Logic 10.5.1 is now out! Some enhancements you should know about...

By David Earl, 11 June, 2020

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi all,

David Earl, Product Manager for Logic Pro X here again with some news!

We have just released a followup to Logic Pro X, 10.5 with a new update, 10.5.1

We have added some accessibility enhancements that I wanted you to know about.

•. When Logic is launched for the first time on a system with VoiceOver activated, a dialog offering to change all plug-in windows to Controls View is now displayed.

•  VoiceOver now announces the Show/Hide Library command when it is performed with a key command.

The biggest deal is the controls view. Previously, the best way to navigate a plugin in Logic was to enter the 'controls view' to get sliders and buttons instead of a graphical UI. This used to be a bit painful because you had to do it plugin by plugin. Now we have a dialog that pops up when you first launch Logic with VoiceOver activated, asking you if you would like to put ALL plugins in controls view.

This should make things just a bit easier.

We have also included lots of tweaks in other areas, but this was the most important change we wanted you to know about.

Look for more tweaks to our accessibility features as we move forward. Thank you!

Take good care,

David

Options

Comments

By Devin Prater on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Thanks so much for not only implementing all this, but bringing us all this news. I think I can speak for all blind people on this forum when I say that we want to hear about the changes and improvements in accessibility, in not only Logic, but other Apple apps as well. And not only apps, but Apple's operating systems as well. I for one hope that this is a trend moving forward, for accessibility leaders at Apple to reach out to the community to tell us what's new, what's changed, what they're aware of as being broken. May this outreach from Apple continue, bringing further collaboration and a better ecosystem of apps, operating systems, and services.

By Tyler on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

As a long-time member of the AppleVis community, I'd just like to say that I greatly appreciate your engagement on the accessibility of Logic. I think if more people from Apple followed this example with information about iOS, macOS and other software products, that could go a long way toward opening a line of communication between Apple developers and forum users who bring a diverse range of experiences and perspectives to Apple's platforms.

Keep up the good work.

By Adrian Wyka on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Another great news.
Logic is becoming more and more available and lot thanks for it.

By Diogo Melo on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Great initiative to let the AppleVis community know first hand about this improvements! I'll dive more deeply into Logic during the summer, but I am more hopeful now!

By Cankut Değerli on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Hi.
I don't use logic at the moment but I have a question.
I'm using Garageband and the automation function is not accessible with VoiceOver, is this function accessible in Logic? Or is there a plan to make that function accessible in both apps.

By Matthew Whitaker on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Wow! I have the new update. It's amazing! How do I set that setting you mentioned about using the controls in the plugins? I already started using the new update.

By Mlth on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Thank you so much for this! It's wonderful to see your engagement with the community.

Best
Malthe

By Chris on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Thanks for reaching out to the community. While I'm not a Logic user, I love the community interaction. I hope this expands by having more accessibility engineers interact with us more directly, particularly on the deteriorating state of VoiceOver in macOS.

By David Earl on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

For now, this is in Preferences > General > Mixer

There is a button for 'Open in controls view'

When VoiceOver is on, and Logic is opened for the first time, it should ask, but if it does not, this is where you can find it.

By tyler chambliss on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

So when you go into a plugin in the new update it says that it will make all plugins accessible by going into the controls view. Well You might want to change that message to something like would you like to make all plugins to to controls view by default? That will make some plugins more accessible but not every plugin will be usable. Example, Addictive Drums or really anything from Native Instruments. The reason why is because it's all graphics. Some plugins don't even have parameters for the controls view. So unless you want to make false claims I'd suggest you change the message. I wish apple had some way to make all plugins accessible but as of now the closest thing to that we're going to get is komplete kontrol which only uses software instruments and not audio plugins.

By John Gurd on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

I was so pleased to read about David Earl's commitment to accessibility for blind users. I actually bought a MacBook Pro in order to use Logic X a couple of months ago so his involvement has really given me a boost and reaffirmed my decision. As a Windows user I am still getting to grips with Voice Over on the Mac. I loaded up Logic and didn't get the offer to switch plugin views. I checked I've got the latest version which seems correct. So I went to Logic Preferences>General but there is no Mixer section. What am I missing?

By John Gurd on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

I couldn't find the Controls View feature at first. It turns out several tabs such as Display only appear if you enable the Advance tab at the end. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else has problems finding it. :)

By DudeLove721 on Friday, July 3, 2020 - 13:45

Just asking those who know. How hard is it to learn Logic and would it be useful for doing sound editing with podcasts? Just curious since I'm always interested in apps that can make things easier with built-in accessibility and accessible features. If it would work for this purpose, can anyone point out a good tutorial for blind users? Preferably free since I'm cheap. lol