News

PageFlip Pedals

| News

This week’s NAMM 2017 trade show is in full swing, and many of the companies that make accessories of interest to forScore users are announcing some changes and new products. Today, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the new product lineup from PageFlip, makers of the popular Cicada and Firefly page turners that so many of our customers love. (A quick note: we do not have any sort of sales or affiliate arrangement with PageFlip. We recommend these products because we use and enjoy them, not for any other reason.)

PageFlip has been in business for many years, but most of our customers are probably familiar with them because of their original forScore-compatible page turner, the PageFlip Cicada. This page turner was released in 2011 and featured a compact, all-in-one design with comfortably arranged pedals. The Cicada was joined by the more refined and powerful Firefly in 2014 (you can read our original review of it here), and late last year the venerable Cicada was replaced entirely by the all-new Butterfly. Finally, this week PageFlip announced a new 4-pedal page turner, the Dragonfly.

This new lineup—the Butterfly, Firefly, and Dragonfly—offers an impressive array of options that’s sure to meet the needs and budget of the vast majority of our customers.

Butterfly

PageFlip’s entry-level option is an interesting shift from the Cicada it replaces. It loses some things you won’t miss (like the code entry required for pairing), and a few you might (the two auxiliary pedal jacks on the back and the USB port for AC power or wired connectivity). But these options aren’t useful for everyone, and if you don’t need them you’ll get a lot for a fairly low price tag.

The design of the device is clearly an evolution of the refinements that first debuted with the Firefly. In fact, at first blush the Butterfly looks a lot more like a toned down Firefly than an amped-up Cicada. Like the Firefly, the Butterfly’s pedals are longer and feature a lower profile—they lack the distinctive click and snap of the old Cicada, and while some may miss the assurance of mechanical feedback the silent operation is a definite improvement. The Butterfly is also larger and heftier than the Cicada, making it more stable and easier to use.

One final change from the Cicada, though not generally important to forScore users, is a reduction in the number of available modes. While the Cicada and Firefly both included five modes, the Butterfly loses the mouse click and space/return options. The remaining three options (page up/down, left/right, and up/down) continue to work perfectly with forScore and the vast majority of other compatible apps right out of the box.

Firefly

The Firefly is expertly designed and continues to offer a fantastic balance of power, portability, and flexibility at a reasonable price. Its low-profile pedals are durable and comfortable, and the added lights embedded into each make them easy to find even in dark environments. It features a USB port and can be used wirelessly or tethered to a compatible device (iPads require a separate USB adapter), and the ability to power the device via replaceable AA batteries or an AC power adapter means you’re covered in almost any situation.

It also features two auxiliary ports on the back that can be used to control additional features in forScore with extra pedals. For instance, you can use the two main pedals to turn pages and use the additional pedals to navigate between pieces in a setlist. This can be great if you only need these extras some of the time, otherwise consider the Dragonfly below.

Finally, the Firefly includes all five of the modes discussed above (page up/down, left/right, up/down, left and right mouse click, and space/return), and also features programmable modes. While these features won’t be helpful to forScore users, consider these differences if you plan to use your page turner with other apps.

Dragonfly

The newest PageFlip was just announced and we haven’t had a chance to use one in person yet, but it already seems like a natural fit at the top of the lineup. Feature for feature, it’s essentially the same as the Firefly, but it includes two additional, smaller pedals near the top that can be used to control more features in apps like forScore. Importantly, these extra pedals are neatly nested allowing the device to retain the same general size and profile as its siblings, rather than forcing the much wider layout of most other solutions.

From playing or pausing background audio to activating links without reaching up to touch the screen, over thirty customizable actions would make any 4-pedal page turner a compelling option. But from what we can see so far—from price tag to design—the Dragonfly nails it on all counts and is worthy of very serious consideration.

The only tradeoff here, in addition to the modestly higher price tag, is the lack of auxiliary ports. This makes sense, since having four built-in pedals virtually eliminates the need for anything else.

Conclusion

PageFlip continues to impress us with this updated line of page turners. These devices offer thoughtful combinations of features at reasonable prices, and we’re happy to strongly recommend them. All three of these devices offer the same easy and reliable Bluetooth pairing, and PageFlip’s clear designs and simple switches are a breath of fresh air for anyone who’s fiddled with color-coded lights and tiny multi-purpose buttons. The differences in features between each of these products are specific and reasonable, and deciding whether or not you need them should be relatively straightforward.

