Recently my wife and I started off on a new adventure. We are planting a church. This is my 3rd church plant and this was the first time I didn’t have musicians for the new church. Before I could always lead worship myself if I had to. However as I have gotten older, my skills as a musician have diminished and my voice is not what it used to be. I wouldn’t call it “good enough” anymore. So I started looking for options. One of the technologies that I had become aware of was worship multitracks. However, most of those options were more expensive than our church plant could afford.
That led me to have to start digging to find some low-cost alternatives to Ableton Live Performance and the Prime App used by Loop Community.
Ableton Track Volume
Ableton Live performance is an expensive piece of software and does a lot of things well but its learning curve is steep. It was going to take me a lot of time to learn how to use it and the worship multitracks that work with it are expensive. They range around 20 bucks a song. This wouldn’t work for us. That would have been 800 bucks for the songs plus the cost of the software.
The Prime App used by Loop Community is free but it only works on Apple Products. That meant that I needed to buy an iPad and then still buy the expensive worship multitracks. The tracks range from 10 dollars to 30 dollars. Still too far out of our budget.
Free Multitrack Software
Some of the worship multitrack companies offer free apps but only work on their multitracks. That ends up tying you into buying their tracks. I needed a solution that was 100% free, or at least under a hundred bucks or so. Finally, I found a solution.
The app is called WorshipSong Band. It works on both PC and Mac. It not only plays tracks but will display the lyrics to your projector or flat-screen as well. It also allows you to import tracks from other providers. I have used it and it works quite well. The only hiccup I experienced was when I tried to start the next song before it had fully loaded. That will cause the program to freeze but once realizing that and being a little patient, (2 seconds worth), the software worked like a charm.
Ableton users can also buy an Advanced Session View Template. This template is designed to allow you to use Ableton session view alongside the MultiTrack Pro Wav Stems from Worship Backing Band and contains some addiontional very powerful features. Store all your tracks in one master template; Simply reassign your midi controllers prior to each. Lead Worship with Ableton is the #1 way to learn how to utilize the power of Ableton Live for worship ministry. Proven system that has worked for worship leaders across the globe. Walks you through every part of the process step-by-step.gear, software, basic session setup, weekly set list assembly, ProPresenter automation, and Lighting automation. In this video, I walk through how I run tracks and clicks with Ableton Live for a worship service. Here are some ideas and tips from the video: I use a reference track in my master set list to be able to quickly reference the full audio of the song if anyone in the band needs clarification on a part. These free Ableton Live worship keys patches are designed for modern worship music and 100% free. New free Ableton patches added weekly! Enter your email below to receive immediate access to all free Ableton Live patches. There are two main benefits to using tracks in a live worship context. You’re able to supplement the sound of your band with parts from the original artist’s studio recording. Now you can have a string section “onstage,” plus drums loops and synths that you can’t reproduce live, and add extra parts that will broaden your sound.
The second thing I needed was free praise and worship tracks. They have 68 free multitracks at WorshipSong. Now most of them are not today’s top 40 Christian worship hits, but they have a great selection of songs with solid lyrics that are easy to learn and full of worship to God.
Our first gathering service was on a Sunday night last October. We had 12 people, great worship, and just my wife leading worship. It went well.
So if you are a church plant, small church, or just want to practice leading worship, this is the solution for you. This will get you started until you grow large enough to afford some of the other praise and worship multitracks out there.
Group Tracks Ableton
This article originally appeared here, and is used by permission.