Accessibility Improvements wishlist

oh cool! I didn't know this!

 

Hi!
after half a year of using KK and Komplete 11 Ultimate, I*m still wowed by the sounds, the possibilities and, yes, the accessibility. It's great to be a part of this development, and I hope there's lots more to come for us.
Since a lot of things have already been mentioned, and I don't want to repeat stuff (which I'll probably do anyways), here's some requests that are at the top of my wishlist:
1. Kontakt: since this engine is at the heart of so many instruments, bringing more overall accessibility to Kontakt would be a great improvement, and would open up so much more possibilities.
- changing Rhythm Sets in Action Strikes
- changing Rise-length in Rise & Hit
- changing Voicings in Session Horns
...just 3 examples.
2. Battery: no accessibility at all at this time. Any improvement would be wonderful.

Many thanks for hosting this forum with this wishlist, and best regards from Germany

 

Hi All,

Here is my (simple) wishes :

1 - In midi mode, be able to use the 4 arrow keys :
for example Bank-Select up/down and Program-Change up/down,
but should be programmable with Controller Editor

2 - Add a "initial value" for the encoders.
This will prevent to have all encoders at zeroes when switching to another template

Thanks by advance

 

A few things to add to the wish list:

1. Develop an accessible method to load libraries (both those requiring registration in Native Access and those loaded directly in Kontakt). Suggestion, if a complete UI overhaul is prohibitive in resources at the moment, potentially use a hardware trigger from KK S Series to load a simple dialogue for selecting library file-paths, entering serial numbers, and handling other basic tasks.

2. If not already present, enable hardware triggers to cycle through available outputs for Komplete Kontrol running as a standalone instance.

3. Somewhat related to item one, enable a hardware trigger to force a rescan of library directories.

4. to reiterate a point made previously: Tweak the TTS output when adjusting the eight preference/attribute nobs, to give some more detail surrounding the settings being cycled through (e.g. types of reverbs, length of delays, etc.)

 

I also was pleasently surprised by discovering the accessibility features of my newly acquaired Komplete Kontrol S88 hardware right after i purchased it about a year ago.
However, while using it nearly every single day i soon came upon some flaws that i would wish to disappear in an upcoming version.

Right on the first place is a behaviour that i've already discussed with the NI support team, unfortunately without success. When using the accessibility mode on a Windows machine running on other language than English, the speech output is more or less of no value as the text being output is English but the speech synthesizer used to output the text is set to be the default (German, in my case) and cannot be changed. Even setting the OS to an overall English version of Windows with the appropriate speech package installed couldn't solve this problem. I would assume that most people using the accessibility feature are having multiple voices / speech synthesizer options installed on their systems, so an ability to chose which SAPI version / voice should be used to output the messages would IMHO be the best solution.

I also like to second what others have already asked for. As for blind / visually impaired users, knobs with a noticeable segmentation would have a much better choice when it comes to editing parameters, it would at least be great if there would be some acoustical feedback like tones for stepwise increase / decrease or for reaching the end of a list / range.

As i am using a bunch of different hardware and controllers i am often having a hard time with remembering where a specific button was located. I've tried to label them with braille stickers but due to the rubberish material they didn't want to stick properly. Maybe an overlay template could be of some benefit here.

 

Hi there from a fully blind komplete kontrol user. I'm a former apple hardware engineer and accessibility developer who used to work for apple for over 13 years until I quit in December. I've been in the music scene more than I care to remember and worked with various setups, each with their own headaches. As a keyboards guy, believe me, the synths and workstations I've used and owned have driven me mad. It is a huge relief to be using komplete kontrol with an s88 keyboard controller. I'll give my input here from a former developer's perspective. For komplete kontrol to be made "accessible" to screen readers, it's first important for the developer in question to understand the principles of how their GUI is designed and what language is used in conjunction with user elements. When selling software that's developed for Apple OSX, it's advised when using most developer languages to perform accessibility testing, this includes the use of the accessibility diagnostic toolkit within XCode and Swift. Under current EULA rules any applications coded for OSX must be tested and where possible adapted to suit. Regardless of this particular term, it's worth looking into writing the necessary code into Komplete Kontrol. The only way that OSX users can gain some access to komplete kontrol's objects including the preference pane is to have the trackpad speak what is directly under the mouse cursor through voiceover preferences, relying only on help tags and text elements, this is the only current manner. With regards sending libraries to external media, this should first be done through native access preferences. but even still, between native access and komplete kontrol, there is work to be done and I have offered my support and consultancy on this matter through various emails and discussions.

