Hi, I while back there were topics about using a lap-top to display music and lyrics.
I am very intertested, and I need some help from those who done it. It would be nice to use the PC on the job.

My questions;
1-How did you get the music and lyrics on the computer?
2-What programs are you using?
3-How are you using the computer to recall either the music page, or the lyric page?
4-How best to use the PC on the job?

I know I'm asking a lot, but it sounds so good, and it's good-bye to books.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks, John C.

Since my friend Hank "loaned" me his laptop a few months ago, my life has gotten much simpler.
I just use Microsoft Word to display the lyrics. You can enter the Artist, Title, Genre, etc., and call them up as you wish.
Then just open the file and the lyrics are displayed in Word.
Use a type face that is readable, and large enough to see, and still fit all the words on one page.
I change the "View" in MSWord to "Full Screen".
I have a quite large collection of lyrics, with chord names. It has taken years of accumulation and countless hours of work but I finally have most of them converted to computer.
I don't try to display any scores, but it should work the same way.
I think also that there are dedicated programs for this, but I don't have one.
My one Christmas present this year was a wireless mouse, and that helps.
DonM

I also use a laptop and MS Word to display the lyrics, chords if I don't have them in my head and keyboard settings. They're all stored in a file folder, which provides instant access. I use a white background and black, 14-point font Times New Roman print, which is really easy to see at distances to 10 feet. I also change the spacing to 1.2, use all caps and bold print. All of these things make the text much easier to see.

When the song will not fit on a single page, it must be scrolled, which is as simple as the touch of a cursor key. My laptop has a 14-inch screen and this too is an asset.

The computer sits on a specially constructed shelf that is directly in front of the keyboard. It is also used to store midi files, MP3s and is connected to my PSR-2000 via a USB/midi adapter for midi files, while the computer's audio out is routed to the keyboard's Line/Mic Input.

IMHO, the laptop is the best thing that could happen for all performing musicians.

Good Luck,

Gary

Don and Gary, I hope I don't have to remind you guys to make a backup of your hard work..when your pc crashes for good someday..I make back ups of my backups..I even have a backup laptop with the same programs..

And believe me Don and Gary IT WILL CRASH FOR GOOD SOMEDAY!!! It is only a matter of time. You know many Hard Drives are only rated for 100,000 on/off cyles (average) before the eventual could happen. And many times it happens WAY before that! So my advice is if you don't already have a spare Hard Drive on your Computer get one. That way if one goes bad you will have back ups on the Spare Hard Drive or vice versa. Hard Drives are cheap today (price wise) compared to what they were just a few short years ago that it makes sense to have at least one Spare on your Computer. Installing them is fairly simple too if you know what your doing. Of course you will have to Format each and every new Hard Drive you install into your computer and then install the OS of course. PS: Thanks for reminding them Fran!

Best regards,
Mike

I have two hard drives on my PC and one on the laptop. The files are on all three.
All my MP3s, midis and lyrics are backed up to CDs also.
If the LT crashs on the job, I'll just have to sing the songs I know from memory. Can't be more than a few hundred, but maybe I can get through the rest of the night playing intrumentals.
I hear about hard drives crashing, and I've known people to which it has happened, but in more than 12 years of having computers, it hasn't happened to me yet. Guess I'm past due!
Thanks,
DonM

Hi John
I have found the laptop a real asset as I have thousands of songs and I have to read the ones I play infrequently or I have to read the lyrics,and carrying a pile of fakebooks is way too unprofessional looking.

I sorted by categories like 30's,bigband and
I scanned about 1500 to my laptop with my Visioneer One Touch.I bought this a couple of years ago because it is bundled with Paperport software,which has been renowned for years. This software gave me the filing structure I needed to quickly find my music on the fly if necessary. It was only $100. This part was the most time consuming.

Next,I went into my files and made up files of favorites. It is easy organise any way you like. The Paperport software also has an excellent search utility if you forget where you put a song. I used a database also,but it is not necessary. Now you have a treelike structure where you can recall a song in perhaps two clicks. If the song is more than one screen long, you can hit pg dn. If it more than one scan,Paperport let's you stack the pages which come up in a couple of clicks. There are scrolling programs on Zdnet,for one,that will scroll for you.

Assuming you are scanning fakebook sheets,
You now have the music and lyrics right in front of you for as many songs as you like.
I looked into different scanning software and until I found Paperport,I couldn't find a suitable way to organise my music for fast recall.

For midi,I use MidiNotate to display the notes realtime,and lyrics if present. You can also insert the lyrics under the notes. I f you wish,you can then print the whole thing from any midi track and scan it to add to your others.

If you have any questions,post or email me.

Good luck
Bernie

My system is backed up in two ways. First, everything in the laptop's data file is frequently updated, then sent via a USB data transfer cable to my desktop. Then, this data is again backed up on a CDRW. In order for all of this to fail, the house would have to burn to the ground. If that occured, I guess it would be time to either start over again, or just get out of show biz and retire. NAH!

Happy New Year,

Gary