Hi folks,
I've been in contact with the developers of SoundPrism.
They have made some major improvements to the accessibility experience.
they've labeled all buttons and made the play surfaces direct touch, and made it so that VoiceOver announces or displays (in Braille) the key and related miner.
This is an app which allows the non-keyboard player to play chords, bass notes and arpeggios, and progressions very easily and intuitively.
It is based on a grid. The very center of the grid is the number 1 major chord in the key. Moving vertically up or down changes your chord. Moving horizontally gives you an arpeggio effect basically moving through inversions.
Chords are laid out vertically in rows. the center row is the major 1 chord. The next chord down is the related miner. Move down one more row and you have your 4 chord. Moving up from the center you have the 3 chord which is miner. Up one more row and you have the 5 chord.
the top of the grid is the 7 chord and the bottom of the grid is the 2 chord.
Put another way, in the key of C the chords are laid out thusly.
Center C
Bottom D miner
just above center E miner
Just above bottom F
Second from Top G
Just under middle A miner
Top row B diminished
and back to the middle for C.
Major chords are placed on alternating rows from miners..
anyway, if you haven't checked it out, you can download a free version, but I'm not sure if this will get the improvements.
You can turn off speech to play around, but if you like the idea, a MUCH more accessible version is very very close.
I like it so much that I will likely be using it to provide pads and drones when I lead worship at church.
Comments
Nice!
Nice! Now if only they'd update morph whiz to be as accessible as it once was. I used to love that app when I had it.
Hey Rusty,
Hey Rusty,
thanks a lot for posting this! It sounds extremely interesting, but I've never used this app before... Do you know by when the update will be released? I just checked on the App Store, looks like their last update came out on May 2nd of this year.
Thanks!
download the free version first
The dev I've been working on is discussing with the others when to push out the update. I don't think it'll be more than maybe a week or two, but I'm just guessing.
I don't know if the free version will get this update.
I know there's a free version of Soundprism which is the one I started with.
I don't remember, and don't have time to check, if it comes up when you just search for soundprism, or if you need to go to the pro app and then look down at other apps by the same developer or whatever.
That way you can check it out first.
With the free version, just start the app, it won't seem very accessible at all, but turn off VoiceOver and then touch around on the right half of the screen. Assuming you have the phone oriented in landscape and the home button on the right.
If you get too far over to the left on the screen, you might activate one of the buttons. You'll know if you do because either sounds will stop all together, or they'll continue playing after you take your finger away.
In this case, just turn VO back on and you'll be able to hear what you're doing.
the menus, even in the free version, are very accessible.
I'll describe the buttons so you know wha they are.
Asuming home button to the right, there are two columns of buttons starting about the half way mark across the screen and going to the left.
Top left button is "one tone mode" second button is "two tone mode" third button is "three tone mode" Fourth button is "one octave. bottom button on left is three octave mode.
Right column of buttons. Bottom is move one key to the left on circle of fifths. Second button is the hold or sustain button. third button up is the sounds menue where you can choose a different sound.
Fourth button up is the settings menu.
Top button on the right column is move one ekey to the right on circle of fifths.
To the left of these two columns of buttons are the bas notes which correspond to the right half of the screen.
Have fun!
Hey Rusty,
Hey Rusty,
thanks for the very detailed explanation of the interface! I downloaded the free version of the app (yes, it comes up when you search for 'Soundprism' on the App Store) and briefly played around with it, definitely seems very interesting! But I'm definitely looking forward to the more accessible version, as dealing with those improperly labelled buttons as well as having to turn VO off and on is a bit of a pain. Thanks a lot for reaching out to the developer, I think this will be much much cooler for new users once it becomes fully VO accessible!
as soon as Apple approves
Hi all,
The app dev just uploaded yesterday. I don't know how long Apple takes, but keep checking on it. I just checked and the "last updated" date is still in May.
It's available!
I downloaded the new version which has voiceover support. I'm really glad that they Added support for voiceover. It's only in the pro version as far as I can tell. The free version hasn't been updated.
The pitch class shifter
There is a page selector just to the left of the three tone mode button. It is set to three out of three by default. I wonder if it has something to do with this feature in the manual.
http://www.soundprismhowto.com/howto2/index.php?show=pitchclassshifter
The pitch class shifter
I don't know. To be honest, I'm not even sure EXACTLY what The pitch class shifter is. I know it has something to do with adding another tone to chords, like a 9th or 7th, but I've never heard this refered to as a pitch class, so not sure.
I've also tried switching that control and haven't noticed what exactly it does.
As I understand it, the other apps in the SoundPrism family like electro and mini will get the Voiceover treatment, but I haven't seen it yet. i don't know if they'll do it for the free version.
It really is a cool app and I have been able to use it as a midi controller as well.
Good stuff@