haven't yet worked with a good GUI plugin host application.
Basically there are some UI toolkits which support a lot of accessibility. On Linux GTK has a lot, seeing that they develop Orca, the screenreader for blind users on the desktop. QT has ever growing accessibility support since version 4 or 5. There are some good toots on QT a11y. I don't know about GTK a11y guides, but I think there are some.
Mostly it's label things with text that allow for a label. Don't abuse layout features for structure. Don't use basic widgets that aren't accessible. That mostly comes down to: use standard widgets.
These are basic hints that usually help a lot. As I mentioned there are tutorials and reference manuals giving good guidance on writing accessible applications and simple ways to test them. I thik all major screenreaders have a way to show on screen the information that a blind person can see. On Linux and mac screenreaders are free and come wiith the system (well on Linux you'd have to install the package, but it's there with all major distros that I know).
Best wishes, Jeanette

Thanks. I'm using HISE which is built on JUCE so I think I will need to investigate the JUCE framework and see what it offers for accessibility.

d.healey wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 12:48 am Thanks. I'm using HISE which is built on JUCE
...

Alas, JUCE isn't accessible, to my knowledge. Though I have heard rumours that they want to implement a11y features. This is a challenge all round, because many audio plugins and other applications use JUCE, because it has such a good feature set. I can only hope that they move forward with those plans.
Best wishes, Jeanette