Airturn vs. PageFlip Cicada - Update!!

First of all: I am not getting paid for this review nor my previous one.

I've been subscribing to one of the blogs I found that has a pretty good break down between these two pedals. I subscribe to it because I want to see what other people have to say about the pedals. That was where I initially voiced my personal experience with the PageFlip Cicada before I got my hands on an Airturn pedal.

To read that post, go here:
AirTurn vs. PageFlip Cicada - A Bluetooth Battle Showdown

(My comment is under "Rebecca." Just keep scrolling til you see it. Essentially, it's the same as my previous Post.)

George over at PageFlip Cicada is pretty quiet in the blogosphere, at least from my experience in trying to find comments by the makers of their product. I'm always curious to hear what they have to say, and have them clarify whatever the blogger has left out in their review. Hugh over at AirTurn on the other hand, is like me and Facebook. He's on top of it, and you always hear him drop a note to bloggers. Which I believe it's important to do because it shows that he takes a lot of pride in his product. Internet presence is important these days, People!

So, to actually hear George chime in on the blog-comments I subscribe to, I was pretty surprise and want to hear what he has to say:

"The newer versions of the Cicada (since July 2012) no longer require you to enter a passcode. Furthermore, these same versions allow you to expose the iPad’s virtual keyboard by simply pressing the button next to the current mode (the button next to the flashing light). Each time you press it, you expose/hide the virtual keyboard. Therefore, those arguments against the Cicada no longer apply. Also, we have NEVER had the plastic of the pedal break. Don’t let the lightness fool you. It is very durable. The Cicada has been in use by prize-winning musicians in prestigious venues around the world. It’s a great device, and you can’t beat the price difference."

There you have it!

To which Hugh responded:

"Hi George – interesting comment about the durability of the Cicada, given some of the contradictory experiences of other users:
http://balletfromthepiano.blogspot.com/2012/11/those-page-turns-will-be-death-of-me.html
Have you been able to address the noise issue yet with your newest version? Musicians on American Idol cannot afford to have any extra noise while turning pages on the TV set – that may be one reason why they are using AirTurn pedals:
Philip Phillips performs American Idol finals with AirTurn pianist
All the very best,
Hugh"

(Thanks for the shout-out) 
  
George's Respond: 

"Hugh,
Your concerns about noise are unfounded. It certainly has not had an impact
on the Grammy award winning composers and performers who use the PageFlip Cicada. It did not have am impact with the world class musicians who have used the Cicada on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, O2 in London, and many other venues around the world. In just the last few months, traveling bands with the Temptations, Cliff Richard, as well as Broadway musicians have been enjoying their PageFlip Cicada pedals. A DVD was made by one of the PageFlip users at the Sydney Opera House last month and noise was never an issue, otherwise they would not have used it.
I enjoy reading the comments we regularly receive from satisfied customers who value the benefits they derive from hands-free reading using their PageFlip Cicada pedals.

Some of our users have commented that they find it comfortable to actually rest their foot on the pedal, with the Repeat switch on the Off position. In that case, their foot never has to search for the pedal while they are concentrating on the music and they can simply release and press the pedal again to turn the next page. It’s a simple action that makes no noise whatsoever.

As for the issue of durability, some people have commented on the lightweight plastic, as if it is a concern that it would crack or break. There has never been one incident of plastic breaking. If any defect is found, we are quick to repair it. As Becky pointed out, we worked with her to attempt to resolve her issue. Her situation is odd because it involved her iPad losing Bluetooth connectivity. The flashing Bluetooth icon on her iPad is not a problem with a Bluetooth device not working, it is a problem with her iPad being able to maintain the pairing. Afterall, whether our pedal is on or off should not cause a Bluetooth icon on her iPad from turning off. She even alluded to some other problem her iPad had. I was so surprised by her experience that I used her returned pedal as my own personal pedal. The result: I have never had an issue with that pedal on my iPad2.

There are some mistaken ideas about the pedal’s impact on page-turning speed. As you and I know, the pedal simply emits a key press signal (just like a keyboard). Any delays in page turning are purely due to sluggish response of the software. This may be due to suboptimal programming, poor use of memory, wasteful storage of the sheet music in the pdf file, or an excessive number of apps running in the background that degrade performance. It simply is not due to slow emission of a keypress from the pedal, as this behavior is as instant as a keyboard.

