Artiphon

Note that this is an old thread; see Rusty's update here (coming out of his experiments recounted in this thread).

I'd like to see the Artiphon family of apps become accessible as well. Yall are leaving money on the table because they're not. Who wants to put down money only to find what they've bought is unusable? Not anyone I know. Rusty, can I contact you privately regarding your experiences?

Hi @Nick @Juan and @Evan I am a blind musician and producer hoping to use Orba in my musicmaking. I have also discovered that the IOS APP and the PC app do not play well with my screen reader which is NVDA. (I'll explain more about that in a moment.)I do believe, however, that the Orba app is built on the JUCE framework, which, in its latest version, has access built in.what does this mean? It means that @Artiphon can VERY EASILY make it possible for blind people to use the app.Please consider taking advantage of the access features in the new JUCE.As a blind person, I know what's on my IOS or PC screen using an app called a screen reader. On IOS and Mac the screen reader is called Voiceover. On the PC, many are available, but a free and open source option is NVDA. (nonvisual desktop access))So, when I tab or arrow around my screen with the keyboard, or when I run my finger across my IOS screen, the software reads aloud what I am landing on. When I run the Orba app, the screen is silent for me. As if you had a completely blank screen.the latest JUCE framework has included the necessary elements to send info to the screen reader so that blind people can navigate and use the app.To be clear, for the best implementation, some customization by the app devs should be done, but there would be much improvement if @Artiphon would just take advantage of what the latest versions of JUCE offer in the way of accessability for blind people using screen readers. This would open up the amazing world of Orba for a group of people who would benefit greatly.

Hi Nick,

I tested the Orba companion app for both iOS and MacOS, and sadly, it's not accessible with VoiceOver, as it uses a graphical user interface for mouse navigation for sided users, but not for blind users. The software on the Mac side is required in order to update the firmware. I hope accessibility support gets added in the next update or so.

There's nothing to distinguish the individual tabs from one another (which I could see might interfere with playing, if you're also trying to use surface touch for feedback on which tab is which). But the power and volume buttons allow you to determine orientation by touch and it's easy then to hit the right tabs with your eyes shut by position alone. There's a very interesting blind user in the Kickstarter comments who's reported extensively on his experiences; it's fascinating stuff and I wish he'd bring some of it here.