WEBVTT - Talking Tech 22nd April 2025 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:07.280 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition, available from 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.400 April the 22nd, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly, great to have 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.960 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:19.000 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.360 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.000 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.520 tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.880 Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:32.960 to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play. 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:38.200 Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:43.160 tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.160 Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:46.680 G'day, Stephen. How are you? 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.280 I'm good. You must be pretty excited. You've got a 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:49.879 new toy. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.080 I do indeed, yes. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:52.880 Tell us about. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.240 It. So my wife has often joked that I should 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.720 have been a drummer rather than a guitarist because I'm forever, 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.240 you know, tapping rhythms on things like my desk. You know, 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:05.220 when I'm thinking or trying to work something out or whatever. And, uh, 0:01:05.459 --> 0:01:08.300 the other week I was looking around on the web 0:01:08.300 --> 0:01:11.780 and I came across a device called a Yamaha FG 0:01:12.819 --> 0:01:16.260 30 finger drum pad. As soon as I said to 0:01:16.420 --> 0:01:18.060 mentioned it to Marian, she said, well, you've got to 0:01:18.060 --> 0:01:21.179 have one of those. So I now have one. And uh, 0:01:21.180 --> 0:01:24.500 the idea of it is it's essentially a drum machine, 0:01:24.660 --> 0:01:29.180 but it has a bunch of touch sensitive pads that 0:01:29.180 --> 0:01:31.819 represent each of the different types of drums in a 0:01:31.819 --> 0:01:36.500 conventional drum kit, and you operate those by tapping them 0:01:36.500 --> 0:01:40.660 with your fingers. So the device is the same sort 0:01:40.660 --> 0:01:43.980 of footprint as a small iPad, you know, iPad mini, 0:01:44.020 --> 0:01:47.179 something like that. But obviously it's quite a bit thicker. 0:01:47.180 --> 0:01:51.180 It's about two centimetres thick on the the sides and 0:01:51.220 --> 0:01:53.340 the back of the device. There isn't much on the back. 0:01:53.380 --> 0:01:58.020 You've got a headphone out and an input jack. You've 0:01:58.020 --> 0:02:03.260 got a USB micro for charging. All of the other 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.320 controls are on the top of the device, and I'll 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.400 sort of talk through what they look like in a moment. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.960 But the thing that really grabbed me about this thing 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.400 and as I said, I'm not a drummer. I, you know, 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.240 I'm a guitarist, really. But, uh, you know, I'm one 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.200 of those people that, uh, you know, the old saying, 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:21.440 when I was a kid, I wanted to play the 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:23.840 guitar really badly, and now I can play the guitar 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.600 really badly. Um, so I'm certainly not an accomplished musician 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.680 by any means, so I'm still learning. But the thing 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.320 that really grabbed me about this was the fact that 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:36.560 it has no screen. So out of the box, everything 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.600 on the device speaks. So if I was to navigate, 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.120 for example, it has there's a number of different types 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.320 of drum kits that you can select. And as I 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:47.720 cycle through those. 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:55.040 Four house rows five R&B six dubstep son. 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.919 So these are all different types of drum kits, and 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.880 they all obviously have different sounds and that kind of thing. 