Now to the serious stuff. Fixes needed with the current release of komplete kontrol's accessibility relate to control functions and response. as the base speech api is used and not a native screen reader (This is done as basic level access just in case a screen reader application cannot manage interaction), there are issues surrounding certain buttons not announced and insufficient information spoken by rotary encoders on touch. this needs to be made much clearer. It's also worth considering that when browsing products etc that clarity of spoken information is paramount. if you're trying to find out what an encoder does and it misses out on being spoken either because a process is missing, a tag missing or insufficient information given about a controller, then this will cause issues.

It would be useful to be given information on request within komplete knotrol as to splits and modes where multiple samples or controls are given. this will require serious code revisions on the part of komplete kontrol and also that of each plugin or library used. If you examine the behaviour of both kontakt 5 and komplete kontrol, komplete kontrol is purely a player surface for each significant plugin. so, by technicality, each plugin will require significant recoding and design to implement object recognition and tags used by today's screen readers.

I am an advocate for this product setup and promote it happily, but I still believe that there is serious work to be done here and we as users with various sight impairments including full blindness, we have a duty to guide Native Instruments into working out these issues and making quite frankly the first major breakthrough in accessible technology. Had I have had access to this back in my college and university days, my life would have been much easier.

From a mac user's perspective working between protools and logic pro X with komplete kontrol, this is a vital way for me to work on the projects I need to deal with.

I do believe though that we also need to look at the way that the kontrol s series and maschine hardware need to co-exist for us users in terms of functionality as control surfaces and how implementation of komplete kontrol to allow patch browsing for 3rd party vst plugins, as well as the potential of controlling non NI plugins for effect processes to be considered. either that or development of a new control surface which would be inspired by the maschine jam and kontrol S principles. I'm happy to discuss ideas where this is suitable.

 

Hello,

Recently I bought a software instrument from a third party vendor. I was very badly surprised, as I realised, that they had cut down the amount of mapped controls for their product. As I asked, why this did happen, they replied, that it had been a wish from Native Instruments directly, to limit the amount of mapped parameters to under eight pages. As I have been told by other forum members who seem to have personal contact to members of the NI staff, such an order never existed

So my wish for the future is: please tell all third-party developers that they should map every freaking parameter of their products to komplete control standards.

Best


Richard


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk Pro

 

Well it's actually a NKS requirement to have as few controls as possible mapped for an instrument for it to be accepted as officially NKS compatible which obviously is an issue with some instruments especially when you consider accessibility. It's probably due to people being either too confused/overwhelmed or the fact it takes time to scroll through pages. The focus is for performance, not sound design unfortunately.

I'm a user that wants every control mapped for instance so when I need to tweak something I can. Others have no clue what an ADSR is and just want filter and cutoff controls. Finding a balance in between is the key.

I'm lucky in that I can (and do) change the default mappings to suit my own needs but that's just not possible for users (and IMO it should be).

 

Hello,

First of all, thanks for this awesome integration, it really changed our lifes!

It is possible to find multiple ways to use other inaccessible application with screen readers; but we're lookign forward to Native Access modifications on Windows.

Without using screen reader OCr feature, it is not possible to instal/uninstall/update any software, changing file locations, adding serial number to NI and navigating between other options on the Native Access.

Thanks a lot again,
regards!

 

Hi,
Im new owner of komplete kontrol s61 mk2. There I found a lot of isues in annormal work , like in activation system ...etc..
But the next I consider is important:

Keysplit .. transport the code from Controller editor software to Komplete Kontrol Midi (actually can not program the keybed , key spliting an led colors) or just let controller editor useful for mk2 keyboards
Not is normal that in new product less resources than the old items !
And
On Ableton integration let use the buttons of the kompete keyboard for DAW clear...tracking etc...like is usefull in maschine.
AS well I think to the comunity would like to know in wich matters NI developers are concentrate on work at evry moment

Thank you for the effort.
Best

 

Can you please add this feature to any updates of the komplete kontrol please.
Should be very easy to do.

Please have the "save project screen" that gives you the ability to discard, cancel of save your project show up on KK.Is that possible?
currently it says the software is busy.

thank you for your consideration.

