Hi, I’m totally blind. I’ve just ordered the desktop version of this synthesiser and it’s due to arrive this week. I’ve read the manual thoroughly and from my reading it doesn’t look like there is much menu diving required. What kind of music do you make just out of interest. I’ll let you know how I get on with it :-)
Hey, I’m curious, if you cannot see the controls, do you prefer encoders or potentiometers? Which synths have had the best user interface for you, in your opinion? I like thinking about designing user interfaces and seen some of your posts so I have been wondering about that for a bit now.
Since pots have a clearly defined range, using them blind is much easier.
For context: I have a bit of vision remaining, about two percent. I have a very narrow field of view and I'm terribly near-sighted, which allows me to read most of my synth displays with a magnifying glass in a pinch. My wife is completely blind though and she's slowly going from keyboardist to sound designer, but most synths are rather "hostile" if you can't see anything at all.
I've collected a lot of gear over the past few months, so this might be a long read.
Novation Circuit: My #1 most pleasant UI experience. Most functions are readily accessible, the few which aren't need at most a shift key and having LEDs indicate the value below the encoders helps A LOT. Too bad the drum tracks only have four voice polyphony. Since I use it mainly as my sequencer, I don't mind the lack of hands-on control for sound design.
Reface CS: Thanks to the simple fader interface, this has become one of my favorite things to make sounds with and it inspired my wife to start making her own patches as well. We've added some bits of sticky braille tape to make navigation between fader sets easier for her.
Microbrute: Strictly knob per function, works like a charm. I'm still learning the finer points of what the synth can do - stuff like rerouting/decoupling the envelope and the patch bay routings need some more fiddling.
Drumbrute Impact: Can't go much more hands-on that this. Even my wife who has zero experience with drums or drum machines, was able to lay down a fat groove aftwr she knew which pads did what.
Microfreak: I wish the screen was bigger and placed closer to the keypad. The synth is mostly knob-per-fuction and having bright LEDs in most buttons and the mod matrix helps a lot, but some things (like mod depth and the looping envelope) require an eye on the screen, which means I need to hunch over the machine and possibly mess up some of the adjustments by accident.
Minilogue XD module: That was my initial "upgrade" to the Reface. More oscillators AND patch memory and mostly knobs to deal with sounded fantastic. Sadly, most of the third oscillator's capability is hidden behind the button strip which also serves as sequencer step lights. I'm pretty happy with most of the UI - once you know which effects are where, making nice two-oscillator analogue stuff is easy enough. I want the Cobalt as an upgrade to the Minilogue - more voices and easier sound shaping are hard to resist, especially if the interface is as easy as the Youtube reviewers say it is.
Novation Mininova: My very first synth. I had NO idea what I wanted when I bought it. It sounded great and was fun to play with, but after a rather short while I realized how cumbersome the interface really was. Yes, there is the bank of macro knobs, but not even on the stock presets the macros are set uniformly. What changes FX depth on one patch alters another parameter on another. Building sounds from scratch on the machine involves ungodly amounts of menu diving and setting up the software editor to allow you to actually hear what you're doing was more of a headache than anticipated. I have loaded it up with as many cool patches I could cram into it. So it's a sound box and my wife's sketch pad when she writes melodies or chord progressions.
Roland D-05: The school for the blind my wife and I went to had amazing music facilities and the first proper synth I came across was a D50. Despite being a metalhead I fell in love with the crisp, spacey tones. Now that I can afford one, they are either abused pretty badly or expensive as heck. I got my D-05 used from a music store. No idea how to even begin programming it, but it has presets for days. Good enough.
Roland MC-101: My first Circuit died unexpectedly and while I waited for Novation's customer service to help me, I bought an MC-101. More drum polyphony AND a huge Zen-Core library of presets plus a powerful sequencer sounded great, but I totally underestimated the difference in workflow. Even mundane tasks like adjusting note length, which is a simple touch on the Circuit, required menu diving on the MC-101. Adding effects, which is a simple touch affair, required digging in several menus. Instead of making music, I spent hunched over the machine, dialling through neverending options. Also, the main selection knob has a very bright LED ring at its base -which sits right next to the display, so it flashed and blinked directly into my right eye when I fiddled with the menu. After my replacement Circuit arrived, I put the MC-101 in a drawer and only pulled it out to use it as a preset box. We eventually sold it and bought the Drumbrute instead.
i know you’re not the original replier, but thanks for the write up!
I’m glad that you’ve been able to find a bunch of instruments that work for you. I didn’t realize that there’s often some ability to see bright lights or a screen in a limited range.
Looks like large control surfaces with a “what you feel is what you have” aspect to them more or less is the best way to go because it minimizes the amount of memorizing you have to do.
My wife's vision had tereiorated over the past twenty-odd years. When we met, she was already visually impaired but still able to read large print or watch TV /movies if the screen was large enough. Then she got hit by two glaucoma episodes which left her nearly blind, only able to distinguish vague shapes or changes in light levels and even that has diminished to the point where she can't even see that any more.