You may not be aware of this but I’ve been contacted by a number of your
former users who have traded their Airturn pedals for PageFlip Cicadas. Several issues with their Airturn pedals were cited, including problems with Bluetooth pairing, cryptic use of buttons and lights to change profiles, incompatibility with Windows XP, and problems dealing with the rechargeable battery. Airturn, like any company, has clearly had to deal with people returning units due to defects or poor satisfaction. After all, where do you think the refurbished units come from that are available on Airturn’s website?

On the subject of batteries, some people on this blog have commented that they think using a rechargeable battery is somehow better. When designing the PageFlip Cicada we of course had a choice of using a rechargeable battery
but specifically opted not to. Instead, we went with a more reliable solution by using universally available AA batteries. The rationale was simple: we wanted to avoid having the hassles of constant recharging. In addition, what do you do when your rechargeable battery runs out in the middle of a show? You don’t have time to recharge it. However, you can always pop in two fresh batteries that you can carry as a backup. Furthermore, how do you monitor the charging level of rechargeable batteries? This fear causes people to distress about the state of their batteries and requires them to recharge excessively. I hear that Airturn users charge their units weekly. This is simply a matter that the user should not have to be concerned with. We designed the PageFlip Cicada to consume very little power. Therefore, it is not uncommon for one set of batteries to last about a year of heavy usage. When the batteries run low, the pedal lights emit a triple flash. Why would you subject yourself to weekly recharging rather than batteries that can last approximately a year? Any worries about endlessly replacing alkaline batteries are totally unfounded. No PageFlip Cicada user ever claimed that their batteries ran out of juice in anything closely resembling the recharging period for the Airturn pedal!

There are people on both sides of the fence regarding their like/dislike of the pedal motion. Many users like the added travel distance of the Cicada rather than the imperceptible gap of the Airturn. It’s a matter of preference. However, it should be noted that we do support two 1/8″ mono outlets in which you can plug a pedal of your choice.

The bottom line is that the Cicada and Airturn pedals meet the needs of their respective user bases and offer hands-free page turning solutions. Check out a recent survey I co-authored about page turning solutions (including mechanical options). You can download it from
http://www.pageflip.com/survey/PageFlipSurvey.pdf

PageFlip is attentive to the needs and feedback of its users. We plan to announce some exciting new developements soon. I will post to this blog to share the details. In the meantime, PageFlip is glad to offer coupons to interested folks who want to try us out. Please contact me at sales@pageflip.com and I would be happy to get you set up."

 

So what do I have in response to these comments?

For the record: NEVER CALL ME BECKY!

My husband, who works in the Production and Tech world said it best:

"You know, I've mixed for famous musicians who use shit-gear. Just because you are an amazing musician, doesn't mean you know your gear. Manufacturers are always throwing free gear at artists to get them endorse it."

Bottom-line, I still choose Airturn over PageFlip Cicada simply based on what happened to me in performance. Even though I have a 1st-Gen iPad, and forScore crashed on me during the production of Millie, I never lost the Bluetooth connection. Now, I understand that price may be a factor in making that decision. I have been asked by colleagues about my experience of the two pedals, and some chose the Airturn, some chose PageFlip, and some decided to stick to old-school paper because paper doesn't "disconnect." They are both great devices. I did enjoy using PageFlip the one year I had it if it wasn't for it failing on me.

Word of advice, if you do decide on the PageFlip, keep your box to travel in.

Here is a great video from Chris Burke who prefers the PageFlip over Airturn:

(Take note: Every time he picks up the PageFlip, it clacks.)

On that note: I'm off to LA to play for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Music Center.

Happy Playing!

Those Page Turns Will Be the DEATH of ME!

Over a year ago, I wrote about my love for my iPad and how amazing it was to just carry around a small device that stored all my sheet music. Since then, I've had the honor to play for many dance and musical theater shows with my humble 1st Gen iPad. I've also put many "miles" on two major page-turn foot pedals that have been in the market since the iPad came out.

The PageFlip Cicada, and AirTurn. I can go into the specks and the nerdie-techie side of these two devices, but there are already some good reviews out there on these pedals. Instead, I'm simply going to write about my personal experience with these two pedals.

Last year, as I was prepping for Orange County School of the Art's Fall Production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." I purchased the PageFlip Cicada per the recommendation from the lovely people at forScore when I told them price is a factor in making a decision. My first impression of the pedal was that it was kind a flimpsy piece of plastic. Pairing the device was a little annoying, because you had to enter a code for the pairing to work.  The other downside to this pedal is, you have to turn the pedal off to be able to use your keyboard because your iPad sees it as an external keyboard. It was also noisy and made a clicking sound when you pushed on the pedal. But it did the job that I needed it to do. Turn pages.

