[Zubersoft]

If you do decide to go with an AirTurn, please use the links on my website before buying, as it helps support MobileSheets development I would really appreciate it.

For reference, this is the link: http://www.airturn.com/139.html

[GraemeJ]

Rather than buying one of the commercial offerings (and being a cheapskate) I'm first going to try and add BT capability to my existing pedals.

Originally, I bought the 3 pedal unit, knowing I would need forward and back and believing I would find a use for the 3rd pedal at some time. In practice, I find I really have no use for that 3rd switch. So I am going to physically remove it from the board.

I've ordered a cheap BT mouse on eBay, which I intend to gut and then remount on the board, in place of the removed pedal. The remaining two pedals are rewired to the left and right buttons of the mouse electronics.

If this works (and I see no reason why it wouldn't) then I have a BT pedal system for about 25 euros . That's a considerable saving over the commercial units.

[jeffn1]

I am hoping I never have this problem because I could not get bluetooth to work right (page would not turn when I hit pedal).

(Does anyone still have this problem?)

The USB connection has been rock solid.

Jeff

[GraemeJ]

My USB problem is mechanical, rather that electrical. When it works, it works very well, but it is a bit hit and miss - and that's not something I would want to happen during a gig.

I experimented with the Bluetooth link using a BT keyboard and that seems to work very well. The next step is using a BT mouse, when it arrives from China . If I can't make it work, I'm only out of pocket to the tune of 5 euros, but I thought it was worth a punt. I'll report back when everything is here and I've had a chance to play with it.

[chrisss]

This is a BT solution, not USB, but it is indeed cheap-
- a $9 bluetooth mouse from ebay
- put opaque tape over the laser eye underneath
- put it on top of a little "sticky mat" - sold in most home goods stores for the bottom of drawers, etc etc etc.
- if you're on carpet, put the mouse+mat on top of a small piece of plywood, so it doesn't move around too much relative to your foot.

Hopefully, sometime soon, somebody who makes a mouse will figure this out too. If they put another $1 worth of plastic onto a mouse and make it slightly "floor friendly", and raise the price to cover that and not too terribly much more, they will make a lot of money providing a basic, serviceable, and very economical foot switch. Hard to patent or protect but a useful and profitable product delivering great value. Mike maybe that's something you can do, and get something back from it??

[hunter.england]

Might be a bit late to the party here but my solution was a Standard USB mouse (with the scroll wheel removed), connected to my Galaxy Tab 4 via an OTG Cable. I then attached a 22mm plastic pipe clip (used to hold central heating pipes to walls etc) to the bottom of the mouse, have the buttons facing you and clip it the one of the feet of my mic stand. You have forward and back and the touch is very delicate and instant. You do need to glance down to get your foot ready but not too difficult. I am looking at converting the mouse to something better as far as finding the button but with it clipped to the mic stand it seems fine.

[maintech]

I'm using an android galaxy tab 12" and wonder if the usb/charging cable connection can be hooked up to usb pedal? (I connect to the PC through that slot, so I guess I'll need a splitter or a gender bender because the usb end is a male, and the pedal will be a male too. I use the only other slot for micro sd card, and I don't know if that slot can interpret usb data flow, probably not!

[GraemeJ]

After a lot of faffing around, I abandoned the BT mouse idea. It did work, but every mouse I tried had a built-in timeout. This required a double operation (with a delay whilst the BT receiver recognised it) before it could be used. Basically, this is not the right way to go when there might be a considerable time between one chart and another.

Instead I have invested in an EZ-Key module and installed that on my cheap pedal set. Total cost higher, but still less than buying a commercial BT pedal.

One thing I wasn't expecting - the pedal switches were not mechanical, but optical! Rather caught me on the hop, but I found a couple of micro switches in the bits box and converted two of the pedals to mechanical and that solved the problem. This had a secondary advantage in that I could retain the USB wiring, so the pedals can be used both wired and unwired.

[GraemeJ]

I'm using an android galaxy tab 12" and wonder if the usb/charging cable connection can be hooked up to usb pedal? (I connect to the PC through that slot, so I guess I'll need a splitter or a gender bender because the usb end is a male, and the pedal will be a male too. I use the only other slot for micro sd card, and I don't know if that slot can interpret usb data flow, probably not!

Plug a mouse into the USB port and see if that works.  If it does, then so should a pedal.

Not sure that I understand your description of the gender required?  The pedal will have a full size male connector and the tablet either a full size USB female connector or a mini USB female (not sure which on the Galaxy). 

Mini USB ports are by far the most common, in which case you will need an adaptor - but not a gender bender.

[bazza]

I use one of the BiliPro foot-pedal page turners, plugged in via USB. Effective for forward & back turning, and handy that they have illuminated pads as switches. However, I don't know how they justify the price (about £50 sterling) as they are pretty basic tools, and rather shoddily made in my view.

[GraemeJ]

.... I don't know how they justify the price ....

That's easy - a limited market place.  How many people would actually need a foot controller?  The manufacturer has to cover his R&D and manufacturing costs and then make a profit from a very limited market base.