3 Ways to “Going Digital” with your music

By Gordon Cameron 25 Jul, 2023 2 Comments

Updated 25/7/2023

“Going Digital” has so many advantages over paper but one of the most common questions we are asked is “How do I get my music into a digital display system?” “I want to use Power Music on my iPad, tablet or laptop, so how do I get my music?” 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.

A Review of Page Turners – Not the Human Variety

By Gordon Cameron 18 Jul, 2023 5 Comments

A 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.

What is Power Music Box?

By Brenda Cameron 18 Nov, 2021 2 Comments

Power Music Box is cloud storage which is used for integrating all editions of Power Music.

It is unique in that it does not simply store files, like DropBox and others, but instead stores the content and metadata (authors, categories, titles, etc) of each ‘song’ in Power Music.

We get many questions about the Box, so this article will put together the information from the Power Music Box website to give a comprehensive explanation of what the Box is and how to use it.

Microsoft Windows – Updates

By Gordon Cameron 15 Oct, 2021 4 Comments

Upgrading to Windows 11

This ongoing blog has been running since the 1803 update in 2018. I have been giving some Hints and Tips for the various Microsoft Windows Feature updates since then. Now we have a new edition of Windows – Windows 11.

In this addition to the blog, I will say a little about my experience of Windows 11 so far.

So after Microsoft saying Windows 10 would be the “last” version of Windows we have – drum roll – Windows 11!

The elephant in the room is of course the dreaded “every second version of Windows was terrible” theory.

Some would say – this has been the pattern for over 20 years: 98 was good, ME was garbage, XP was great, Vista sucked, 7 was good, 8 was rubbish, 10 is great – so if the pattern works where does that put 11? Lets hope it breaks the rule!

Using an ultra W – I – D – E Screen Monitor

By Gordon Cameron 10 Sep, 2021 Leave a comment

Recently a long-time user of Power Music (Ed from Texas) contacted us with an interesting problem. His set-up for creating and editing his music was a Windows PC running 2 x 24inch monitors. On one monitor he had Power Music in full screen mode so he could annotate his music and on the other he was running an audio player and some other apps he wanted to use at the same time.

Then he changed from 2 x 24inch screens to a single 48inch curved wide screen, and here was the issue – when going into Full Screen mode in Power Music it did just that – filled the whole screen. He could no longer see his other app at the same time as annotating the music!

He asked if we knew of any solution…

Review: STOMP Bluetooth pedal from CODA MUSIC Technology

By Gordon Cameron 18 Feb, 2020 3 Comments

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.

So what’s so great about Power Music?

By Gordon Cameron 11 Dec, 2019 8 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.

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.

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.

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.

Cambron Software Blog

Creators of Power Music and MusicOne

Category: Guide

3 Ways to “Going Digital” with your music

A Review of Page Turners – Not the Human Variety

A review of page turners including the new flic 2 Bluetooth button.

What is Power Music Box?

Microsoft Windows – Updates

Upgrading to Windows 11

Using an ultra W – I – D – E Screen Monitor

Review: STOMP Bluetooth pedal from CODA MUSIC Technology

So what’s so great about Power Music?

Talking about Tablets (the new MusicOne 13)

Music Scanning – How to get the best results.

Article Updated February 2018

Importing Your Music – ChordPro and MusicPad Files

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

Where do you get your digital music?

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

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