Video songbooks for the band?

Hodges_Guitars · #1 11-18-2008, 07:48 PM

I have been looking for a way to do a song list, including the words and chords, for our 8 piece band at church. I dont know if there is such a thing, but what I envision is a monochrome screen which flips from song to song (controlled by someone in the sound booth?) where every musician can see the song we are playing, the words to the song, and the chords assosiated with it.

Right now, we all use printed sheets to get through our services, but it can get downright confusing at times trying to remember which song is next and in my case (playing lead with effect pedals) which pedal setting to use for each song or when to kick in another effect.

It seems if we had a central controller that fed to all of the monitors at once, it would not only save paper, but would make sure that we are all playing the same song and would be consistant from service to service.

Does anybody know of a system that does this? An inexpensive system would be better, but I realize that all fo the monitors and a controller may be somewhat of an expenxive way of doing this.

I'm all open for suggestions, but I dont even know what to call this type of system so that I can begin a search for one that would fit our budget.

levifly · #2 11-19-2008, 01:58 PM

MY wife and I along with our music director at church went to the worship conference at Saddleback Church this summer. They had the exact system you envision on display. When I get home from work I will go through my stuff and see if I can find the vendor. Will report back tonight. Mike

Hodges_Guitars · #3 11-19-2008, 03:06 PM

Thanks Mike!

levifly · #4 11-20-2008, 07:36 AM

Ken, See if this is what you are looking for. www.samepagemusic.com

This is the web site for the system we saw and they use at Saddleback Church. It was very interesting to me at the time. Unfortunately in these economic times we have chosen to delay our transition to this system.

Mike

Hodges_Guitars · #5 11-20-2008, 05:13 PM

That is sort of what I am looking to find, but perhaps overkill for what we need. I am looking for something inexpensive and in just monochrome video (think cheap) but where it can all be controlled at a central station with just the words and chords on 6 different monitors at once.

That was some neat stuff though... WOW !

Mark Bolding · #6 11-21-2008, 07:28 AM

Hey there Ken,
I don't know what your budget is but it sounds to me like a low cost scan converter and a video distribution amplifier could have you in business for $300 or less. If you have your song sheets on any computer, mac or pc you could go simple with just documents or get fancy with powerpoints and send it to your 6 monitors with just a bit of wiring. Feel free to email me if you need some links or advice.

Mark

levifly · #7 11-21-2008, 08:09 AM

Ken, Please let me know your opinion of this system as we are considering it for our church in the future. Mike

You can do it in this thread or pm me

Hodges_Guitars · #8 11-21-2008, 02:56 PM

Hey Mark, I will send a PM.

All of the music is on a PC, and it would be good if that one PC could be linked somehow to 6 different monitors. I am not sure how to do this. Monitors are pretty inexpensive and we already have the one computer with all of the songs on it. We use easyworship for displaying the words to the songs using a projector on a screen at the back of the stage, but the musicians are in front of that screen and pointed in the other direction too.

Hopefully you will have a solution for connecting 6 different monitors to one computer.

Levifly, I will post the solution we come up with after we decide what to do. Our church runs around 300 ppl, so it isnt a big church with deep pockets. The musicians are all volunteers, but we all chip in to buy what we need to make the services run smoothly. It sounds like you are in the same situation. I'll be sure to update this when we figure it out.

Mark Bolding · #9 11-22-2008, 07:15 AM

Hello Ken,
I have included first, a link to an inexpensive scan converter that could be used with any computer with VGA output for a second monitor and is powered by USB. It also gives you the ability to resize the image which can be helpful in these situations.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Converter.html

Next is an inexpensive video distribution amplifier which will receive the output from the scan converter and break out the signal to your six monitors.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ite_Video.html

The scan converter would be next to your computer and you would take its output and make your cable run to the video DA which would be centered near your six monitors to minimize your cable runs to each monitor. Couldn't be easier.

Mark

Hodges_Guitars · #10 11-22-2008, 02:26 PM

Thanks Mark!

That looks like just the thing I have been looking for!!!