[musictlk] accessible keyboards

[Bill]

If you are looking for a stand-alone musical keyboard, the Yamaha Motif is
arguably the most accessible keyboard on the market.  However, it is a
professional keyboard and might cost more than you were thinking of
spending.  Yamaha does make more economical models which I have found to be
reasonably accessible as well.  

See our page at
http://www.dancingdots.com/prodesc/MIDIEquip.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: musictlk [mailto:musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of brother
Timothy Clark via musictlk
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2014 2:16 AM
To: Richard Holloway; Music Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [musictlk] accessible keyboards

bBrother Richard, if you have a mac then i recommend garageband. 
 you can purchase what's known as a MIDI controller and she could just use
voiceover, grab the instrument via garageband and Walla. all set. 
 let me know if this helps and if so, i'll see what i can do to help further
within this matter. 
 god bless.
Brother Timothy Clark 
  
   
 http://www.timothyclarkmusic.blogspot.com

On Heshvan 21, 5775 AM, at 1:56, Richard Holloway via musictlk
<musictlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> My daughter (blind, no light perception, excellent braille reader, age 12)
likes playing electronic keyboards. She especially enjoys experimenting with
various sounds and all sorts of settings and features on various sequencers
and arrangers, but all too often the more "full-featured" keyboards seem to
need a good deal of sighted assistance, largely due to a need to scroll
through menus to select various options and manipulate closely packed
controls. 
> 
> I have a Korg Radias here, for example, with over 100 tightly packed knobs
and switches as well as a visual display to show selections. My daughter
loves the sounds the unit makes, but is pretty much limited to scrolling
forward and backwards with the big knob to select sounds and randomly
experimenting with the controls to fine-tune things- the knobs are too tight
to really add much in the way of braille to help learn which knobs do what,
and it is easy to get lost and be dozens of selections away from the sound
she wants with the big knob- there must be 100 sounds or so in a loop, so
you cannot even find the first or last sound and count forward or
backwards...
> 
> I'm happy to assist her, but she wants to be independent, and there's no
reason she shouldn't be. Like it or not, I cannot be available 24/7 to help
her find what she is after, and this should be fun for her, not a big
hassle. 
> 
> I'm wondering what electronic keyboards anyone here may have found to be
particularly blind-accessible, especially units with a nice array of
features. I did see that Moog has recently decided to offer a Braille
overlay for a Sub Phatty, but unfortunately my daughter is more into digital
sounds and features than the Analog design of this Moog.
> 
> What else is out there? Any suggestions?
> 
> Software solutions (especially Mac-based) would also be an option, if
there is something really good out there, but I'd love an accessible,
free-standing unit with an easy-to-navigate design. Seems like somebody
might even offer some sort of audible feedback to help learn and explore
controls by now (something that could possible be turned off at will, like
voiceover on a Mac or iDevice.)
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Richard Holloway
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