[musictlk] accessible keyboards

[Marissa Tejeda]

Try a Cassio.  I'm not sure what type, I just know it's a Cassio.  
Mine has 61 keys and over 400 sounds.  The numberpad is easy to 
use, you just have to show her which is which.


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Holloway via musictlk <musictlk at nfbnet.org
To: musictlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 01:56:35 -0500
Subject: [musictlk] accessible keyboards

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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