Re: [linux-audio-user] Miscellaneous hardware/software questions

On Tue, 01 Nov, 2005 at 06:29AM -0500, Paul Davis spake thus:
> On Tue, 2005-11-01 at 16:39 +1100, Jason White wrote:
> > Now to the software question: does there exist any sound editor with a
> > non-graphical interface, i.e., one that can be operated from the Linux console
> > for inserting, deleting, copying and otherwise editing audio? Due to a
> > vision-related disability I can't use a graphical display and therefore need a
> > text-only solution - but all the sound editors appear to require X11. Surely
> > it should be possible to design an audio interface to a digital sound editor.
>
> i have no doubt that its possible. i also have no doubt that there is a
> PhD waiting for the first person to do this. you are talking about
> developing an entirely new set of user interface metaphors for a
> potentially very complex task. this is never easy, and doing it without
> using the sensory input that the vast majority of programmers utilize
> during their own interactions with a computer makes it even harder.
>

I don't think it needs to be *that* difficult. At least for a basic
editor for cutting, pasting, applying fades, etc.

After reading this post, I quickly posted the idea to my final year
students as a possible honours project for them. Some haven't yet
decided, and I thought this would be a good one. I was thinking of a
kind of "audio shell", with python-like slicing, but with
understanding of audio. This way, you could make the text very big
for people with reduced sight, or pipe output to a speech engine for
people with no sight. Or both.

I hope someone takes the project, because even though I don't think it
would necessarily be the big ground-breaking interface redesign you
thought it would require, it will give us something to work from -
usability data, and such.

Anyway, just my thoughts. You never know - it might be even pretty
handy for people like me that have 20/20 vision, but like to do
everything with the keyboard instead of the mouse.

Hmmm. I feel a grant application coming on.
 
>
>

-- 
"I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated Development
That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb.  Thank you."
(By Vance Petree, Virginia Power)