A sequencer records and plays music by manipulating data that represents actions on the instrument's keyboard and control panel. It can make changes in a synthesizer's sound more rapidly than can a performer who must negotiate successive menus. Some of these changes cannot even be made from the control panel.

Another good reason to have a computer is its access to the Internet. It offers such services as: 1) interactive forums where you can discuss topics with other musicians, 2) extensive libraries from which you can download journals, programs and data files appropriate to these programs, and 3) electronic mail (e-mail), a less formal venue for exchanging software as well as communicating with your friends.

Computer-based libraries contain demonstration and "shareware" versions of programs and many types of files. Among the most useful items are: "sequencers," "patch editors," "Standard MIDI" files, and "sound" files.

A sequencer is a program that records and plays MIDI files -- the files used by electronic instruments to make music. Virtually all sequencers are available in demonstration and shareware versions from the Internet.

A patch editor is a program that manipulates data that constitutes an instrument's voices. You can find files for just about any synth or processor in existence.

Standard MIDI files comprise musical selections that can be played on your synthesizers. MIDI files are uploaded to libraries by every Tom, Dick and Harriet, so there is a lot of variation in both musical style and accuracy of performance. At their best they can be viewed as musical scores that let you examine features of notation and orchestration.

Sound files are digital recordings of sounds. You can play and edit them provided your computer contains a sound card.

Caution! -- It is a good idea to scan all software retrieved from online services for viruses. Virus-scanning software is constantly updated and is easy to use.

Optical character recognition (OCR) software has improved to the point where having a scanner can speed up your acquisition of manuals and other literature significantly.

Although there are programs that scan print music and translate it into MIDI files, they will be useful primarily to transcribers because they must be configured to the format of the score which is to be scanned.

Printed music comes in as many formats as there are pieces. If the resulting file sounds suspect, the scanned version that appears on the screen must be edited. This will certainly require sighted assistance.

Programs that produce Braille music from MIDI data and other formats are being developed and will be tested soon.

WHICH COMPUTER TO BUY -- If you cannot see the screen, stay with a PC-compatible computer. The Macintosh environment has not been given the same degree of support as has the PC environment. The only screen-access program for the Mac, "outSPOKEN," will work with some music software, but the consensus is that the process is cumbersome at best.

If you want to buy a complete system that is ready for use once it has been unpacked and the connections made, purchase it from a firm that assembles systems specifically for blind users. Many stores that sell audio/video appliances also sell complete computer systems, but much of the software is inaccessible. In addition, the technical support and documentation for these units is often minimal. This suggests that the intended customer is someone who will leave the system virtually intact.

A typical system is a PC-compatible computer containing one hard disk drive, one floppy disk drive, a fax modem, a sound card, a version of MS DOS, Windows, and assorted software.

Unless your curiosity and/or employment demand it and your finances permit it, you need not start out with the fastest, most capacious computer available. MS-DOS-based sequencers will run on "any ol'" computer that uses DOS 3.1 or higher. Although they run within the normal 640K memory block that DOS uses, your computer should contain "higher memory." If you load TSR (terminate and stay resident) programs such as device drivers and screen readers in higher memory, you will leave more room in the 640K block for the MIDI files that play your music.

Your computer should be equipped with a VGA or Super VGA video card. This is necessary because so many programs indicate activity by changes in color. Today's screen readers can detect these, so both the blind user and the sighted helper will be on the same footing.

If you plan to run programs within the Windows operating system your computer should be equipped with an 80386 or faster CPU, a 500 megabyte hard disk drive and at least 8 megabyte of memory in RAM.

With regard to Windows-based software, access programs are improving constantly. However, some application software employs nonstandard icons that defy the keyboard equivalents of "mouse" control. This situation is somewhat ameliorated by the appearance of mouse-type devices on which the motion of your finger on a flat surface, rather than the motion of the device itself, moves the pointer. Because the mouse is not moved, it is more likely that you will click on an icon when it is spoken.

Manuals and help screens do not always cover all the methods of navigating a program and making changes within it. Here are some techniques that should be applied to any function for which the manual only indicates the use of the mouse:

1. You can often move through time with the cursor keys: page-up, page-down, home, end, and the four arrow keys. They must sometimes be part of a "chord," that is, pressed along with the Shift, Alt, or Control key.

2. When you encounter a numerical value for a parameter, try changing it by typing in a new one. This may be true for the start-time, pitch, length and velocity of a note as well as for controller values.

3. When a parameter such as compression, volume, or reverb level is represented by a control-knob icon on the screen, you may be able to change its value by holding down either the left or right mouse button and hear the numbers change. If the control icon looks like a slider such as the fader on a mixer, the cursor keys are likely to perform the desired functions. Try using them by themselves or in combination with the shift, alt, or control key.

4. The spacebar often serves as an on/off switch for recording and playing. In combination with holding down the Shift key, it either repeats a note or sound sample, or advances through a sequence of these events.

5. As in many DOS programs, typing the first letter of the desired function may activate it.

Many of the additions to music-production software are occurring within the Windows environment so it behooves us to do our homework and provide meaningful suggestions and encouragement to both the maker of the software we want to use, and to the companies who are working to improve access programs.

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