Introducing Solocontutti , Online Jamming/Ensemble

By solocontutti, 28 July, 2021

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Solocontutti allows musicians to play together across the internet with minimal latency - low enough to play together in real time without delay. The app has been around for a while and has several thousand users. Recently it has been updated to allow it to be used with screen readers and has been thoroughly tested with Voiceover on Mac and Narrator on Windows. The current beta version with screen reader support is available on the site https://www.solocontutti.com/download_page.php (scroll down to accessible public beta) or direct download from https://www.solocontutti.com/download_page.php?file=1070 . The site contains detailed help and setup information. You can also contact us at support@solocontutti.com. A version supporting accessibility on iOS is expected after the summer.

There's also a Facebook community group starting up at https://www.facebook.com/groups/896843184243917

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Comments

By JC on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Hi,

What's the progress on next Mac update? will be receiving the m1 MacBook Pro.

By solocontutti on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

There should be a new version out next week

By solocontutti on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Command comma is a bit of a strange combo, and would make the Windows version inconsistent. Does option-f work for you? It doesn't seem to be used in VoiceOver

By JC on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

No, it won't work, because most users have a commander assigned to that key. for example, I have option F assigned to open up a third party app.

By Simone Dal Maso on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Hello,
first of all thank you for this great opportunity.
I have 2 questions about the Windows version:
1. Is there a shortcut for opening the preference panel?
It is not a great problem, but now I must take the screen reader cursor (NVDA) till the top of the window and find the main button.

2. Asio driver configuration:
If I understand well, I can have 2 input: the main input (my instrument, a yamaha keyboard), and the auxiliary (for example a microphone for speaking with other people).

I have a presonus itwo audio device where I connect my keyboard, instead the microphone is a Yeti Nano USB that isn't a native asio device.
So I have 2 usb audio devices connected to the pc.
The Presonus Itwo audio device comes with its asio driver, so in the SoloConTutti preferences screen I can select Asio, for main driver; but then I have 2 options for input: or the asio4all driver or the Presonus asio driver.

Do you think that Asio4all can handle 2 different devices?
the input1 my presonus audio dvice and the auxiliary the yeti nano microphone?
I ask this because my screen reader stops talking when I attempt to adjust audio configuration ,so I simply want to know if I am on the correct way.
Thank you!

By solocontutti on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Not sure of we're allowed to talk about Windows on this forum - but here goes :-)

- on Windows the shortcut for the preferences panel is alt-p. The main inrterface shortcuts can be listed with alt-k. I'll put a full list of shortcuts in the help pages with the next update.
- You are correct about the setup - I actually use Solocontutti with an almost identical setup. The second channel is indeed intended for a talk channel when your primary channel is connected to an instrument. This is why the secondary channel is only mono
- There is an an unfortunate problem that ASIO requires exclusive access to the audio device which will mute the screen reader. I don't know of any workaround for this. Having said that, the WDM low latency drivers are pretty good on modern Windows computers and may be a viable alternative. Only problem is that sometimes the input and output sampling rates don't match and you have to change this in the Windows configuration
- ASIO4ALL is indeed very good at combining different devices and this setup will work. One caveat - although Solocontutti digs into the ASIO4ALL internals to try and get everything working, sometimes you just have to fire up the ASIO4ALL control panel, which is not accessible

By Simone Dal Maso on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Oh thank you!
Ok, a work around for the screen reader that stops talking could be put it temporarily into the internal audio device of the pc, or make all operations with the display braille without voice.
Good for the hotkeys, this evening when I return home I will make all tests.

By Matthew Whitaker on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Hello. You are allowed to talk about Windows. No problem. :-)
By the way, everything is working fine so far on the Mac version of this app. Will post on here if things come up. :-)

By solocontutti on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - 02:33

Fair enough. Any queries regarding the Windows or Android version can be sent to support@solocontutti.com, and I'll stick to Apple on this group

Version 1.5.3 is currently in appstore review and should be on the appstore tomorrow. Includes suggested fix to preferences shortcut key and the addition of a master volume control

By solocontutti on Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 02:33

The beta-test version of the iOS version with accessibility is now out and has been communicated to the people who had volunteered as testers. If anyone else would like to try it out, just send a mail to support@solocontutti.com

By Simone Dal Maso on Thursday, October 28, 2021 - 02:33

don't worry, applevis is now known around the world for being totally closed to what is not Apple.
Any team with a modicum of reasoning would have tolerated a broad-based global discussion, especially in a fairly small post like this one.
Fortunately, the author is really nice, but it's really a shame that the info on Windows has to remain private.
How sad.

By solocontutti on Friday, January 28, 2022 - 02:33

Version 1.6.5 has been released for MacOS. Main accessibility improvement is that you can optionally have the app play a tone to tell you the state of a toggle button.

By solocontutti on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - 02:33

There is a new version of Solocontutti for iOS available for beta test. This version has lots of new features and solves some of the accessibility problems of the previous version. If anyone would like to beta test, please let me know.

By Blue on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - 02:33

I would like to beta test this.

By solocontutti on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 - 02:33

Please send an email with your email address to support@solocontutti.com and we can add you to the beta testers list