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I have just gone and spent stupid money on a refurb 4th gen iPad Pro 12.9” just for music scores.

I am looking at getting a pedal for page turning, is there recommendations here for ones I should go for or avoid?

I use the PageFlip FireFly and am quite happy with it. The only problem I have is occasionally hitting the back pedal instead of the forward pedal. This usually results in some mild cursing and frantic stomping, but that’s about it.

I use the Pageflip butterfly, it has excellent battery life, practically indestructible. Only issue is the pedal is very sensitive, so you cannot rest your feet on it. If you need silent page turning, this is the choice. If I would buy again I’ll probably get those guitar pedal style page turners.

https://www.codamusictech.com/products/bluetooth-page-turner-music-pedal-for-tablets

Kevin, I’ve had an AirTurn BT-105 Bluetooth pedal for several years and it works extremely well with forScore.

But a couple of days ago I was browsing this Forum and came across a post from JJHLH (forScore, page turns, MIDI, Kawai DP) who mentioned forScore Pro’s built-in page turner which uses facial recognition technology. It requires the 4th Generation iPad and a $9.99 per year Pro subscription. I’d recently upgraded my Gen 1 iPad, so I decided to give it a go. It’s really promising, and it may be worthwhile for you to try this BEFORE laying out significantly more money on a Bluetooth pedal. (I usually avoid subscriptions, but forScore is worth supporting, in my view - it’s an amazing program.)

The advantages are that you don’t need Bluetooth or WiFi, you don’t need to carry around or re-charge a pedal kit, and you always have your left foot free for the una corda pedal (or another or other dedicated DP pedal). And if you don’t like it, you’ve only lost $9.99.

I don’t think it took me any longer to get used to it than it did to get used to the AirTurn; you just need to play around with calibration until it’s right for you.

You can program both pedals to flip forward, and the problem is solved. I have no such problem with PageFlip Firefly though.

It depends on what is meant by "rest your feet on it". Holding the foot on the surface of the pedal, or completely relax the foot by pressing the pedal, and raising the foot and lowering it again when turning over. Personally, I prefer to keep my foot to the side (with this particular pedal, with other models it may be different), and bring it only when it is necessary to turn over the pages. I'm so used to it that sometimes it seems to me that the page was turned by itself, since I don't even remember the moments when my foot pressed the pedal.

There is no better way for me than a Bluetooth pedal (I don't take facial gestures seriously).

Thanks Marie, that is really useful info about forScore. I have not looked at it. My music is predominantly in paper form even when purchased via the Henle or Musicnotes app. Though I do grab all the PDFs but I have never used forScore or looked at any other music score apps beyond the ones I have used to buy music.

I was concerned about coordination of my feet with a pedal because I do use the una corda pedal and would have to get used to moving my left foot between three different pedals. I have enough music with repeats over page boundaries that I need to go back and forward.

The option of recognising a facial gesture of some kind feels like it might be easier for me.

forScore (like some other programs) allows you to create duplicate pages and arrange them in the desired order. Thus, you can always only move forward. With the transition to digital sheet music, there are no more problems of flipping forward/backward for reprise, volts, etc.

An independent comparison test:
https://www.pianobuyer.com/article/review-bluetooth-page-turning-pedals-for-pianists/

I also just got the Butterfly. Really like it so far, though I'm somehow accidentally double-stepping more than I would like. Hoping I can adjust.

What about using the piano pedals for this? I used to have the sostenuto pedal perform the page-down function, and the una corda perform the page-up.

The former is not intrusive because who uses the sostenuto anyway?
The latter is not intrusive to me because I don't use the una corda ... though the next person may take a different view.

But the attraction is that it costs nothing (free software) and removes the need for yet another pedal.

I also bought an iPad a couple of years ago just for use with forScore. (Although I've somewhat fallen in love with the tablet since and use it for a lot of other things).

I wound up buying the PageFlip Firefly, although in retrospect the Butterfly might have been the better choice.

One thing to be aware of is the interference between Bluetooth page-turners and the iPad's keyboard:
http://forscore.co/kb/virtual-keyboard/

I have an Airturn BT105 that I use with MusicReader on my Surface Book tablet.

I am uncertain of how old it is - 10 years? - and it has performed well that whole time.

It takes a bit of practice to learn to use a pedal for turning pages, but eventually it is second nature. Wonderful gadget.

Perhaps this is an option if:
1) You always play a digital piano, never an acoustic;
2) You always play on the same console digital piano, that is you don't have to play different instruments in different places from time to time.

Many people are unaware that there is a very simple way to get the onscreen keyboard back when the Bluetooth pedal is connected. I have no idea why Bluetooth pedal manufacturers never mention a word about this long-standing method.

So, if the virtual keyboard doesn't appear on the iPad screen, you don't need to disconnect the Bluetooth pedal, you don't even need a separate button on the pedal to bring up the on-screen keyboard. All you have to do is long press on the arrow in the lower right corner, and the on-screen keyboard will appear.

I've been playing with it today for a bit. Not a disaster, but definitely hard work to get the calibration correct. I've tried both the lips and head turn, currently on head turning, but I think I'll have to return to lips because I think I'll give myself a crick in the neck if I leave it on head turn.

But you do need to be facing straight on to the iPad for the lip action to work, a slight turn of the head and it doesn't work and if you turn up the sensitivity too far you get lots of unwanted page turns.

But I very much suspect if I went with a bluetooth foot pedal instead I'd just have a different set of co-ordination problems.

You can’t completely relax your foot on the pedal without triggering the turn. It is very sensitive, but at the same time it is not “tap” sensitive. What it means is too little pressure nothing happens, too much pressure it double turn the pages. Yes you can get used to it over time, but I might have preferred something with more tactile feedback. Just something for potential buyers to think about.

You can. I know some people who completely relax the foot on the pedal. I myself have used this method before. If the function of repeated turning when pressing the pedal is disabled, then the next turning over will be when raising the foot and again with its relaxation, by fully pressing the pedal. The foot rests on the pedal and waits for the next flip when the foot is raised and pressed again. For some it may be more convenient and reliable against accidental light touches of the pedal and constantly holding the foot in tension over the pedal.

It didn't even take me long to find the same example of using the pedal from other users. Check out this, the most popular review about this pedal on Amazon. Here is a quote from the review of that user:

This is so smart! I haven't bought one yet - I usually play rather short pieces and so far it has been cheaper to print the pages in case the score is more than one page, but this is genious!

I have a Moukey. It works well, but it is quite "clickey." I just rest my left foot in fron of it, so a small forward motion is all it takes to bring my toes over the pedals and click on it.