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.190 No screen. So it's designed to be listened to? 0:03:05.230 --> 0:03:08.590 Absolutely, yes. And all of the menus and settings and 0:03:08.590 --> 0:03:12.550 everything are all spoken out by that same voice. So 0:03:12.750 --> 0:03:15.590 it's not even a situation where you have to enable 0:03:15.590 --> 0:03:18.470 the voice guidance. It's just there because there's no other 0:03:18.470 --> 0:03:19.790 way to really drive it. 0:03:20.110 --> 0:03:22.350 Did you have much of a challenge to set it up? 0:03:23.030 --> 0:03:26.230 No. The power button was kind of obvious because it's 0:03:26.230 --> 0:03:28.590 in the top left hand corner and it's slightly recessed. 0:03:28.590 --> 0:03:30.990 So I sort of thought, hmm, that's obviously the power button. 0:03:31.430 --> 0:03:33.709 And then I just tapped on the various pads and 0:03:33.710 --> 0:03:37.830 things and, um, experimented with the buttons until I, uh, 0:03:37.870 --> 0:03:38.790 figured it out. 0:03:38.990 --> 0:03:41.950 So tell me about these pads and buttons. How physical 0:03:42.030 --> 0:03:42.550 are they? 0:03:43.070 --> 0:03:48.230 The pads, they're raised sort of rubber surface, if you like. 0:03:48.630 --> 0:03:52.550 And so across the bottom of the device, you've got, uh, 0:03:52.670 --> 0:03:59.070 one long rectangular pad, um, which you operate with your thumb. 0:03:59.110 --> 0:04:01.270 It kind of feels a bit like a, like a 0:04:01.270 --> 0:04:03.750 spacebar on a keyboard is sort of what it reminds 0:04:03.750 --> 0:04:06.070 me of, I get it. And you can operate that 0:04:06.210 --> 0:04:09.770 normally with your kick drum with either either of your thumbs. 0:04:09.770 --> 0:04:15.570 So if I tap that. And the harder I tap it, 0:04:15.570 --> 0:04:18.570 the louder the the drum sound. So if I'm, if 0:04:18.570 --> 0:04:25.970 I'm tapping it softly if I. So the pad is, 0:04:26.010 --> 0:04:30.810 is touch sensitive, then we've got above that. We've got, um, 0:04:30.850 --> 0:04:36.050 a row of smaller pads that represent, um, our Tom 0:04:36.089 --> 0:04:45.250 type drums. And then so there you've got, um, seven, uh, 0:04:45.250 --> 0:04:48.969 pads in that row, and then we've got another row 0:04:49.210 --> 0:04:54.290 above that. We've got two smaller squares which are our symbols. 0:04:56.810 --> 0:05:00.729 And then we have our snare drum above that. And 0:05:00.730 --> 0:05:03.250 that's a long pad like the, like the kick drum. 0:05:03.850 --> 0:05:08.989 And then, um, we've got another row of five, um, 0:05:09.029 --> 0:05:14.390 pads that are other different, uh, symbols and things. So. 0:05:19.029 --> 0:05:22.469 Then above that we've got, um, the power button on 0:05:22.470 --> 0:05:25.030 the left, which is slightly recessed, and we've got, uh, 0:05:25.029 --> 0:05:28.990 a couple of rows of small oval buttons which are 0:05:29.029 --> 0:05:35.110 for navigating your menu, um, adjusting the volume, um, selecting 0:05:35.110 --> 0:05:38.830 the type of drum kit you want, um, setting up 0:05:38.830 --> 0:05:41.710 your metronome so you can have, like, um, what they 0:05:41.710 --> 0:05:45.990 call a click track. And then on the top right is, um, 0:05:45.990 --> 0:05:49.110 a square with, um, little holes, which is the built 0:05:49.110 --> 0:05:51.430 in speaker. So you can have it coming out of 0:05:51.430 --> 0:05:53.789 the built in speaker if you just want to sit 0:05:53.790 --> 0:05:56.470 there and drum with it on your lap, or you 0:05:56.470 --> 0:05:58.989 can plug it into your mixer, which is what I've 0:05:58.990 --> 0:06:01.270 done today, so that you can hear what's happening. 0:06:01.589 --> 0:06:05.190 So what, you use it in conjunction with someone using 0:06:05.190 --> 0:06:05.870 a keyboard. 0:06:05.910 --> 0:06:11.570 Say you could absolutely. Um, you could also do things 0:06:11.570 --> 0:06:14.969 like record some drum sequences and save them to a 0:06:14.970 --> 0:06:18.410 USB stick, or record them to the device and then 0:06:18.410 --> 0:06:20.970 play them back so that you could play keyboard or 0:06:20.970 --> 0:06:24.290 guitar or something like that over the top of them. Um, 0:06:24.570 --> 0:06:26.610 you can use it as a Midi controller. So if 0:06:26.650 --> 0:06:29.570 you're if you're a musician and you want, uh, let's say, 0:06:29.570 --> 0:06:31.770 for example, you do live gigs where you sing and 0:06:31.770 --> 0:06:35.330 play guitar or sing and play keyboard. You might use 0:06:35.330 --> 0:06:37.890 this to record a bunch of, um, you know, drum 0:06:37.930 --> 0:06:40.650 tracks to play along with, to sort of fill out 0:06:40.650 --> 0:06:44.409 your performance, that sort of thing. Um, you might also 0:06:44.410 --> 0:06:46.530 use it if you're a music producer and you want 0:06:46.529 --> 0:06:48.810 to sort of show, you know, you've come up with 0:06:48.810 --> 0:06:50.610 a song idea or something like that, and you want 0:06:50.650 --> 0:06:53.450 to show your band or your drummer, you know what 0:06:53.450 --> 0:06:56.410 you're thinking in terms of rhythms or that sort of thing. 0:06:56.450 --> 0:06:59.609 You might use it in that scenario as well. Uh, 0:06:59.650 --> 0:07:02.089 you might use it as a metronome if you were, 0:07:02.210 --> 0:07:05.130 you know, playing drums, you know, playing on a proper 0:07:05.130 --> 0:07:08.970 drum kit. Um, there's a, a load of different ways 0:07:08.970 --> 0:07:10.960 you could use it, or you could just be a, 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.440 you know, a hobbyist and a tinkerer like me who, uh, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.600 has always wanted to play the drums but doesn't have 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.320 room for a drum kit and doesn't have neighbors that 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.040 would necessarily appreciate it if I did. So, um, yeah, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.320 there's lots of different ways that you could use something 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:26.080 like this. 