Church IT - Supporting ministry with IT

I’ve been writing about using software to create music to go with text and images in the Sheepdip, and here’s my first video.

It’s nothing spectacular but hopefully gives you an idea of what can quickly be achieved using software like Magix Music Maker 14. The music was generated from the samples included with Music Maker, I didn’t have to play any instruments. That’s for a later project…

There’s one reason why I miss the tape recorder in own sound desk. It’s the sole reason, but still important. It was really simple to use. You popped a tape in and pressed the large record button. And it was simple to check. Just look for the depressed button, the tape spindles moving and maybe some activity on the level monitor.

My MP3 player - an MSI Megastick 528 - fantastic little device with a line in socket - takes up a fraction of the space, records for longer than a briefcase of tapes (ok just a guess) and runs for hours off a single AAA battery. So it’s better surely?

Well no, not really. There’s no way to check levels without playing a track back, and there’s rarely time for that before a service. It’s also a little slow to respond to button presses; once it’s going it’s fine but sometimes getting there can be a pain.

Now, this is one thing for me, I’m reasonably comfortable at messing around with technology and can normally get it to work without raising my blood pressure too much, but there’s no way I can recommend it in a situation with people who are less happy with playing around this way. What we need is something with that familiar red button, preferably large and easy to see when active.

The trouble is, most electronic devices are just a variation on my MP3 player. We used to use an M-Audio portable recorder for podcasts and even I managed to fluff up recordings by not pressing the right combination of buttons. It’s not that the device didn’t work, just it wasn’t as simple as a tape deck.

I asked this question at the Worship conference held at Crawley Baptist last month as we had a seminar dedicated to sound and pa. They recommended the iKey Plus as offering the right balance of functionality and ease of use, and it certainly looks that way from a quick read of the manual.

Interestingly as I was mulling this post, an entry appeared from Musicians Tools for this rack mounted recording device for iPods. We’ve already got an iPod Nano for day to day background music in the church, I’m sure one more iPod won’t hurt.

I treated myself to a copy of MusicTech this month (it’s a choice between that, ComputerMusic or Sound on Sound). The decision was largely based on the samples on the cover DVDs.

I have to admit that the Summer Chill samples weren’t really to my taste, though I can’t fault the sound quality. The Ultimate Samples Collection Vol 3 was another matter however. Plenty of really good drum samples, both individual drums and patterns.

I’m looking forward to trying them out with some songs. If you’re interested I’m mostly using Magix Music Maker 14 these days. Very underrated software in my opinion and with some great features for playing live at church. I reviewed the previous version last year and thought it was pretty good. It was XXL version that comes with a MIDI/USB keyboard, which I’m still using.

My children often join me at the front or back of church if I’m playing or operating the mixer respectively. We are at the more relaxed of our two services so I don’t think it’s a problem (despite the attraction of the multicoloured buttons and sliders on the mixer - and my guitar amp come to think of it!).
Actually I’d go further than that and say it would be a problem if I sent them away. I was rather pleased to find this video of Linus Torvalds at the Linux World awards a few years ago.
You’ll have to wait a little but about a minute in his children run on stage to be with him. That’s the kind of open attitude I think we should see more of.

Stallman receiving Torvalds award at LinuxWorld conf 1999