Category: Guide

A Review of Page Turners – Not the Human Variety

By Gordon Cameron 16 Jun, 2021 4 Comments

page-turnerUpdated (June 2021) review of page turners including the new flic 2 Bluetooth button.

The art of being an efficient (human) page turner is a highly sought after skill for performing musicians, particularly those whose hands are occupied on a keyboard or keyboards. But not all musicians have a page turner.

I remember well the time a few years ago I attended a Christmas concert in the Kelvingrove Art Galleries in Glasgow, where Kevin Bowyer was manfully struggling with a large book of music on the piano, as he accompanied the choir singing carols. Watching the pages of the book slowly flipping over, as if in slow motion and then Kevin’s antics at getting back to the page he was wanting to play was most amusing. I have to say that today Kevin is now a total convert to electronic music display and no longer has this nightmare.

So if you are thinking of moving to electronic music display or are already a user, I thought a short review of the current crop of (non-human) page turners might be helpful.  I am only reviewing ones I have personal experience of and the opinions expressed in this blog are mine. These pedals all work really well with Power Music. If you have other experiences with page turners please feel free to post a comment on this post.

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Microsoft Windows – Update 20H2 (October 2020)

By Gordon Cameron 5 Nov, 2020 4 Comments

It’s happening again!

Another Feature update to Window 10.

Version 20H2 coming to your PC now or in the near future.

(5 November 2020 – Update to previous blog post)

Over the  life of Windows 10 we have seen these versions:

  • The original 1507 (July 2015)
  • 1511 (November 2015) – “November Update”
  • 1607 (August 2016)  – “Anniversary Update”
  • 1703 (April 2017) – “Creators Update”
  • 1709 (September 2017) – “Fall Creators Update”
  • 1803 (March 2018) –  “Spring Creators Update”
  • 1809 (November 2018) – “Redstone 5”
  • 1903 (May 2019) – “May 2019 Update”
  • 1909 (November 2019) – “November 2019 Update”
  • 2004 (June/July 2020) – “May 2020 Update”
  • 20H2 (November 2020) – “October 2020 Update”

This 20H2 update is quite a small update if your PC is already fully updated and you are running 2004. It goes onto most PCs in a few minutes, as I said – if you were already fully up-to-date. Previously, on fairly low spec PCs running the fully updated 1909 it took over an hour to complete the update to 2004. If you have not been keeping your PC fully updated I cannot say how long the update to 20H2 might take, as we keep all our PCs fully updated.

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Review: STOMP Bluetooth pedal from CODA MUSIC Technology

By Gordon Cameron 18 Feb, 2020 1 Comment

As the developers of Power Music we keep a keen eye on what page turners are currently available. The page turner market has been fairy static for the last couple of years with the main offerings coming from AirTurn, PageFlip and various “budget” Chinese pedals.

Then recently I was made aware of the STOMP from CODA MUSIC. This got my interests because it looked like a quality product, so I got my hands on one and here are my thoughts on the STOMP.

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So what’s so great about Power Music?

By Gordon Cameron 11 Dec, 2019 3 Comments

With an increasing number of music display apps coming onto the market, we thought it was time to talk about why our users think Power Music is great! All the points below are taken from comments we have received from our users over the years by email, phone and face-to-face at exhibitions.

We always welcome feedback about Power Music so feel free to send us your comments and suggestions, especially ones like this recent comment from Jeroen Jacobs – a German pianist…

Your software is best in the world. I have not seen better, more stable, more versatile, more easy to use software. It’s just great. Never need anything else.
I use it together with a Microsoft Surface Pro.
It’s super stable.

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Talking about Tablets (the new MusicOne 13)

By Gordon Cameron 20 Aug, 2019 2 Comments

Here at Power Music Software (and previously as Cambron Software) we have been selling MusicOne digital music stands since December 2011 – almost 8 years! All of these music stands have run Power Music – initially Power Music 4 then Power Music Professional.