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:27.600 How did you find it? Damia? 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.040 Uh, just sort of randomly. I was, uh, chatting to 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.800 a friend of mine over in the US, and, uh, 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.440 she happened to mention it, and then she sort of 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:42.640 pointed me towards a, uh, another podcast where the male, uh, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.920 host of the podcast had gotten one for his birthday, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.840 and I sort of thought, oh, this sounds cool. So 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.840 I then started looking to see whether they were available 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.080 here in Australia and looked at all the different features. 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.760 And um, so there's an FG 30. So if you 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.640 think FG for finger, DP for drum pad, uh, there's 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.440 a 30 and a 50. The 50 does have a 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.120 screen though, so I would and I don't think it 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.840 has the voice guidance. So the 30 is the one 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.520 that is more accessible to us. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:12.660 What sort of money are you talking about? 0:08:13.180 --> 0:08:18.300 I got this one for, I think, $349 from, um, 0:08:18.300 --> 0:08:23.980 store DJ slash, Manny's music. Um. Turramurra music. Better music. 0:08:24.380 --> 0:08:28.420 Any of your online music stores? Um, would either have 0:08:28.420 --> 0:08:29.900 them or be able to get them. 0:08:30.020 --> 0:08:33.380 So let's go back to your demo and show us 0:08:33.380 --> 0:08:35.020 a little bit more of what it can do. 0:08:35.580 --> 0:08:39.220 Okay. So when I sort of demonstrated the different sounds 0:08:39.220 --> 0:08:43.100 before you heard that there's a number of different kits for, 0:08:43.100 --> 0:08:45.100 for different types of things, and that sort of changes 0:08:45.100 --> 0:08:47.300 the sounds that you get out of it. So if 0:08:47.300 --> 0:08:50.020 I was to scroll through, for example. 0:08:50.500 --> 0:08:54.940 For five R&B, six dubstep son. 0:08:55.300 --> 0:08:59.420 So if I do that, some of the cymbal sounds 0:08:59.420 --> 0:09:03.020 are a little bit different. And so instead of the 0:09:03.020 --> 0:09:05.020 rim shot that we had before on that pad, we've 0:09:05.020 --> 0:09:09.180 got that sort of synthetic sound that you tend to 0:09:09.179 --> 0:09:12.500 get in a lot of electronic music. There's even a, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.959 beatbox kit. Seven Big Beat which I will. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:24.760 Ten Modern Jazz 25 hip hop 26 Beatbox Pine. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.800 So if we select Beatbox Pine, which is the, um, 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.160 beatbox kit, that's. And for people who don't know what 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.000 beatboxing is, that's where you where someone kind of makes 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.800 vocal sounds to represent drumming. So, you know, we still 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:50.240 have our kick drum. We've got. Things like that. So 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.439 all the sorts of vocal sounds that people make when 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.880 they're impersonating a drum kit, which is what beatboxing is 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.040 quite remarkable. It really is. And the samples are really 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.319 high quality, too. Um, you know, it's very clear that 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.120 the audio quality is really good. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:10.960 Terrific. So it's a Yamaha FG 30. Have I got 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:11.600 that right? 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:16.340 That's right. Yamaha FG for finger DP for drum pad 30. 