Air Turn Options

BrianGold

I've used StageTraxx for about 10 years now and because I play guitar and perform I have an Airturn (200) for starting and stopping playback.

About 5 years ago my previous one starting failing. Wouldn't respond at all so I bought a new one (200) and it's been fine - until now. Now it starts but won't stop and then won't start. It's very inconsistent and therefore unreliable. When it starts a song the blue light flashes 7 or 8 times indicating it's trying to connect.

Am going to have to obtain another one but wonder if there are any better/cheaper/more reliable options out there? Obviously it has to work with Stage Traxx3 and my iPad Air.

Anyone got any suggestions please?

spooly8864

BrianGold

I got one of these from Amazon

M-VAVE Chocolate Plus Wireless MIDI Foot Controller 4 Buttons

It is small and sends midi signals via Bluetooth :-)

Damir

spooly8864 M-VAVE Chocolate Plus Wireless MIDI Foot Controller 4 Buttons

It is small and sends midi signals via Bluetooth :-)

I love this thing. Small, tough, on batteries that last for a whole gig, and very cheap, i would pay double as my airturn 6 cost me a lot more and does not compare to this little pocket rocket.
I wish it had a double tap command , i would pay tripple the price.

MickJames

spooly8864 I too, have one of these. I just configured it the day of a gig and was very happy with how I no longer need to use my hands for most functions during my show.

One suggestion...don't place it too close to your feet during your performance. Make it so you need to "reach" for it a bit. I accidentally hit my "Rewind To beginning" button in the middle of a song. You can imagine what happened!

Damir

MickJames One suggestion...don't place it too close to your feet during your performance. Make it so you need to "reach" for it a bit. I accidentally hit my "Rewind To beginning" button in the middle of a song. You can imagine what happened!

Why would you have a dangerous command like that on your foot pedal ? At rehearsals I understand, but not at live gigs, I understand false starts can be a pain but I would use the iPad interface in that case for those once off emergencies that way you eliminate the danger of accidentally hitting the wrong foot switch.
Once I hit start on my pedal nothing can interrupt it to stop easily because I programmed the same switch for long press to Stop\pause and even the XFade feature is on a long press , so no chance of stopping the show occurs while using foot pedals.
If I have an occasional false start I immediately hit stop on the iPad itself, it’s very quick to do and still keeps my foot pedal safe to tap dance on without creating an embarrassing moment.

spooly8864

MickJames I live in dreaded anticipation 😂😂😂

MickJames

Damir you do you, I'll do me. That 'dangerous command' is just as easy to hit on the iPad, since it's right next to my VOL- button.
I have changed the Chocolate's REWIND button so it now requires a long press. I want the pedal layout to mirror exactly what's on the iPad.

BrianGold

Thanks all. Chocolate looks like a great device for effecting guitar sounds or using midi, which I don't really. I have separate guitar effects pedals.
I only want something that will play a track through StageTraxx without me having to use my hands. Some of my songs start with guitar and I kick the track in. It's an effective (impressive) thing to do.

I previously used my Airturn left pedal to simply play a track but would occasionally (not often) also hit it to stop, When I do that now, it doesn't stop and actually disconnects from bluetooth according to the Aitrun setting.

I think it's probably buggered but still works except I occasionally have to re-connect it. nothing is perfect

markus

If you are good with two buttons I use this one - very cheep, reliable, non destroyable 😉 : LEKATO Wireless Page Turner

BrianGold

markus
Does it work with iPad and StageTraxx? Appears to be wireless not bluetooth.

Damir

MickJames That 'dangerous command' is just as easy to hit on the iPad, since it's right next to my VOL- button.
I have changed the Chocolate's REWIND button so it now requires a long press. I want the pedal layout to mirror exactly what's on the iPad.

Yeah i do the same , i have identical 8 controls on my chocolate foot pedal and 10 controls on my ipad , 6 on my digit3 remote mounted on top of my guitar, so even if i step away from the mic stand on stage i have control of most important things, on ipad i place all dangerous buttons close to each other , example STOP / START, XFADE , 2 SONG select buttons , LOOP current region, 2 Region buttons, 2 Tempo buttons , 2 Volume buttons
Reason for this the two most dangerous buttons are next to each other , that area i dont normally need as i trigger start by foot or guitar remote, song select i rarely use as my setlist is in pretty good order anyway so i placed that as a buffer switches to all other more used buttons Loop is pretty safe if engaged by mistake as it can be reversed without damage and Region buttons are mostly used are in the middle and very safe , same with Tempo, volume is probably my least used buttons as i have a dedicated knob for backing track volume on the mixer , i think i might just exchange positions with song select buttons as they do get used more than the volume , .
Chocolate foot pedal is very safe, as my start is a single tap to start and a long press to stop , its never let me down yet , my old airturn 6 has caught me out once because its a simple stop/start action , i hit it thinking i was hitting my TC helicon harmony switch Oops there goes the illusion of having a live band 🤬 i covered it up with my guitar and an awkward reentry to the backing. The other Xfade button i placed on the same switch as the loop button but hidden by a long press , so far no accidental xfades to new song .
Aniway im sitn on an egg chair under an old oak tree sippn on a johny walker on a balmy evening and life could not get better as i can see my neigbour Maria is about to say HALLOOO🥴

BrianGold

Problem identified. I used it last Saturday and it kept dropping Bluetooth connection. Since then I’ve recd email from AirTurn stating that iOS 2.6 has an issue with it and they cannot get apple to resolve. They have offered half price on the next version of their device AirTurn 500.

Disappointing from pole of course. I shall let Peter know as I imagine others may have the same problem.

peter

Yes, Airturn and also the IK Blueboard no longer connect reliably to iOS26.

BrianGold

peter

Thanks for confirming Peter, can you advise if I obtain the new version (AirTurn Duo500) that will be okay?

The STX User Guide only references AirTurn as a suitable Bluetooth device for play/stop. Presumably it would also work with other devices to do the same thing as long as they connect via bluetooth?

There are lots of options on the market, including Legato as a page-turner. I assume that these could be easily configured to merely play and stop (which are my primary reqs) as well? The Stage Traxx app settings would recognise the bluetooth device and allow me to select a switch option as they currently do with Airturn?

Regards
BRIAN

peter

Yes, the 500 series works fine on iOS26.

For alternatives look here: https://support.stagetraxx.com/d/4575-recommended-pedals-and-footswitches-for-use-with-stage-traxx