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ReaHotkey

What's This And Who Is It For?

This is an AutoHotkey scripth which aims to make certain virtual instruments/sample libraries and related software at least a little more accessible to blind users. It is based on the accessibilityOverlay script available here and is primarily designed to run in tandem with the REAPER digital audio workstation, although in particular cases standalone versions of programs/instruments may be supported as well.

What's new?

Our changelog can be found in our dedicated changelog file.

Features

  • Enables accessibility for Dubler 2.2 by Vochlea
    • standalone and MIDI capture plugin support
    • not all features are supported, nor do we know if they ever will be (see below)
  • Makes it possible to load instruments and add libraries in Best Service Engine 2.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Engine 2.
  • Allows to click the presets button in various FabFilter plugins
    • The keyboard bindings only work with the unified interfaces of e.g. C-2, Q-3 etc, but not with the newer R-2 yet
  • Makes it possible to interact with Komplete Kontrol menus.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Komplete Kontrol. Note that Komplete Kontrol version 3 is absolutely required in case of the plug-in.
  • Makes it possible to add new user library folders and perform library and plug-in rescans in Komplete Kontrol. It's also possible to toggle the setting for user content scanning on start-up on/off, as well as the setting for always using the latest versions of Native Instruments plug-ins.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Komplete Kontrol, although due to how REAPER FX windows behave with screen readers, using the standalone version for performing these tasks provides a more stable and reliable user experience and is therefore preferred.
    • Komplete Kontrol version 3 is highly recommended, although most of the above functionality may work with older versions of the application as well. That being said, ReaHotkey may be unable to obtain and report the correct information in certain situations. Note that going forward, bacquard compatibility with older versions of the program may change and is not guaranteed.
    • Makes it possible to Save new presets in Komplete Kontrol.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Komplete Kontrol.
  • Makes it possible to interact with Kontakt menus.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Kontakt, Full and Player. Note that Kontakt version 7.10 or higher is required.
  • Makes it possible to switch Between instruments, multis and snapshots in Kontakt.
    • Only works inside REAPER.
  • Provides support for the 'Browse' button in the Kontakt Content Missing dialog.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of Kontakt. This feature may not work with Komplete Kontrol.
  • Makes it possible to switch Between various microphone positions in Audio Imperia's Areia, Cerberus, Chorus, Jaeger, Nucleus, Solo and Talos libraries.
    • Only works inside REAPER.
  • Makes it possible to toggle Microphone positions in Cinematic Studio Strings.
    • Only works inside REAPER.
  • Makes it possible to load instruments, set polyphony and pitchbend range in Plogue sforzando.
    • Works both inside REAPER and in the standalone version of sforzando.

General Notes

  • ReaHotkey requires a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 to operate properly.
  • In order to make ReaHotkey work successfully with a certain application such as REAPER, ReaHotkey should be run with at least the same user privileges as the application to be controlled, otherwise ReaHotkey keyboard commands may not get enabled. For instance, if you are running REAPER as administrator, you should run ReaHotkey as administrator as well.
  • Because ReaHotkey also passes through some keys to the application window itself, it's highly recommended to enable the 'Send all keyboard input to plug-in' option in REAPER's FX menu, when interacting with a supported plug-in interface.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • ctrl+shift+windows+a - about
  • ctrl+shift+windows+c - configuration
  • ctrl+shift+windows+p - pause
  • ctrl+shift+windows+q - quit
  • ctrl+shift+windows+r - open ReaHotkey menu
  • ctrl+shift+windows+u - check for updates
  • ctrl+shift+windows+f1 - view readme
  • ctrl+shift+windows+f5 - reload

Known Issues

  • The ReaHotkey script can crash while In Dubler 2 audio calibration view. In that case just start the script again.
  • Using any other zoom value in Kontakt than 100% may result in ReaHotkey not operating as excepted.
  • At present library-specific overlays may not always behave correctly when used directly in the Kontakt 8 plug-in. In such case try using Kontakt 7 or open the given library from within Komplete Kontrol instead.
  • Due to OCR limitations the Komplete Kontrol Save Preset dialog may display incorrect preset names at times.

Dubler 2 Accessibility

We try to make as many features of Dubler 2 accessible through ReaHotkey.

Accessible Features

This is a rather incomplete list of features we already support.

  • Create and load profiles
  • Built-in audio controls like enable/disable and synth preset control
  • Enable/disable MIDI output
  • Full trigger support, including creation, renaming, deletion, recording and more
  • Full pitch and pitch bend support
  • Basic chords support, including enable/disable, voicing control and octave shifting
  • Vowel envelopes are entirely configurable
  • Audio Calibration support to use other microphones other than the Dubler Microphone

Inaccessible Features

The following list also is a rather incomplete list of features that aren't currently supported, but we're aware of and might happen in the future.

  • Extended chords support, like building custom chords presets
  • User account settings aren't accessible
  • Some random pop-ups might not be accessible and disturb the workflow. Please let us know if you encounter one and tell us how to make them appear so that we can add support for them.

About profiles in Dubler 2

ReaHotkey allows you to create as many profiles as you want. It however only allows you to load one of the first 5 profiles in the list of all profiles, which therefore get suffixed with a tag that indicates if its an active profile which can be loaded, or a passive one which needs to be moved to an active slot first. This is not how Dubler 2 behaves in general, but its a limitation we have to put onto the script because of how the GUI is designed. Thus, in order to make a profile loadable which isn't currently amongst the 5 active profiles, you'll have to push its button and use the move menu to switch it with a currently active profile. This process will restart Dubler for the changes to take effect. Just wait a few seconds until Dubler opens up again and you will be able to load the profile just fine.

Dubler 2 MIDI Capture Plugin

ReaHotkey provides basic support for the Dubler 2 MIDI Capture Plugin. Please note the following:

  • the copy clip to REAPER action will drag and drop a clip from the plugin UI into REAPER. That is currently the only way export clips from the plugin into REAPER and comes with the drawback that we cannot explicitly tell REAPER where to insert the clip within the project. If you've got too many tracks in a project (something about 8 tracks), the clip will start to show up at random places throughout the project. We therefore recommend you to use the plugin in projects that are as clean and small as possible. Maybe just have a project tab open which is only responsible for capturing ideas, you'll be able to copy clips around between REAPER instances as soon as they got copied into REAPER.
  • the Select key of clip action will focus the semi-accessible dropdown box with the two possible options, which are the key suggestion by Dubler and the Dubler 2 standalone setting you've chosen. To select either of those options, make sure to pull the mouse to the corresponding position and simulate a left mouse click to select it. We'll try to further improve the process in a future version.

About HotspotHelper

HotspotHelper is a special utility to make developing these kind of scripts a little easier. It retrieves window and control info and creates labelled hotspots that can be copied to clipboard for subsequent use.

Roadmap

This is an incomplete list of features we're planning to look into in the future or are currently developing. Noone can guarantee that they will ever become reality, but they might at some point, and you can always open an issue to either offer help or request a new entry on this list. This list doesn't necessarily include bugfixes or additional features for entries above, except if they require special treatment and time to investigate them.

  • Melodyne accessibility