0:10:16.380 --> 0:10:19.380 I would just do a google for something like by 0:10:19.420 --> 0:10:24.780 Yamaha FG 30 in Australia, and all of the online 0:10:24.780 --> 0:10:27.540 music stores will come up. Alternatively, you could have a 0:10:27.540 --> 0:10:31.700 look on Amazon. They do have them up actually a 0:10:31.700 --> 0:10:34.179 little bit cheaper than what I paid, but it was 0:10:34.179 --> 0:10:35.500 going to take a week and a half to get 0:10:35.500 --> 0:10:37.420 there and I was impatient. I wanted something to play 0:10:37.420 --> 0:10:40.380 with over my Easter holiday, so um, but you can 0:10:40.380 --> 0:10:43.260 definitely probably pick them up on Amazon or eBay as well, 0:10:43.260 --> 0:10:44.500 if that's what you want to do. 0:10:44.620 --> 0:10:48.940 Good on you Damo. Your Yamaha FDP 30 device a 0:10:48.940 --> 0:10:52.740 drum kit while we've got time. A couple of other 0:10:52.740 --> 0:10:56.700 matters to ask you about. One, you've got a bit 0:10:56.700 --> 0:10:59.660 of news about the we Walk, which is the smart 0:10:59.660 --> 0:11:02.740 cane we talked about over the last few months. 0:11:03.260 --> 0:11:06.300 Yes, it is a brilliant device. Let me say that 0:11:06.300 --> 0:11:08.500 I was very pleased with mine and I took it 0:11:08.500 --> 0:11:12.860 to see son. And I'm hoping that for next week's show, 0:11:12.900 --> 0:11:14.300 I'll actually be able to give you a little bit 0:11:14.300 --> 0:11:17.640 of a demonstration of it. But there is an issue. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.320 A known issue with it at the moment with battery drains. 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.800 So even if you leave the device sitting and you're 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.640 not using it, if it sits for 3 or 4 days, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.800 you'll probably come back and find that it has a 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.240 flat battery. Now we walk, are aware of it and 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.040 they are trying to address it. But just a note 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.199 to anyone who has one of these that you may 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:41.720 want to. Until this issue is addressed in firmware, you 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.680 may want to put it on charge every night just 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:46.760 so that you're not let down by, you know, taking 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:48.520 it out and finding that it's gone flat. 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:50.319 And the other one I wanted to ask you about 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.480 is the meta glasses that have been around now for, well, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.600 probably just on 12 months. Updates continue to flow. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:02.360 They do indeed. Yes. I got mine in May last year, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.760 mid May. And at that stage we were up to, 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.360 I think version 5 or 6 of the software. Uh, 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:13.760 they have now just released version 14.1 and there's some 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:18.069 nice features in it if you use, uh, things like Spotify. 0:12:18.230 --> 0:12:20.910 So with your music services, you can now tell it 0:12:20.910 --> 0:12:23.830 to shuffle a playlist. You know, if you have a 0:12:23.830 --> 0:12:26.110 workout playlist or something like that, you can play it 0:12:26.110 --> 0:12:31.270 on shuffle. Um, you can get more information about the weather, 0:12:31.270 --> 0:12:35.070 so you can get things like air quality and, uh, 0:12:35.110 --> 0:12:38.350 UV index and some of those things, rather than just 0:12:38.390 --> 0:12:43.910 a generic sort of forecast. Um, unfortunately, we still don't 0:12:43.910 --> 0:12:47.589 have the live AI feature. They did say that we 0:12:47.590 --> 0:12:50.790 were supposed to get it in March, but, uh, it 0:12:50.790 --> 0:12:53.030 hasn't materialized yet, which is a bit of a shame, 0:12:53.030 --> 0:12:57.310 because that's one that I'm really looking forward to taking 0:12:57.309 --> 0:12:59.710 for a spin. Um, every time I sort of see 0:12:59.710 --> 0:13:01.309 a new update, I think, oh, I wonder if this 0:13:01.309 --> 0:13:05.350 will be it, but, uh, no. Not yet. Unfortunately for 0:13:05.350 --> 0:13:10.150 people who, uh, have these and have experienced the frustration 0:13:10.150 --> 0:13:15.590 of it not reading documents, uh, in full. The trick 0:13:15.590 --> 0:13:19.770 for that seems to be read this document verbatim, or 0:13:19.770 --> 0:13:23.530 read this text verbatim, and that stops it from summarizing and, uh, 0:13:23.530 --> 0:13:27.530 and makes it actually read what's there rather than trying to, uh, 0:13:27.570 --> 0:13:28.850 summarize it for you. 0:13:29.210 --> 0:13:31.890 I'll keep that one in mind. Read this text verbatim. 0:13:32.290 --> 0:13:37.329 The meta smart glasses. Before we go, a reminder that 0:13:37.330 --> 0:13:39.890 you can find details of what we've been talking about 0:13:39.890 --> 0:13:43.170 in this and previous editions of the program by going 0:13:43.210 --> 0:13:51.170 to VA radio. VA. To write to the program. 0:13:51.490 --> 0:14:00.770 You can email me. At Vision Australia. 0:14:01.890 --> 0:14:07.089 Damo McMorrow at Vision Australia. This has been talking tech 0:14:07.090 --> 0:14:10.689 with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology manager 0:14:10.730 --> 0:14:14.089 Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll talk more 0:14:14.090 --> 0:14:15.330 tech next week. See you.