Cambron
Software

Here is a list of the suggested changes which will appear in future updates of Power Music. Please reply with your own suggestions as we welcome feedback.
I have scored out the changes which have so far been completed in Power Music 3.

• Allow italics in the chord sheet editor(PM3)
• Add to the list of suggested chords in the editor the actual chords from the song when going in to edit Allow selection of enharmonic equivalents for keys eg. G# instead of Ab
• Copy a song to create a new one without having to add all the same properties again(PM3)
• Editable text version of playlist for notices and comments
• Transpose chords in full screen mode
• Search by Key and display current key beside title
• Add annotations/text to sheet music
• More stats reports
• Option to show next song - split screen possibly
• Add Edit song to playlist menu
• Edit image files after import
• Move the 'Save as' menu item to the playlist toolbar(PM3)
• Insert a divider line if multi-page chord sheet(PM3)
• Allow Undo after paste in chord sheet editor(PM3)
• Possibly allow playlist sidebar to separate and float
• Generate capo chords(PM3)
• Remember playlist folder(PM3)
• Button for copyright symbol in 'Tags' tab in song editor(PM3)
• Add page numbers to chord sheet prints(PM3)
• Add delay to pedal press to avoid double-clicks(PM3)

I have been entering new songs from PDF sheet music. Because the 2nd page was a different layout to the 1st page, I confirmed only the 1st page for saving as a png file.

When I went to do the second page, it took me a long time as I had to go right through the find directory process (it was actually on another computer), and this was a bit frustrating.

The suggestion is that after finding a directory to get a pdf file from, that that is the effective default until you change it. In my case, most of the pdf's I will refer to are in the same directory, so this would significantly help with the capturing process.

Good stuff.

When you are typing in lyrics/chords in the Chord Sheet Editor and you use copy and paste the cursor and screen defaults to the top which is annoying when you are working at the bottom. As with all things you rapidly adapt but for a beginner or a long song it is an extra step.

Possibly someone else will have a preference for it to continue as is.

Hi Mark
There is an update available now and we have corrected this. The cursor is now positioned at the end of the imported text.

OK, I've only just installed the thing and may find some other improvements I'd want to make, but first thing is I'd like to be able to change the display font, not just the colour. I actually have a preferred fixed-width font I'd rather use... but ideally I'd like to be able to chose any font.

The editor would obviously have to retain a fixed width font so you can line up chords correctly, but the displaying of them could be altered to use any font.

Previous to purchasing power music I've been using open song to print chord sheets and this allows the user to change the output font of the chord sheets and retains the alignment of the chords.

What is the preferred fixed-width font you would like to use? Power Music uses Andale Mono which is a very clear font.
Many people have asked to be able to change the font until they start using Power Music regularly. This is because we are used to using word processors and using Power Music requires a different way of thinking - the primary use is for clear display on a screen rather than printing, and Power Music gives a consistent display which our brains adapt to easily as we play through a playlist. If we are faced with a different font each time it can distract from smooth flow between songs.

OpenSong spaces the words and chords into columns so that different fonts can be used for printing, but Power Music uses a straightforward text editor which makes it easier to edit. Also with Power music you can click on a word and a chord is inserted exactly above the word - this requires a mono spaced font. Because there are no restrictions on where a chord is placed (ie no columns or tabs) then changing the font for display would shift the chords out of alignment. Italics are allowed, though.

You will find that once you are using Power Music regularly you will not think about the font, you will just enjoy the ease of use and no more wasted paper. We could include a setting for you to choose which monospaced font to use, though.

My preferred font is Consolas:

www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...3&displaylang=en

Yes - that is rather a nice one, thanks :)

I'd like better quality pdf imports - although perhaps I'm doing something wrong here...

The basic problem is that PM seems to decide on the resolution to render the pdf at, which then limits the quality with which it is displayed - particularly when cropping. I opened / imported a pdf, which is "A4" sized (it's pdf properties), but I only wanted the chords from the sheet, so selected an area to crop / save as png. The size of image created was smaller than my screen resolution, so when it is displayed full screen it does not fill the screen, thus making the chords harder to read.

