Analog solutions europa anybody got one? Things to consider?

[sound warrior]

hey all i'm trey i'm totally blind.

I'm considering buying the analog solutions europa hardware step sequencer does anybody have one? Is there anything about it i should know before purchase any pit falls?

and ofcourse how good would it be for a totally blind person to use? Is it possible to use it to make hole tracks?

Your help with these questions would be most welcome respect and blessings sound warrior.

[wormcode]

I've not used the Europa, but I have used Analogue Solutions gear before and it's really great stuff, high quality gear. I would not hesitate to purchase any of their products.
The button layout on the Europa is pretty simple, so once you learn where each button is you could probably operate it with ease since there are no menus or multi-function keys. There is just 1 button for everything. It does save sequences to memory, and yes you can sequence whole songs with it if you want, but I think you can only have a certain amount of patterns. Probably 16 or maybe 32. That would probably be the main pitfall, but it's a trade off since sequencers with more will most likely require a complicated menu system and LCD screen, and drives the price up. It's also one of the only hardware sequencers with shuffle/swing which will be pretty invaluable with most music.

You might also want to check out the Future Retro Mobius which is similar but a mono sequencer. I'm not sure if that will suit your needs, but it's also great gear from a great company. Their Revolution TB-303 clone can also be used as a sequencer, but since it's a synth it's also about double the price.

I'll also mention both companies are well respected and their products will retain value. You will have no problem selling them and getting your money back if you don't like it.

And here is a Sound On Sound review of the Europa: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul10/a ... europa.htm

[sound warrior]

thanks for being so helpfull it makes a change from half the thread being taken up with me trying to convince people i'm totally blind lol is the Mobius only a one track sequencer? blessings sound warrior

[wormcode]

Haha no worries.
Yes the Mobius is just mono, so it's suited for programming 1 synth part at a time or modular type rack equipment, not so much for building whole songs. For that the Europa is the only one I can think of that would suit those needs and doesn't cost several thousand, or require a lot of interaction with menus like an MPC.

[sound warrior]

do you know if theres any way to move between the bars? blessings sound warrior

[VirtualMark]

Have you considered getting a control interface? I know there's a few out for Cubase, i'm sure there's more for other DAW's. This would give you some physical controls to use and might help. And Windows is pretty useful with voice recognition once set up, but you have to train it first.

Another suggestion for someone in your situation would be to learn to touch type. I've set up dozens of macros and key commands in Cubase and can do loads of things without looking at the keyboard.

[wormcode]

I think he said before he uses Pro Tools with Mac. Pro Tools offers quite a bit of special functionality for the blind. The only other DAW I know of that does that is Sonar but I don't think it's as advanced in that area yet.

Sound Warrior, what do you mean move between the bars? Like edit the middle of a bar, or like skip from bar 4 to bar 8? The latter does seem possible from checking out the manual.

[sound warrior]

cubase used to be accessible with jaws for windows back in the day i'm not sure what the mac accessibility is like now but having a control surface is nno good if the daw doesn't work with the screen reeder and i mean mooving backwards and forwards from Barca bar within the pattern blessings sound warrior

[SKIN E]

Do you still use pro tools sound warrior? And if you do how are you finding it?

For your question, the europa seems very solid and a good choice, especially for a blind person like worm said because most others put a LCD display on straight away! I would take it!

[sound warrior]

i'm just reinstalling proTools as we speak I've yet to get a work flow going but hopefully the europa will help me handle the difficult bits

[drake89]

Wouldn't you be pretty set with ableton and an APC, a keyboard, and an MPD? i don't know how much you do audio vs midi, the only thing I can think of is it might be difficult to navigate ableton unless you have software that can read out menus or something. That leads me to think that maybe you'd be better off with hardware synths...hmm... let us know either way what you think.

[sound warrior]

me and my college tutor are doing experiments with ableton and hardware controllers though currently ableton does not work with any screen reeders and i have hardware synths samplers and drum machines

[Aphile]

I'm terrified of losing my sight and never being able to produce because I rely so much on my eyesight. Granted, this fear is a bit irrational but I often get debris in my eyes at work. Scares me. There is ALOT you can do in ableton by yourself with an APC and being blind. A nother midi controller would be nice, but you're going to run into problems selecting devices from the menu. Unless you can figure out a very effective hotswap method, but Still I believe you need to click the hotswap button. Pure memorization could be used to navigate through the ableton devices, and there's a max for live program that allows mapping of more than 8 macros. It's a stretch, so hardware is probably your best setup. I think you know this though. I just wanted to let you know, the APC can do a lot my itself, scroll plugins track select and all sorts. cheers and best of luck. bless the sound warrior

[sound warrior]

thanks for that man i used an apc 40 today and i know what you mean that's why i'm getting a hardware sequencer to handle composition tasks

[AxeD]

The Europa is known for it's no nonsense approach on sequencing. I'd say it's a great choice.
Love the step sequencer way of composing myself.

[sound warrior]

so do i!! hopefully this is what i've been waiting for!! do you have one?