 

Posting a link to the other thread where this is raised for info:
https://www.native-instruments.com/...t-screen-on-komplete-kontrol-keyboard.328345/

 

Hello… for better workflow the ability to select "Factory Presets" AND "User Preset" to have all the instruments sound display at the bottom….
thank you….

 

Hello marvelous people!

I would like to see the ability to customize the midi section with a custom background image, colorizing the knobs and corresponding text. I'm getting older these days and to be able to see a color reference sure would help on identification of common controls and better use of the product we all purchased. The white is just very hard on the eyes for an extended period of time.





We can add a Image button to load custom background / studio branding (This would be great for everyone as when the unit is in outside the daw, the can use logos and artist banners for custom looks), have a mixer button option, opening up the mixer and transport for Pro Tools and other daw users! For example, for Pro Tools Ultimate we could use the mixer graphics already available on the hardware under the mixer button and then point CC# values to gain fader control and pan! This works, as I have in working on my Maschine Jam flawlessly. Opening your product to more common functionality will only improve your business sales to ALL DAW users that enjoy your products and increase long term value.

CC# 33 – Fader 1
CC# 34 – Fader 2
CC# 35 – Fader 3
CC# 36 – Fader 4
CC# 37 – Fader 5
CC# 38 – Fader 6
CC# 39 – Fader 7
CC# 40 – Fader 8
CC# 41 – Master Fader


CC# 17 – Pan knob 1 (incremental/endless)
CC# 18 – Pan knob 2 (incremental/endless)
CC# 19 – Pan knob 3 (incremental/endless)
CC# 20 – Pan knob 4 (incremental/endless)
CC# 21 – Pan knob 5 (incremental/endless)
CC# 22 – Pan knob 6 (incremental/endless)
CC# 23 – Pan knob 7 (incremental/endless)
CC# 24 – Pan knob 8 (incremental/endless)

Transport should also light up and be useable in MIDI mode MCU, Preset up and down should be mappable. If this is possible in any way, we need better documentation for pro tools users and other daws that rely on MIDI controls alone.

This would really make the product allot more flexable as advertised and attractive for all DAW fans and users of NI products.

Thank you,

ScottSFX

 

Hello,

I would like that is possible to have all the plugin control features in the DAW without using the Komplete Kontrol plugin so that you can use any AU or VST plugin directly in the DAW - including the Logic factory plugins. Other manufactorers like Novation make it possible to dive directly into the plugin features without any wrapper. Why not Native Instruments too?

In my opinion, embedding plugins into the Komplete Kontrol software isn't a pleasant solution and I also don't like the program. It has a chaotic structure. For a small window in a fixed size, there is too much content inside. In many situations, text strings are shortened because the space for the letters isn't enough and the procedure how to select instruments, presets and change properties is a big crap. Everything is squeezed into this miniature window and you cannot resize it. Furthermore you buy a contoller to control as much as possible with it. So it is a disadvance that you need this software so often to make any settings with and cannot do that directly on the hardware.

 

I would like to have the possibility to control the

MASTER-VOLUME of the CUBASE CONTROL-ROOM with a knob on the Komplete Kontrol (MK2 in my case). ´

This would be really nice.
I tried it with the MIDI--mode as long as this is not possible in an easier way.

Thanks!

Slashgad

 

I would like to have a computer keyboard shortcut for accessing the search box.
Please add a CTRL-F shortcut for that.

 

Hi All

Thanks for all of the suggestions to date - we really appreciate it! Everything in this list is added to our backlog, and now that KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series Mk2 accessibility support is released we hope to start gradually working on some of these.

Best,
Tim

 

Hi,

I'd like to be able to resize the Komplete Kontrol software screen - or at the very least have two or three sizes available as an option. It's just a bit too small for my eyes!!

Thanks,
David

 

I have just bought a Komplete Kontrol S25 and am aiming to use it with Jaws For Windows, Windows and Reaper. It is no surprise that Native Access and the Komplete Kontrol software are not screen reader accessible, even when using the OCR screen capture feature in Jaws. Therefore, I would like both software applications to be made accessible. I would also like clarity as to the accessibility of my S25 and the S49MKII and S61MKII as there seems to be a reference to the MKII keyboards having improved accessibility, but I hope not to the detriment of S25 and S88 users?