Obviously at some point I can make this into a proper chord sheet, but for now I just wanted to get a few songs up quickly for use on Sunday for the first time!

The situation was worse when I opened a pdf that was smaller than A4.

Also, someone at our church produces sheet music arrangements for all the songs we do - we have some library. If I can't import these at a decent resolution I won't be able to read them properly when I use a monitor with a higher resolution than the laptop I'm currently using. I've imported a couple, full A4 sheets, and they aren't really usable at the moment.

What is your screen resolution?

Currently 1680 x 1050.

I think for the sheet music we have to display properly I'd need larger monitors with a higher than 1050 vertical resolution. But that may not happen..!

The conversion process is optimised for a vertical resolution of up to 1100px, - the default resolution used is 100dpi which so far has been more than adequate for black and white display on most monitors. In every test we have done an A4 pdf displays clearer on a screen with this resloution than the paper copy. Could you upload an example of a pdf which you find unusable in Power Music please so that we can investigate? Was the pdf perhaps created in a lower resolution?
Now that storage space is not such an issue as it used to be and screen resolutions are increasing we could easily add an option so that you could select your pdf render resolution.

Ah - it would be handy to have pdf render resolution option.

One file I have is a scan from a scanner that scans to pdf - I only selected part of the page (already smaller than A4 being a survivor song book) to scan, so the scan dimensions in inches are 4.67 x 6.35, however it was scanned at 600 dpi, so there's lots of quality there (opened in adobe reader). However, when imported into power music it is only 467x635 pixels at 100dpi, so I lose quality and the image, on my current screen, doesn't fill the screen, so I lose twice! This file is attached to this post.

I had a similar problem with another pdf I downloaded from a web site where the file was A4, but I only wanted the chords bit of the page, so cropping produced an image smaller than my screen resolution, so it doesn't fill the screen. I can add this to another post if you'd like?

The file doesn't appear to be attached ..
Sorry - refreshing the screen has shown it. I will have a look now.
Although the scan resolution is very high, converting it to pdf with the lower dimensions could be causing the problem.

Have you tried scanning directly into Power Music from your book?

Scanning directly in is not an option for me at the moment... currently working around the issue in other ways - I have rehearsal this afternoon where we'll try it out with the scans I have and then I'll probably enter chords this evening. :-)

I think pdf render resolution would be a useful addition though.

We have added a DPI option to this screen. I tried your file with a dpi of 200 and it was much better. You can select up to 600 but bear in mind that the size of the saved image will increase so use the minimum that you need for the best result.
The DPI for rendering on this screen is still 100 but it will save using the DPI you select.
I hope this helps for all your files. The update is now available (v.1.0.1.6) and will prompt you to install automatically if you are connected to the internet when you next run Power Music.

Hi, this is great, thanks for adding this so quickly.

There seems to be a bit of an issue with selections though - if I select an area to crop a pdf and select any of the dpi settings it seems to further crop my selection (that's as best as I can describe it anyway). In fact, not even sure it's respecting my selection... just saving the top left of the image in the higher dpi setting.

Full pdf imports appear to capture correctly in the higher dpi settings though.

Ah.. we were probably too quick to make the change!
What has happened is that changing the dpi changes the size of the pdf rendering so the crop dimensions are no longer accurate.
A fix is under way ...

There is an update available (v.1.0.1.7). This contains the following changes:

1. DPI selection in 'import sheet music' (with fix to crop area)
2. Allow change of font by selecting from a list of mono-spaced fonts. This is available in Tools > Settings. We have included a selection of fonts. If you would like us to add any other fonts (must be mono-spaced) then please send us link to the download and we will add it to the list provided the licensing allows distribution.

Note: The fonts used are not installed on your PC by Power Music. They are only used while Power Music is running.

Would it be possible to have more than 1 version of sheet music for each song eg for different keys or arrangements? Currently I think you have to have multiple (differntly names) songs or page through several versions.