How small can a PC get?

MusicOne mini-PCs

When we launched the Large Screen MusicOne we looked for a small PC to run Power Music. The Large Screen MusicOne uses a touchscreen display from 22 to 27 inch. The last thing a musician needed was a large desktop PC or even a laptop connected to the touch screen.

In this blog I am going to look at the options for the mini-PCs available for MusicOne.

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Dave and Pat Bilbrough – Power Music and MusicOne Users

Featured Musicians

From time to time we like to do an article that focuses on a user of Power Music and MusicOne digitals music stands.

Dave Bilbrough is a very well known Christian song writer, author and worship leader. Dave and his wife Pat use Power Music and a MusicOne 16 when leading worship.

One of Dave’s claims to fame is that he lead worship in the 1970s at the Royal Albert Hall, London when he was 19!

Now, with over four decades in full-time Christian ministry and numerous albums later, he is recognised as one of Britain’s foremost worship leaders and songwriters.

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New Mini-PC for Large Screen MusicOne

For many years now we have been selling MusicOne Digital Music Stands. These have touchscreens from 16 inch to 27 inch and can either be mounted directly on a music rack of a keyboard/organ or on a tripod floor stand.

The smaller MusicOne, 16 and 20 inch, are all-in-one Windows PCs but the Large Screen MusicOne have a separate mini-PC to run Power Music Professional or AF.

We have been supplying either Intel NUC mini PCs or Stick PCs but with technology moving on, we can now supply a new format of mini-PC which is somewhere in size between the NUC and the Stick PC. This is an exciting new format for MusicOne, so this blog is a review of this new format mini-PC.

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Kerne Clemence “Need a Pianist?”

Update to Blog July 2022:

Recently Kerne sent us this email – he wants to share his new setup with you…

“Sometimes, we all arrive at a time when we want to put “pen to paper” to express something special.
I have just got home from accompanying a couple of ABRSM Singing Exam candidates. As another academic year draws to a close, I just felt I wanted to repeat my fulsome gratitude to you for the wonderful Power Music Professional software which continues to serve my needs so brilliantly.
Page-turning, lighting, play-lists, portability, reliability, flexibility re annotations, legibility, access – the list goes on.  All problems brilliantly addressed and dispelled.
I have 4133.85Mb of music stored.  I have deleted nothing since November 2013.
I follow the MPA Code of Practice by insisting that students have the original, hard paper purchased copy in the room at exams, concerts, etc.
The most important issue for me is RELIABILITY.   I used to worry, but now never give it a second thought.   A top of the range Lenovo ThinkPad was money well spent.   My memory stick back-ups are all spread around my house to give me the best chance of retrieving at least one should the worst happen whilst I am away.
Your concept, implementation and service to musicians is of incalculable value.”

Meet Kerne Clemence…

This is Kerne’s story about his own career and about how he uses Power Music.

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Featured Musician – Jim McLaren

Accordion and piano player Jim tells us about Power Music and MusicOne

Jim has been a long time user of Power Music. He runs a large farm in Fife and has a fascinating blog about farming http://cultsfarm.co.uk/

We asked Jim to tell us about how he uses Power Music and MusicOne digital music stands – so grab your self a cup or glass of something and have a read of what Jim told us…

Firstly, as a musician I play the accordion and the piano. The accordion is mostly Scottish Traditional Music and second accordion to accompany others – I play occasionally in a dance band. I also play the accordion at my local church, either helping out the organist, or occasionally doing all the music myself if he is not available.
Piano playing is mostly classical piano, and as I am working towards my Grade 8 exam I have lessons every week. I also do a bit of vamping for a small accordion workshop group that I play for.

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So what’s so great about Power Music?

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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What Screens Size for Displaying Music?

We are often asked about what “size” of screen on tablets or all-in-one PCs is best for displaying music. When talking about screens there are really 4 things to consider:

  • Size
  • Aspect Ratio
  • Resolution
  • Pixels per inch

In this short article I am going to look at each of these, particularly in relation to displaying sheet music. So to get us started here is a diagram showing the relative sizes of the screen on a number of common devices.

 

Size

For some historical reason screen sizes are still measured in inches – possibly because of the influence of the USA in technology and it’s use of imperial units.

I am reminded of my visits to a timber supplier where I asked for “two meters of two by inch white pine” – we really need to get our imperial and metric units sorted out!

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