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Easiest Way to Add Chords in ProPresenter 7 w/ MultiTracks

Uncategorized Mar 01, 2023

 

Getting chords onto a stage screen used to mean typing them in by hand, taking screenshots, or importing PDFs. All of it annoying, all of it something you redo every time a key changes.

ProPresenter's MultiTracks integration does it automatically. It's good. It also costs real money.

What it costs

You need three MultiTracks subscriptions. When I set ours up:

  • Chart Pro, $180 a year
  • ProPresenter Add-On, $120 a year
  • Cloud Pro Plus, $430 a year

Roughly $730 a year without discounts. Check current pricing before you budget, since subscription costs move.

That's a lot if you're starting from zero. It's a much easier call if you're already in the MultiTracks ecosystem, because you're only adding the piece you don't have.

What we already had

We had Cloud Pro Plus and had recently picked up Chart Pro, so we only needed the ProPresenter add-on. That made it an easy yes.

Worth saying these subscriptions aren't only for chord charts. You get playback apps, chart builders, and other things your worship team will use whether or not this feature exists.

Setting it up

Update to ProPresenter 7.8 or later, then log into your MultiTracks account from inside ProPresenter.

From there you search the MultiTracks database and import songs with the chords already attached. When you import, choose to include chords and set your lines per slide and custom theme.

Then make sure your stage screen is actually linked to the MultiTracks chord charts. ProPresenter ships a default stage screen template, or you can build your own. I've got a walkthrough on importing and exporting stage screens if you want to use ours.

The part that actually sold me

Key changes.

I needed to change the key of a song during a service. I requested it in ProPresenter and the chords updated instantly, on the stage screen, while we were running.

Anyone who's had a worship leader change a key on a Sunday morning knows what that's worth.

One problem we hit

Once, ProPresenter behaved like we weren't logged into MultiTracks and we had to log back in. Minor, and it hasn't happened again.

Is it worth it

Worth it if you're already paying MultiTracks and your team leans on chord charts.

Harder to justify if you're starting from nothing and just want chords on a screen. $730 a year buys a lot of other things for a small church, and typing chords in by hand is free.

Related reading

The free stage screen template is on the free resources page. And if you're training a team on ProPresenter, the ProPresenter 7 Quickstart Guide walks through the interface, songs, lyrics formatting, screens, playlists and macros.

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