What’s New in the Accessibility Helper for Maschine
We’ve made some important improvements to the Accessibility Helper's functionality with Maschine, released alongside Maschine 3.3 desktop software and the new Accessibility helper will also support the upcoming Kontrol S-Series MK3 keyboard.
Here’s a quick guide to explain what’s different and how to use it with Maschine:
What’s the same
- The Accessibility Helper still announces what’s happening in Maschine.
- You still have zones and controls in the Accessibility Helper app: use the Up/Down Arrow keys to move between zones on your controller, and the Left/Right Arrow keys to move within each zone.
- You still have Tour Mode (T key), Help (H key), and the ability to adjust font size or toggle announcements (Space Bar, Return key) just like before.
- It still respects your system voice settings, including your chosen screen reader voice and speech rate.
What’s different
- No separate launch step: Instead of loading the Accessibility Helper before starting Maschine, the new version runs as a small system tray app. It’s always on and waiting, so you only need to connect your hardware and activate voice readout by pressing SHIFT+PLAY on the hardware.
- Automatic device detection: Load it once, and it will recognise your compatible Maschine device automatically—there is no need to manually start it every time.
- The Helper stays out of the way in your system tray, so you don’t have to keep the window open if you don’t need it.
How to use the new Accessibility Helper
- Install the new NI Accessibility Helper 2.0.1 from Native Access
- Ensure the Helper is running in your system tray (it launches automatically).
- Open the Maschine 3.3.0 software
- Ensure your Maschine Mk3 or Maschine+ hardware is connected.
- Use the SHIFT+PLAY button combination to activate voice readout