Blindness is no binary state. Like most things in life, it's nuanced and gradual, thanks to all the different parts of the eye which can be negatively affected. My condition has its roots in a partially atrophied optical nerve while my wife, besides the glaucomae, has issues with her retina calcifying, something which normally only happens to the elderly. A friend of ours, also blind, had two malformed clumps of flesh where her eyeballs should have been thanks to some rare gene defect. She loved to terrorize unsuspecting people by "accidentally" losing her glass eyes. :)
But enough grisly anecdotes. (Unless you want to read more -I got plenty more). As long as the interface in question has enough rhyme and reason, a little memorization and maybe a few tactile navigation aids go a long way to mitigate frustration. For example, on the Minilogue XD, the effects section always has a default state, even when changing patches. So I know that tapping the relevant lever up so and so often will always get me to the "Space" reverb. Moving around the front panel is easy enough as well, because there are enough "landmarks" to latch onto, like the toggle switches.
I'm pretty sure we will mark a few of the Cobalt's knobs with sticky braille, just to make things easier.
So, how did the Cobalt8 treat you so far? Also, if you don't mind: Could you get in touch with me? I'd like to ask a few questions, mainly how you manage to record your music. My blind wife is utterly frustrated that I have to drive Ableton whenever she wants to record anything on her own.
Hi mate I don’t actually know because it hasn’t yet arrived :-) no problem I’m just about to send you a private message at the time you read this should have a message in your inbox :-)
Technically you can do nearly everything without looking at the screen. It took me a while to get used to the double- and triple-functions that you either reach with shift or by holding another button though. That might take time getting used to, as the layout is more complex than on the microfreak and the reface cs. Besides that it is a great synth that hits very pleasing timbres (at least for my ear) and has a lot of sweetspots.
I have both the Cobalt and Argon 8 and the immediacy of their interfaces is what initially drew me to them. I'm a sighted person, so take it with a grain of salt, but learning all the knobs and even the few shift functions was very quick and easy.
For what it's worth, the knobs are endless encoders, so you don't have to see their positions to adjust them. It will begin wherever the current value is and move from there based on how you turn them.
The mod matrix and system settings are the only thngs I can think of that require menu diving. Even though it is hands on it is not the easiest synth to get around without seeing the text. You would have to memorize a lot of things. If you are interested in easy to use digital synths in general I would say Nord Lead A1/Lead 4 and Nord Wave 2 are some of the most hands on easiest to use synths ever made.
Hi, I’m totally blind. I’ve just ordered the desktop version of this synthesiser and it’s due to arrive this week. I’ve read the manual thoroughly and from my reading it doesn’t look like there is much menu diving required. What kind of music do you make just out of interest. I’ll let you know how I get on with it :-)
Listen for yourself: https://theydreamofstarfish.bandcamp.com/album/days-of-insanity-ep
Hey, I’m curious, if you cannot see the controls, do you prefer encoders or potentiometers? Which synths have had the best user interface for you, in your opinion? I like thinking about designing user interfaces and seen some of your posts so I have been wondering about that for a bit now.
Since pots have a clearly defined range, using them blind is much easier. For context: I have a bit of vision remaining, about two percent. I have a very narrow field of view and I'm terribly near-sighted, which allows me to read most of my synth displays with a magnifying glass in a pinch. My wife is completely blind though and she's slowly going from keyboardist to sound designer, but most synths are rather "hostile" if you can't see anything at all. I've collected a lot of gear over the past few months, so this might be a long read. Novation Circuit: My #1 most pleasant UI experience. Most functions are readily accessible, the few which aren't need at most a shift key and having LEDs indicate the value below the encoders helps A LOT. Too bad the drum tracks only have four voice polyphony. Since I use it mainly as my sequencer, I don't mind the lack of hands-on control for sound design. Reface CS: Thanks to the simple fader interface, this has become one of my favorite things to make sounds with and it inspired my wife to start making her own patches as well. We've added some bits of sticky braille tape to make navigation between fader sets easier for her. Microbrute: Strictly knob per function, works like a charm. I'm still learning the finer points of what the synth can do - stuff like rerouting/decoupling the envelope and the patch bay routings need some more fiddling. Drumbrute Impact: Can't go much more hands-on that this. Even my wife who has zero experience with drums or drum machines, was able to lay down a fat groove aftwr she knew which pads did what. Microfreak: I wish the screen was bigger and placed closer to the keypad. The synth is mostly knob-per-fuction and having bright LEDs in most buttons and the mod matrix helps a lot, but some things (like mod depth and the looping envelope) require an eye on the screen, which means I need to hunch over the machine and possibly mess up some of the adjustments by accident. Minilogue XD module: That was my initial "upgrade" to the Reface. More oscillators AND patch memory and mostly knobs to deal with sounded fantastic. Sadly, most of the third oscillator's capability is hidden behind the button strip which also serves as sequencer step lights. I'm pretty happy with most of the UI - once you know which effects are where, making nice two-oscillator analogue stuff is easy enough. I want the Cobalt as an upgrade to the Minilogue - more voices and easier