Is there any method using my computers keyboard to get presets out of Rig Manager? I am totally blind and this is one thing that we as blind users cannot do in Rig Manager as drag and drop is somewhat hit and miss using any screen reader on Mac and Windows. Adding this as a right click option would be a good idea. I have been able to do everything else on my Kemper Stage such as create a new performance, populate all of the performance slots by using copy and paste not drag and drop, add rigs to my local library and profiler, rename rigs in my Performances, add presets from my local library to the profiler, create folders in my local library save to my library and profiler etc. I have been able to do all of that using simple Copy and Paste, the Applications Key to add folders to my library etc although I have had to do a little scripting in Rig Manager as we really could do with some more keyboard support. E.G. a keystroke to actually open up that preset menu and the following only works once you have pressed that preset button or clicked on that part of the Window: numbers 1 through 8 for slots, I for input, O for output, A for amp, C for cab etc. Currently screen reader users have to use some kind of scripting to access the presets menu in the Rig editor Window, keystrokes to store to library or profiler, sort rigs by name etc, the menu where you rename rigs, navigating to various slots, drag the Window down in order that we can see the last of the 5 slots on screen when building a Performance and if I want to open up a new Window E.G. have Performances open in one Window and rigs in a second then I have to create a script for that as well.
I actually know of someone who sold a Kemper and a bunch of profiles because he didn’t think Kemper had done enough with regard to making Rig Manager and Rig Editor as accessible for all and he may not have had enough insight to explore the Window structure as I did. Of course we shouldn’t have to do that and I probably wouldn’t have bothered either but did because I had a friend assisting me remotely with setting up some Rigs and Performances. That’s when I noticed that when he was clicking on some menus my screen reading software could read those off and would even report whether something was selected or not because the screen reading software can see if something is selected or not E.G. a reverb and the submenu that this particular reverb came from. I have a bit of a software development background and am involved in beta testing music technology products most recently working along with others on making Ableton Live 12 accessible for screen reader users on Mac and Windows. Note: I am not breaking my NDA as I am able to discuss this now that the product has been released and I must say that Ableton have done an excellent job. That’s probably why my curiosity got the better of me.
Remember, making an application rich and fully featured with keyboard support also affects power users as they are mostly not that interested in using a mouse. After I heard those menus speak, I used OCR to see if my screen reading software could find anything in Rig Manager and it did. That’s when I found that preset button and a tun of other things. Fortunately the Juice API does expose a number of things which screen reading software can see and the experience for users is the same on Mac and Windows so any alterations that Kemper make to improve the software will work cross platform. I have put some videos together on all of this and plan to post them shortly. They may not be the best but I suspect they will prove to be enlightening for Kemper and how they may wish to proceed further and I know that because of my discoveries, some blind individuals will be purchasing Kemper products.
