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Get #Nottingham Trending this Friday 20th April 2012!

April 18th, 2012

Nottingham Council House Music On My PC wasn’t born and bred in Nottingham. We relocated here a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back. It wasn’t so much a business decision as a personal one. We moved here to support our two canoe slalom athletes – Natalie and Mikey Wilson. Why Nottingham? Because it is home to the National Watersports Centre and GB Canoeing. If you want to get anywhere in the sport of Canoe Slalom you need to be based near a centre of excellence and Nottingham has one!

But the beneficial side effect of this has meant we can grow and develop our business in a fantastic part of the country! We are currently based in Manvers Business Park, Cotgrave, a fantastic industrial estate which is managed by Ruschliffe Borough Council. There is a great community of local businesses on the park, including Finishing Touch Dry Cleaners, Unlimited Kitchens (and thanks Toni and Andy for the amazing kitchen you just completed for us by the way) not to mention Mrs King’s Tasty Pork Pies and A&G Chem Dry plus many others. Not time to list them all now…

MikeyWilson GB Canoe Slalom Athlete Socially Nottingham has so much to offer, from the great bars and cafe’s of West Bridgford to the world class restaurants and concert venues in town. Our particular recent favourite venue has been the Just The Tonic club at the forum and we are looking forward to catching Dave Spikey there this Thursday.

So was the move worth it? Definitely. Natalie and Mikey have benefitted from local access to the fantastic whitewater course at Holme Pierrepont, world class coaching and great gym facilities. This has directly contributed to their recent achievements. In March 2012 Mikey competed in the GB Junior Team Selection Series races held at Nottingham, Cardiff and Grandtully in Scotland and won every single race to be selected for the GB Junior Team. He will represent GB as first junior K1M at the Junior World Championships in Wausau, US in July and also at the Junior Europeans to be held in Solkan, Slovenia in September. Full GB Junior team list here.

Natalie Wilson GB Canoe Slalom Athlete Natalie, who is two years older and competing as an U23 paddler competed last weekend in the Tesco Canoe Slalom Selection Trials at the brand new Olympic whitewater course at Lee Valley. She was top U23 in all three races and so will be attending the U23 Worlds and Euros being held alongside the Junior events in Wasau and Solkan. She will also be nominated as a demonstration runner at the Cardiff World Cup and also at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Full Senior GB team list here. And if you want to keep up with Natalie’s competitions and training over the summer follow her on Twitter

We’ll be following the Get Nottingham Trending campaign with interest!

Tags: keystation, m-audio, notation, nottingham, sibelius, sibelius first
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Learn Sibelius 6 in an hour!

April 17th, 2012

As I’ve reported before our hottest product this year has been the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32. Not only is it a fantastic well-priced little MIDI keyboard but it comes with a complete version of Sibelius 6 First Software. This makes it such a great bargain, and the perfect entry to the world of Sibelius for those hundreds of you who want to get composing but aren’t ready to spend the several hundred pounds to get the (admittedly brilliant) full version of Sibelius. So once you’ve got the software how do you use it? Well we’ve read on the Sibelius Blog about a sequence of video tutorials that will get you up and running in just an hour. These tutorials do reference the full version of Sibelius 6 but you should find the principles in them very applicable to your new software.
http://www.sibeliusblog.com/tutorials/learn-sibelius-6-in-one-hour/

Tags: help, learn, notation, sibelius, software
Posted in FAQs - products, News | Comments Off

Testing your MIDI device on Windows or Mac

April 17th, 2012

Sometimes it can be really hard to be sure if your MIDI keyboard controller or other your USB-MIDI interface is working correctly, particularly if you are using it with complicated software. My suggestion is to separate the two things! Test that the hardware is working OK with a MIDI diagnostic tool, then once you can see it is working you know that you need to work on the software configuration. If you are using Windows, then download MIDI-Ox, it’s a fantastic piece of software that shows the stream of MIDI data on your screen so you can check every key, fader, pad and wheel on your MIDI keyboard and be sure they are all working OK. Download it here:
MIDI-Ox MIDI diagnostic tool.
Then if you want a step-by-step guide on how to use it, this page on the M-Audio support portal is great, with easy to follow screen shots. Although it is referring to an M-Audio device you can use this software with any MIDI keyboard or interface.
If you are on a Mac then the SNOIZE MIDI Monitor software does a similar job and they have nice documentation on their site on how to use it.
Hope you find that useful!

Tags: help, MIDI, usb
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11,500 people can’t be wrong (or why I love reading my feedback)

March 8th, 2012

Sometimes it’s important to pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you are doing a great job. Sometimes you have to brighten your own day because no-one else is going to do it for you. My surefire way of giving myself a boost is to check my eBay feedback. I know it might sound a little bit sad, but when over 11,500 people say such nice things about you it can really make your day.
And the comments always help remind me what we are all about. We sell great products for helping you to learn, play, create and record music on your computer, and we do a fantastic job of getting them to you as quickly as we can. If you experience a problem we will sort it out to the best of our ability. Sometimes we are so busy doing just that we forget to tell everyone else.

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The M-Audio Keystation Mini is our current top selling item. Find Out Why….

February 22nd, 2012

This doesn’t need to be a long post! Just to say, we have been overwhelmed by the response to the M-Audio Keystation Mini keyboard since it arrived last year, and just at the moment it is our very hottest item. Why? Because not only do you get a really fantastic keyboard, which plugs and plays effortlessly and works with any MIDI software while not hogging your whole desk space, it also ships with Sibelius 6 First Edition. We must receive several phone calls a day about this, because it is almost unbelievable.

Yes, if you buy Sibelius First Edition on its own it costs over £100. Yes if you buy the M-Audio Keystation Mini from us you get a full and complete copy of Sibelius First in the box with the keyboard. Not a time trial. Not a demo. The full version. Bargain? Yes! Too good to be true? Just this once, it is too good and it is true!

Why buy from us? We are an authorised UK stockist, we are here at the end of the phone or email if you need any help, and when you buy we will pick, pack and ship just as quickly as we can. Free shipping will be by first class recorded sent either same day (if purchased before 1pm) or next working day. For guaranteed next working day shipping it is only £4.95 and if you want it on a Saturday it’s only £9.99. Enough said.