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Just like the name implies, when you use Virtual Praise Band, amazing players and singers are living inside of your relatively recent, PC compatible computer, just waiting for you to tell them when, how, and what to play. You control the mix. Unlike tracks, you can also mute any instruments you don't need, and alter your song arrangements on the fly. You can even speed up, or slow down the tempo.
And, at least for my ministry, this may be the best part Virtual Praise Band is the best training tool I've ever used with my team.
So what's the deal? What is it exactly?
Virtual Praise Band takes the principle of ordinary accompaniment tracks and morphs it into the 21st century, as a meaningful adjunct to LIVE players on your worship team. So, for example, if you have actual players on drums, bass, and keys, but would love to round out their sound with guitars, Hammond, and some percussion you can do that, and for about the same cost (per track) as when using ordinary accompaniment tracks.
How? Virtual Praise Band combines industry leading software with specially formatted tracks created for Virtual Praise Band from the raw multi-track recordings. These are not MIDI facsimiles, but true, Christian, world-class session musicians who, in effect, sit in with the rest of your players ready to play whatever is missing, but - and this is key - only what's missing.
And here's something equally exciting: We have an actual contract with the software developer, the world's leading producer of music software, to continue development of this rock-solid 17th generation product for the needs of our customer base throughout the world. In other words, probably for the first time, the needs of the Christian worship community have been moved to the front burner of research and development by a leading software company.
We spent nearly two years in preparations, development, and beta testing. During that time we were embraced and endorsed by leaders in some of the largest churches in America (including Bill Shifflett, at the amazing Lenexa Baptist in Kansas City, Brandon Smith at Lakewood in Houston), in small to mid-sized churches throughout the country, and by numerous independent worship artists.
We're blessed to have brought together an amazing team who are doing business and ministry with integrity and honor. Because we've built the company, from the ground up, as a ministry to worship leaders, we're constantly looking for, and finding ways, to make membership more valuable, but simply according to raw numbers, the tracks, and extended benefits included in an annual subscription to Virtual Praise Band (payable monthly - $49.95, or annually $499.95) would cost over $1,900.00 apples to apples from our primary (only known) competitor.
Competitor? We didn't know any other company was thinking about such a concept for our first three months in development. By that time we'd already arrived at our costs and an associated pricing model. Honestly, our goal was to see how little we could charge and still stay viable, pay all royalties, and develop a constant stream of fresh tracks. That's why Virtual Praise Band formatted tracks cost about $9.00 each for those who take advantage of our discounted annual subscription payment. The competition charges from $19.50 - $24.50 per track, plus an additional $12.00 (per track) for video lyric enhancement. All of our tracks come with video lyrics standard right out of the box (so to speak).
I'm not a good enough writer to fully describe how much Virtual Praise Band can rock your worship leading world! That's one reason everyone gets a FREE TEST DRIVE. You can activate the software for up to thirty days without paying a nickel, and we don't even ask for any of your credit information until after you realize (and decide) that Virtual Praise Band is just what you were looking for. For a great number of ministries Virtual Praise Band is worth every cent (and more) just to have access to the multi-tracks.
But I'm going to add another reason to check out Virtual Praise Band, at VirtualPraiseband.com. Because you're finding out about us here, send us an email at virtualpraiseband@gmail.com after you download your free trial. We'll pick five winners (from a huge hat) and award them with a free month's subscription! Just include your honest opinion about Virtual Praise Band, and permission for us to use your endorsement on the site.
Speaking of the site, we're pretty thrilled with the way it's working, and with the growing list of video tutorials, upcoming releases, and the complete product explanations provided therein.
Membership has it's privileges.
God has called us to make our ministry a ministry to you. We created this tool, and formed the company around it, to bless and to minister to worship leaders. Please feel free, any time, to let me know how we are doing. I promise you, if you require a response, you will always get one. Our members even use that email address to set our production schedule and priorities, so Virtual Praise Band tracks are actually produced according to the instructions of our members. Right now, if at least twenty of our members desire a track, and the associated copyright clearance is available, we produce it especially for them.
I sincerely hope I've not oversold, or hyped this tool in any way. I don't need to. If it wasn't excellent we certainly couldn't offer a FREE TEST DRIVE. But we are, so climb in, buckle up, and hold on!
Bio Info:
Jeff Payne is a full-time worship evangelist and previously served as a youth pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention (for 26 years). Churches he served appeared 18 times on the top 50 list for evangelism, baptizing as many as 323 youth in a single year. Jeff has earned both theological and music degrees (Theory and Composition), and is in demand throughout the world for his ability to clearly express a Biblical theology of worship. Jeff makes his home in Beaumont Texas with his wife (Kathleen) of over thirty years.
Related Links:
• Virtual Praise Band.com
Experiencing Worship, The Study