Introducing Lyric Import
Import accurate lyrics and chords from MultiTracks.com directly in ProPresenter.
By Kristian Ponsford, Director of Products at MultiTracks.com
Oftentimes the simplest ideas are the hardest to accomplish.
For years, if a worship leader wanted chords and lyrics on their stage display screen, it involved tedious workarounds which were inflexible and time consuming. Even a task as simple as creating lyric slides was coupled with checking spelling and formatting.
Nothing drives us to innovate more than the potential to give time back to worship leaders so they can focus on leading people.
Recently, we partnered with ProPresenter to make sure importing lyric slides is not only easy and accurate, but also a reliable and flexible tool that you can use however your scenario calls for.
MultiTrack.com Lyric Import is now live in ProPresenter with customizable filters for 1, 2, and 4 line formats, fonts, and a brand new stage display that includes chords and lyrics for all 12 keys.
On top of that, MIDI Production Cues in Playback can control your lyric slide changes for you. Meaning no matter where you go in the song or setlist, even in unplanned moments, your lyric slides will follow.
We sat down with Cody Patterson from ProPresenter to learn more about this collaboration and the heard behind MultiTracks.com Lyric Import.
[KP] Tell us about how ProPresenter and MultiTracks started working together.
[CP] When thinking through new functionality in ProPresenter and how to empower users, MultiTracks.com with ProPresenter was one of the first partnerships suggested both internally and also by customers. The MultiTracks.com lyrics library is extensive, the ability to import chords with those lyrics was an absolute plus, and then wrapping it all up with choosing to automatically trigger lyrics slides from Playback by MutltiTracks.com if desired, was the cherry on top. Our users have been asking for a reliable search option for importing lyrics any day of the week and MultiTracks is that solution.
[KP] What started the idea to integrate MultiTracks lyrics and charts inside of ProPresenter?
[CP] I remember a few months ago seeing a post in the ProPresenter User Community on Facebook where someone was showing off their workaround way to put chords on top of specific words or characters on their confidence monitor. It was one of the most liked posts of all time and there were so many comments of people asking how to accomplish it. The value of showing chords or Nashville numbers on a stage screen for musicians just like we do with lyrics for singers is a huge win for so many people. We took that idea to heart with this integration knowing that MultiTracks has an incredible chord database. We knew ProPresenter users would love chords that are highly accurate and can be used to show character accurate chords above lyrics!
[KP] One brand new aspect is the new stage screen layout. Why is that so important?
[CP] For years many churches have been putting lyrics on their confidence monitor to support vocalists. The problem is oftentimes instrumentalists don't have time to memorize all of the chord changes, or even have the ability to transpose on the fly if the worship leader changes the song key last minute. We wanted to solve the issue of having paper and stand, iPad, Android tablet, and other unsightly objects on stage that can cause a distraction by making it so eyes can now stop staring down and start looking up. Not only that, but with the ability to change the key of a song on the fly, your chords will automatically show the correct key on the stage screen when your worship leader changes what key your team is playing during rehearsal.
When a feature enables someone to be able to spend less time using our product and more time focused on the things that really matter, we get excited.
[KP] What gets you most excited about new features for your customers?
[CP] When a feature enables someone to be able to spend less time using our product and more time focused on the things that really matter, we get excited. Of course, we love people using our apps, but to be able to spend the least time in setup, or running as possible so we can impact people for the Kingdom of God in ways that make an even greater impact, that's powerful. For us, that's why we are so excited about this integration. MultiTracks.com as a search option within ProPresenter, even just for lyrics, saves time simply by being a reliable and quick option to import lyrics, and works correctly any day of the week. For those who currently manually make midi cues in different apps to control lyrics, now they can stop focusing on that single time-consuming task and let the MultiTracks.com Playback app automatically control lyrics without having to create those midi or Production Cues each week.
[KP] What are you looking forward to the most over the next few months for users?
[CP] I can't wait to see people save a ton of time by experiencing a reliable lyrics search option in ProPresenter. I'm also really excited to see people be able to embrace less text on a slide at one time by switching to one or two-line lyrics templates. Having the Playback app automatically advance slides means one or two lines of text per slide is now far easier to navigate, as there is less button pushing having to be done by a volunteer or staff member.
[KP] What do you want to make sure every church understands about this new integration?
[CP] You don't have to use MultiTracks.com for backing tracks in order to use the MultiTracks.com search option within ProPresenter. In fact, you don't even have to use the chord functionality if you just want lyrics. If you're just looking for a reliable lyrics search option in ProPresenter that works consistently and accurately, subscribing to the MultiTracks.com Chart Pro product will give you access to lyrics search in ProPresenter. As a plus, it will also give you access to digital downloads of charts from MultiTracks.com that you can print off or upload to a church management system like Planning Center Online. It's a great alternative to their competitor's search option. Of course, we are all also fans of the new chord functionality which is only available in ProPresenter as part of MultiTracks.com Chart Pro with the ProPresenter Add-On.