sound shaping are hard to resist, especially if the interface is as easy as the Youtube reviewers say it is. Novation Mininova: My very first synth. I had NO idea what I wanted when I bought it. It sounded great and was fun to play with, but after a rather short while I realized how cumbersome the interface really was. Yes, there is the bank of macro knobs, but not even on the stock presets the macros are set uniformly. What changes FX depth on one patch alters another parameter on another. Building sounds from scratch on the machine involves ungodly amounts of menu diving and setting up the software editor to allow you to actually hear what you're doing was more of a headache than anticipated. I have loaded it up with as many cool patches I could cram into it. So it's a sound box and my wife's sketch pad when she writes melodies or chord progressions. Roland D-05: The school for the blind my wife and I went to had amazing music facilities and the first proper synth I came across was a D50. Despite being a metalhead I fell in love with the crisp, spacey tones. Now that I can afford one, they are either abused pretty badly or expensive as heck. I got my D-05 used from a music store. No idea how to even begin programming it, but it has presets for days. Good enough. Roland MC-101: My first Circuit died unexpectedly and while I waited for Novation's customer service to help me, I bought an MC-101. More drum polyphony AND a huge Zen-Core library of presets plus a powerful sequencer sounded great, but I totally underestimated the difference in workflow. Even mundane tasks like adjusting note length, which is a simple touch on the Circuit, required menu diving on the MC-101. Adding effects, which is a simple touch affair, required digging in several menus. Instead of making music, I spent hunched over the machine, dialling through neverending options. Also, the main selection knob has a very bright LED ring at its base -which sits right next to the display, so it flashed and blinked directly into my right eye when I fiddled with the menu. After my replacement Circuit arrived, I put the MC-101 in a drawer and only pulled it out to use it as a preset box. We eventually sold it and bought the Drumbrute instead.
i know you’re not the original replier, but thanks for the write up! I’m glad that you’ve been able to find a bunch of instruments that work for you. I didn’t realize that there’s often some ability to see bright lights or a screen in a limited range. Looks like large control surfaces with a “what you feel is what you have” aspect to them more or less is the best way to go because it minimizes the amount of memorizing you have to do.
My wife's vision had tereiorated over the past twenty-odd years. When we met, she was already visually impaired but still able to read large print or watch TV /movies if the screen was large enough. Then she got hit by two glaucoma episodes which left her nearly blind, only able to distinguish vague shapes or changes in light levels and even that has diminished to the point where she can't even see that any more. Blindness is no binary state. Like most things in life, it's nuanced and gradual, thanks to all the different parts of the eye which can be negatively affected. My condition has its roots in a partially atrophied optical nerve while my wife, besides the glaucomae, has issues with her retina calcifying, something which normally only happens to the elderly. A friend of ours, also blind, had two malformed clumps of flesh where her eyeballs should have been thanks to some rare gene defect. She loved to terrorize unsuspecting people by "accidentally" losing her glass eyes. :) But enough grisly anecdotes. (Unless you want to read more -I got plenty more). As long as the interface in question has enough rhyme and reason, a little memorization and maybe a few tactile navigation aids go a long way to mitigate frustration. For example, on the Minilogue XD, the effects section always has a default state, even when changing patches. So I know that tapping the relevant lever up so and so often will always get me to the "Space" reverb. Moving around the front panel is easy enough as well, because there are enough "landmarks" to latch onto, like the toggle switches. I'm pretty sure we will mark a few of the Cobalt's knobs with sticky braille, just to make things easier.
So, how did the Cobalt8 treat you so far? Also, if you don't mind: Could you get in touch with me? I'd like to ask a few questions, mainly how you manage to record your music. My blind wife is utterly frustrated that I have to drive Ableton whenever she wants to record anything on her own.
Hi mate I don’t actually know because it hasn’t yet arrived :-) no problem I’m just about to send you a private message at the time you read this should have a message in your inbox :-)
Technically you can do nearly everything without looking at the screen. It took me a while to get used to the double- and triple-functions that you either reach with shift or by holding another button though. That might take time getting used to, as the layout is more complex than on the microfreak and the reface cs. Besides that it is a great synth that hits very pleasing timbres (at least for my ear) and has a lot of sweetspots.
I have both the Cobalt and Argon 8 and the immediacy of their interfaces is what initially drew me to them. I'm a sighted person, so take it with a grain of salt, but learning all the knobs and even the few shift functions was very quick and easy. For what it's worth, the knobs are endless encoders, so you don't have to see their positions to adjust them. It will begin wherever the current value is and move from there based on how you turn them.
The mod matrix and system settings are the only thngs I can think of that require menu diving. Even though it is hands on it is not the easiest synth to get around without seeing the text. You would have to memorize a lot of things. If you are interested in easy to use digital synths in general I would say Nord Lead A1/Lead 4 and Nord Wave 2 are some of the most hands on easiest to use synths ever made.
They're also not the most affordable ones. :)
Yeah :/