What changes do you want to see in future versions (part 2)?

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Gadd on November 15, 2009 at 6:37pm

I think it would be helpful to have a drop down list of Authors in the Tags section. ie. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman etc. so that rather than typing their name each time you only have to select the name from a list. It would have to have the option to add your own Authors.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Cameron on November 16, 2009 at 9:31am

That's a great idea, Jeremy - it is fairly straightforward to implement and will likely appear in the next update, thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Power Music Guru on December 2, 2009 at 6:51pm

This is now done in version 2.0.1.0

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Permalink Reply by Rev Paul HArding on November 18, 2009 at 8:47am

Just a beginner with this software but i would like to be able to use colour highlighting to highlight words in the chord like e:g- (VERSE) highlighted yellow.
Also to be able to have the capo'd chords in a different colour?
Also can you make the whole chorus bold italic?
Paul H.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Cameron on November 18, 2009 at 10:56am

Hi Paul
Firstly, I think we have to be careful that we don't change the chord sheets to look like another word document. Changing from paper to screen changes the way we view things, and we have tried to keep a simple, uniform format to the chord sheets which our eyes become accustomed to as we move from one song to another. At the moment the chord line is one colour and the text line is another - these colours can be changed in settings. If you were able to change the colour of one word and then changed the settings for the other colours it could give strange results!
However, if you find after using Power Music for a while that you really want to highlight certain words then that is something we could certainly look at.

Capo'd chords are entered within brackets. Anything inside brackets in a chord line is ignored during the parsing process so that only the chords get transposed. To change the colour of the capo'd chords it would mean changing the colour of everything inside brackets. However that's a really good idea, because then the chords would stand out more, so it's certainly worth considering.

All text is bold already, and the font used is Andale Mono, which is a monospaced font to keep the chords above the correct words. Italics have been asked for before and it was on the previous list, so it should be on this list too. I will see that it is added.

Thanks for your input, Paul - it is appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Angela Josephine on November 25, 2009 at 1:59pm

I've noticed that when I go to Edit an existing Chord Sheet for a song, the extra chords that were added to the left-side chord options when I originally created the song have disappeared. All the basic chords for the key are there. Example - I've added a Gbsus to my song in the key of Db, It's put in the list when I first create the song, but after saving and then going back to edit it's not there. Not a big deal - but it would be nice if that information could be retained.

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Permalink Reply by Power Music Guru on November 25, 2009 at 5:40pm

The list of chord options is refreshed with the standard chords when you enter the editor each time because the list is created from the key rather than from the song content.
This keeps it simple, but it could be changed. I will add it to the list as a possible update.
Thanks, Angela.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Gadd on November 29, 2009 at 4:55pm

It would be really helpful if were possible to copy a song in the database or have a 'Save As..' option. The reason I ask for this is because I sometimes play a song with a capo and sometimes without. For example, if playing with a second guitar it is sometimes better if one guitar plays with a capo to give some tonal variety. Therefore, it would be useful to be able to save a song with a different name (eg. song 1 - capo 2) so that I don't have to redo the whole song again.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Cameron on November 30, 2009 at 8:50am

Good idea, Jeremy - I have several copies of the same song but with different arrangements, so it would be useful to be able to create a new song using a copy of an existing one without having to re-enter all the same properties and tags.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Summers on December 3, 2009 at 1:00pm

I too absolutely love this software! It is really weird but I also work in Education as a consultant and for the church as a Pastor and have been leading worship for years, I have been looking for a programmer to write software the same as this and similar to the other software Cambron is writing. Good Work Cambron, God bless you!

The New updates are fab! Here are some ideas for future updates:

• Being able to transpose chords ‘live’ at the touch of a button.
• Set a chorus button so you don’t have to go back thorough 5 verses or paste 5 choruses in the edit window.
• Insert picture files into the chord sheet (sometimes I just need a line of music on the chord sheet)
• Add poems, liturgy, prayers and bible reading. Created other database (folders) for songs, bible verses other word stuff so that you can insert them into the playlist without them cluttering the song database. For example, I will sing a song and then want to read a passage over a recorded track, which I can do in power music. However, At the moment that bible passage is in the songs list in the song database a few more and it will be much harder to find songs. Also when I look at analyses stuff it does not include the bible passages, poems and prayers I use in the service.
• Search by Key and also by sheet music or chords. Maybe the song database could be colour coded as to whether the contents are imported scores, pdf or chord sheet
• A way to write music on a stave or more simply edit the chords and notes with text boxies (musical and written) over the scores and PDFs we import and scan in.
• Drag and drop Audio files into songs and have the option for more than one. (again I trigger background music during the meeting from power music)
• More Analyses and Statistics of what songs you sing the most etc..,
• Better icon for desktop, I keep deleting the program link thinking it’s an old song file.
• Option to Split the screen so you can see the previous or next song. (useful for introductions and musical links)
• Use a second monitor to display sheet music for band, lyrics for singers while I am using chord sheets
• Export play list. You can print the song list from the playlist window, but not export it. I would like to export the list as a text file or just copy and paste the list to make 'order of service sheets' for band, projector, leader etc