One month into our production, the pedal started skipping pages. I contacted PageFlip asking if they have suggestions of what to do, they simply sent me a new pedal. The second pedal worked beautifully, until Day #2 of our show. In the middle of the number "Pandemonium," the pedal stopped working. (Ironic, no?) I pushed it several times, and still the page didn't turn. So I quickly touched the screen to turn the page. I must have had two fingers on it because the "search content" option came up and the screen darken. (This was how I set up the app to make finding music faster.) I looked at the top right corner of my iPad screen, and noticed that the pedal was no longer connected.  The Bluetooth symbol says it's "on" but not connected to any devices. I kept playing, and kept pushing on the pedal in hopes that it would reconnect. It did. The Bluetooth symbol flickered, and reconnected my pedal. By this point, my iPad was thinking, "Oh, you pushed the pedal 6 times while it wasn't connected so let me catch up to you!" By this point, I was completely lost in my music. I had to depend on my instincts that I know this show and can do it in my sleep and survived through Act 1 mostly from memory.

During intermission, I decided to re-pair the device by "forgetting" the device and pairing it again. There was something I noticed.  Because all these people were in the theater, I was picking up about 20 Bluetooth signals. Now, not having much knowledge of how Bluetooth technology worked, I immediately assumed the pedal was getting a Bluetooth-interference from the audience because there were simply too many devices out there. Act II wasn't any better. The pedal kept losing connection and I ended up playing the rest of the show by memory. Goes to show you, you can't always depend on technology to work, and you still have to rely on your skills.

After the run of the show, I emailed PageFlip again with videos showing him exactly what happened in the middle of a performance. The PageFlip guy was kind enough to send me yet another pedal that he personally tested himself. The 3rd pedal was fine until I had to take it somewhere. The back-pedal stopped working, and something was rattling inside. That was when I decided that perhaps I need to look into the AirTurn. Going through 3 pedals in a year isn't economical for anybody. In reality, if I had to repurchase the PageFlip Cicada 3 times, I would have just purchased the AirTurn in the first place. Lesson learned.

When I finally got the AirTurn, my first impression already was that it was a much sturdier pedal. It's made in the US of A, unlike the Cicada which was made in China. The pairing was simple. No complicated codes to enter. You simply turn on your pedal, turn on the Bluetooth on your iPad, and pair up the device. It was quick and easy. Another advantage was the ability to get your iPad keyboard to pop up if I need to respond to an email or hop on Facebook to post a snarky status. All you have to do is push the little red button, and the keyboard pops up. How fantastic is that?

The touch compared to the Cicada feels a little different. The Cicada had a medal contact that would trigger the page-turn. I know this because after the third pedal, my dear husband took the pedal apart to see how it worked. The AirTurn's pedal is shaped like a U. It takes a little bit more muscle, but only be a smidge. The AirTurn takes no time to get use to. Because of the sturdiness of the pedal, it's much more ideal for gigging musicians like myself. Let's be reasonable. I take very good care of my things. I'm not one to play frisbee or broom hockey with it. But I do work with jr highers and high schoolers half the time, and with dancers the other half of the time. This means, there is always a slight possibility that someone might accidentally kick it across the stage or studio floor. In that case, AirTurn wins by a landslide. (Kids, I do not recommend any of you doing that. It was just an example!)

I decided if I was going to do a write-up about these pedals, the AirTurn needs to survive through my high school Fall Production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Well, not only did this little guy survive, he passed with flying colors. I did run into a small snag, it had nothing to do with AirTurn, but everything to do with my humble 1st Gen iPad. I guess it's that time to upgrade.

At the end of the day, I need a device I can depend on. I highly recommend the AirTurn to any gigging musicians out there who is using the iPad. Not for just the durability, but also the fact that you can use your internal keyboard with the pedal connected. To me, that was a huge win in my book. The PageFlip Cicada is still a good device, however, not for a professional musician. If you were say, a private instructor and teach out of your own home, and the Cicada stays in one place, it works great. But if you are traveling on a daily basis from one location to the next, AirTurn is the way to go!

Happy Playing!

Interested in purchasing the Airturn?
http://www.airturn.com/

Interested in purchasing the PageFlip?
http://www.pageflip.com/