Accessibility: play with the keyboard and VoiceOver
The essentials in 10 seconds
- The whole interface works with the keyboard and reads with a screen reader — designed and tested with VoiceOver on Mac, in Chrome or Edge.
- In Settings › General › Screen reader: turn off single-key shortcuts and choose what is announced out loud.
- In the studio, on Mac: Control + 1 to 7 to jump to a zone, Control + L to hear a strip's level in dB.
- States never rely on colour alone: every button says, in words, whether it is on.
Before you start
Jamodio runs in Chrome or Edge, with the Audio Engine installed on your computer (install the Audio Engine). Your audio interface must be set to 48 kHz, input and output (set up your audio interface). Keep a single Jamodio tab open while you play.
Steps
1
Set up the screen reader, once
In Settings › General, section Screen reader. Single-key shortcuts: set them to Off if you navigate with VoiceOver — otherwise a letter typed outside a field (M, R, Space) would start the metronome, the recording or the backing track for the whole studio. Automatic spoken announcements: as few as possible by default (recording started by another musician, and your send clipping). Add musicians joining or chat messages if you like. These settings are saved on this computer only.
2
Move around the app
The menu on the left (My studios, Jam sessions, Community, Messages, My account) reads as a list of buttons; the open page is announced as “current page”. On every page change, the tab title changes and the screen reader lands on the page title. The first Tab stop is “Skip to content”. Windows (confirmation, settings, invitation…) close with Escape and bring you back where you were; for a destructive action, Cancel is offered first.
3
Enter a studio
Connection steps are announced (“Preparing audio…”), then the screen reader lands on the studio name. Every zone has a heading: mixer, backing track, cameras, chat, metronome, recording — VoiceOver's rotor (“Headings” or “Landmarks”) lists them.
4
Jump straight to a zone (on Mac)
Control + 1 mixer, 2 backing track, 3 cameras, 4 chat, 5 metronome, 6 recording, 7 studio members. The ? key opens the list of all shortcuts.
5
Set your mix
Each strip is a group named after the musician (“Paul, Guitar”). Inside: Volume, read in dB — up or down arrow: ±1 dB, Page up or down: ±6 dB; Pan; Mute, Solo, Arm REC, which say whether they are on (“Mute, silenced by a solo” when a solo elsewhere silences the strip). At the bottom, the link button says the latency, then the link state: “31+ms, stable link” (or “unstable”, “dropping out”); Enter opens the details. When a musician joins and the mixer redraws, you stay on the same control.
6
Hear a level on demand
Go to a strip and press Control + L (on Mac): “Paul, Guitar: peak −3 dB, fader −6 dB”. The peak is the loudest point since your last request; “silence” if nothing is coming through, “clipping” if it saturates. Outside a strip, your own strip is announced. And if your send clips, Jamodio tells you on its own — at most once every 10 seconds — because the others hear it, not you.
7
Metronome, backing track, recording
The tempo is a field (up and down arrows), with Increase and Decrease tempo. The metronome and backing play buttons say whether they are on; the backing position reads as time (“1:23 / 3:40”). The record button switches from “Record” to “Stop”.
8
Messages, Library, Community
In Messages, each message says who wrote it, a new message is announced, and your cursor stays put while you type. In the Library, each file is a button; More actions opens the menu (rename, category, delete) — arrows to move, Escape to close. In Community, the map has an equivalent List view, and choosing your city announces the suggestions: down arrow, then Enter.
What is not accessible yet.
A chord chart or sheet music presented as a PDF is displayed as an image: the screen reader can't read it yet — ask the band for it as text, in the chat. Audio plugin windows (AU, VST3) belong to their makers: their accessibility depends on them. Jamodio has been tested with VoiceOver on Mac; with NVDA or JAWS on Windows, tell us how it goes.
A chord chart or sheet music presented as a PDF is displayed as an image: the screen reader can't read it yet — ask the band for it as text, in the chat. Audio plugin windows (AU, VST3) belong to their makers: their accessibility depends on them. Jamodio has been tested with VoiceOver on Mac; with NVDA or JAWS on Windows, tell us how it goes.
If it doesn't work
- Control + number does nothing: on some Macs, these combinations switch desktops. In System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Mission Control, untick “Switch to Desktop 1, 2…”.
- A letter started the metronome or the recording: turn off single-key shortcuts (step 1).
- Too many announcements, or not enough: Settings › General › Screen reader. Errors, connection drops and leaving the studio are always announced.
- The screen reader reads the interface with the wrong accent: choose your language in Settings › General; the page follows.
- The Audio Engine refuses your audio interface: it is not at 48 kHz. Set it in Audio MIDI Setup (Mac), input and output.
Something read badly, a button without a name, a path you can't complete? Email us at support@jamodio.com: we fix it, and we reply within 24 h.