The basic features of a digital music stand are:

  • Touch screen display
  • Solid state hard drive
  • Fanless or silent
  • Adjustable floor stand
  • Foot pedal page turning
  • Power Music Professional

Our current range of MusicOnes have screen sizes from 10″ to 27″. This week we have launched a new 13.3″ MusicOne which I am very impressed with. This blog goes into some detail about the new MusicOne 13 – if you don’t want to read the details have a look at this short video – sorry about the quality! It’s down to the very bright screen on this tablet – more about that later.

 

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3 Ways to “Going Digital”

By Gordon Cameron 6 Jul, 2018 Leave a comment

Many musicians are put off  “Going Digital” because they don’t know how they will get their music into a digital display system – ie a tablet or laptop. This article describes three ways to get your music into Power Music and start taking advantage of using electronic music display.

In the blog post, we will take a look at:

  • PDF files
  • Scanning paper music
  • Power Music virtual songbooks

As always we welcome your comments and feedback on articles.

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Music Scanning – How to get the best results.

By Gordon Cameron 22 Feb, 2018 2 Comments

Article Updated February 2018

Recently Cambron launched a new USB portable document scanner called the MusicOne scanner. This short article (based on a previous blog post) gives users of this and similar scanners some hints and tips on getting the best results in Power Music.

Camera technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years and the results you can achieve from this scanner are quite amazing. The MusicOne scanner can be used with the built-in software in Power Music Professional or simply as a stand-alone scanner using either the free software that comes with the scanner or the supplied TWAIN driver along with your favourite image editing software. I will cover all this in the blog.

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Importing Your Music – ChordPro and MusicPad Files

By Gordon Cameron 25 Jan, 2018 2 Comments

Pianist? Organist? Guitarist? Band Leader? Worship Musician?

Where do you get your digital music?

With Power Music your options are:
– Import PDF files – music scores or chord sheets
– Scan your paper music
– Type or copy and paste chord sheets
– Download songbooks from Power Music Store
– Import from ChordPro or MusicPad files

In this post I want to have a look at two particular sources of digital music:
– ChordPro files including OnSong files
– MusicPad .fh (FreeHand) files

UPDATE: Power Music App for iPad now imports ChordPro (OnSong) files.

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Windows 10 “Creators Update”

By Gordon Cameron 5 Jan, 2018 2 Comments

Microsoft are at it again! Another major update to Window 10.

UPDATE 5/1/2018: I have added a new section on the “Fall Creators Update” 1709 – scroll to the end to read.

Over the (short) life of Windows 10 we have seen these versions:

  • The original 1507 (July 2015)
  • 1511 (November 2015) AKA “November Update”
  • 1607 (August 2016) AKA “Anniversary Update”
  • 1703 (April 2017) AKA “Creators Update”

And of course there has been a myriad of other minor updates and hotfixes in between.

I would be the first to advise anyone to keep their Windows PC up-to date, so here are my observations on the latest “Creators Update”.

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What is Power Music Store?

By Brenda Cameron 29 Mar, 2017 2 Comments

Power Music Store is an online shop where users of Power Music can purchase “virtual” songbooks in Power Music format. You can access all the songs that you purchase using Power Music Box – our unique cloud storage system. See this previous blog  “What is Power Music Box?” for more info about the Box.

What is the advantage of this type of store?

When you buy music from other stores you either buy a physical book or a PDF or similar for printing. This is fine if you want to use paper. Alternatively you can import these to Power Music by scanning or PDF import and then add the relevant information on authors, categories, copyright etc.
Power Music Store means we have done the work for you in preparing the content and all you have to do is press a button to get all the content and indexing you need in the software on your iPad, PC or Mac.


Each songbook is a collection of “Songs”. Songs in a songbook will contain some or all from the following, where applicable:

  • Sheet music
  • Chord sheet
  • Lyrics
  • Authors
  • Categories
  • Performance notes
  • Copyright information
  • Tempo
  • Melody line
  • Bible references
  • CCLI number

This means they are ready for you to use in the software for practice and performance, and easy to find using the above information.
So how does this work?
First you need an ac Read more...