I know this is a big list. However, the program is a God send!! It has made my life so much easier and I no longer have to carry 15 books which have mostly the same songs in. Along with bible, equipments, kids.... the list is longer......

Matt

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Cameron on December 3, 2009 at 3:17pm

Hi Matt
Wow - we should have employed you as our program designer! These are all great ideas - some of them will have to wait for our 'Pro' version, though, or perhaps a version specifically for churches. Power Music is a tool for all musicians, not just for worship leaders, so having a section for poems, liturgy etc is not relevant for many users. However, there are plans to develop a song projection system to integrate with Power Music and some of these ideas would be incorporated into that. We still haven't decided whether to make it a separate system or a combined one, though.

As for your other suggestions:

• Transpose chords 'live' - yes, that would be useful. That could be added to the playlist sidebar.
• Button for chorus - possibly, though most songs fit on one or two screens at the most using page breaks and 'Pages per screen'. It is different from lyrics projection software where only one verse is viewed at a time - you can view as much as your screen size allows in Power Music. Do you have one verse per screen?
• Insert pictures - if you use 'display both' you can have sheet music and chords side by side.
• If your readings are in as songs they should appear in your stats just like any other song - not sure why they are not appearing? Have you added them onto existing songs?
• Search by Key - yes, someone else has asked for that before, it should be on the list. Colour coding would only work if a song was one or the other, not both. Interesting suggestion, though ...
• There are plans for 'annotations' on sheet music, both text and freehand drawing, so it will be added to the list.
• More than one Audio file for a song is a good idea.
• Can you expand on 'more analysis and stats' please? Not quite sure what you mean...
• Yes, I agree, it's time for a new icon. Design offers, please, anyone? (That could be a new discussion)
• Splitting the screen is a good idea but it would only be practical if you always used 1 page per screen. It could be included as an option, though.
• Splitting outputs is for the 'Pro' version.
• Export play list - if you look at the list in the header of this discussion, that is one of the suggestions which has been implememented in the new version - 2.0.1.0. The Save button on the playlist toolbar is now a drop-down menu with one of the options being 'Copy to clipboard'. You can then just 'Paste' the list anywhere.
• Hope that has answered all your points. Now to get the Guru to change the list ...

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Permalink Reply by Matt Summers on December 3, 2009 at 8:07pm

Hi, I was forgetting that Power music was not just a tool for worship. However, as a musician a folder for love songs, audience pleasers or top ten requests might work. If you could organise and categorise your music into genre that would help everyone find music at the press of a button or a drop down’ sort by: All Music, readings, love song, songs for over 18’s?

Just thinking about it, the pub band might want to put a joke into the set or plug for their CD? A school might want to thank a lot of people who put the show together. I know when I was HOD Music in a secondary school I always forgot to thank someone at the end of the Christmas production a list on the screen would have helped. Also at concerts I would introduce a pupil’s work. A text file before the pupil’s music would have helped in remembering the facts and the pupils name. I have a very bad memory! I am sure having the ability to put text amongst and into the playlist would be useful in lot of other situations. (That also could be a new discussion)?

The problem with song projection is that there are already some free on the market I use Easislides (www.EasiSlides.com) for worship at church. We only have small church of 30ish people in a deprived area and cannot justify the price of bigger software options. However, we do have a bass player and keyboard player so two screens from power music attached to my laptop one with a score and another with a bass part would be something we might use. And others in clubs and pubs might use it in the same way? When is the pro version coming out I would like to be a beta tester?

The point I made badly about the statistics and data feedback was that I only wanted the songs that were used and not all the rest of the text (bible reading, prayers etc).

The confusing analysis part was just that instead of a list of songs only, you could get other information like the songs you sing the most over the year, how many hymns, what percentage of songs were pre 1980 or Hillsong’... that sort of thing. Other kinds of musicians might want to do the same for gigs, most played song, era or artist.

It would be good to know who uses power music and what for. And also other ways of using it. Eg. I use it for triggering songs that I read over. How do you use it, let us know?

Matt.

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