All of PageFlip’s pedals are available at PageFlip.com.

iOS 10 Issues

| News

One of the most important aspects of any app, even more so for one used on stage, is its reliability and stability. We work very hard to ensure that forScore performs as close to flawlessly as possible, but stability is actually a moving target. Every change we make, and—more importantly—every update Apple releases, creates an opportunity for things to go wrong. The past few months have made that clear once again, and today we’d like to take a moment to acknowledge some of the issues we’ve seen; not to complain or shift blame, but to let you know that we see them and we take them very seriously.

Since the release of iOS 8 the most consistent source of forScore’s crashes was related to how the system handles popovers. For two years it caused problems (not often, and not for most people, but enough to frustrate us and those customers it affected). Thankfully, this past year’s release of iOS 10 finally fixed it. As with any major iOS update, though, iOS 10 came with its own set of challenges.

First, we discovered that it would crash when attempting to display PDF files that had previously worked fine with older releases. Apple worked quickly to stop the crash, but in its place we got only a half fix: in iOS 10.1 the system displayed those files as blank pages instead. That was fixed with the most recent release of iOS 10.2, along with a separate bug that had been causing semi-transparent drawings to temporarily appear darker than normal while annotating on devices that support wide color profiles (the new iPad Pro 9.7″ and the iPhone 7).

Now we’re beginning to see a troubling increase in crashes in several different versions of forScore but all for users running iOS 10.2. The total number of affected devices is small, to be sure, but big enough that we must now take the uncomfortable step of recommending against installing iOS 10.2 if you haven’t already.

It’s hard to know when to point these issues out publicly and when to address them with customers individually instead. On the one hand, we want people to update to the latest version of iOS and take advantage of its new features and bug fixes. Each time we warn people not to install one, more and more people decide to never update at all. On the other hand, we know that many of our customers rely on forScore more than they rely on any other app, so we want to communicate issues while people still have a chance to avoid them.

This bug has a very specific effect but it’s also intermittent and we haven’t yet been able to reproduce it in testing. As such, we can’t offer any sort of timeline for a workaround (if one is even possible). So for now our best advice is this: stick with your current setup if the version of iOS you’re using is working for you. When we know more, we’ll pass that information along right here.

Update: We’ve now released forScore 10.1.7 and forScore mini 3.1.7 which attempt to mitigate issues in several specific problem areas we’ve identified. Although these improvements have made a difference, we continue to recommend against installing iOS 10.2 until a more complete, permanent fix is available.

AirTurn Deals

| News

If you’re looking into buying a page turner for yourself or as a gift this holiday season, AirTurn’s annual Thanksgiving sale is a great time to act. From now until Monday, November 28th, get 20% off storewide by using coupon code AIRTURKEY.

forScore 10.1

| News

Today we’re extremely proud to announce the release of forScore 10.1 and forScore mini 3.1 on the App Store. These updates add some key new features like Filters, which let you browse more effectively by cross-referencing your metadata categories with advanced rules. They improve support for iOS 10 by doing things like reworking the style and layout of the pitch pipe widget. They add a new option to hide the status bar, giving you the clearest view yet of your music.

And, on iPad, forScore adds a setting to automatically exit annotation mode after a short delay, putting an important capstone on our Apple Pencil support and realizing the possibilities of a completely mode-free annotation experience.

These updates are completely free for existing users, as always, and we think they’re really going to take things even further. For newcomers, forScore is still just $9.99 (USD) and forScore mini is the same $6.99, so now is a great time to check them out if you haven’t had a chance to already.


forScore 10.1

Available now for iPad


forScore mini 3.1

Available now for iPhone and iPod Touch

Should I Update?

| News

Later today, Apple is expected to release iOS 10. As with any notable iOS update, we’ve started to get questions from customers about whether or not they should install it. The short answer is: if you have a recent, complete manual backup of your library and you don’t depend on forScore professionally, then go ahead and update.

The longer answer is that iOS 10 is a brand new operating system, and the version released later today will be slightly different from any version we’ve tested since the first beta back in June. There’s always a chance that something can go wrong, even though at this point we have no evidence of issues with either the current version of forScore (10.0.4) or the next update (10.1) that’s due for release later today.

Perhaps better questions to ask are these: is there anything in iOS 10 that I need or want to try today, and could I live without forScore and my iPad for a few days? If not, wait a week and let us and others kick the tires before you jump in.

Pitch, Please! 2.5

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Today we’re happy to announce the immediate availability of Pitch, Please! 2.5, an exciting and totally free update that adds a brand new Apple Watch app and updates the widget for iOS 10’s beautiful new style and sizes.

Since the original Apple Watch announcement we knew the wrist could be the perfect place for a utility like this, but unfortunately Apple’s frameworks didn’t do what we needed until now. That’s why Pitch, Please! for Apple Watch requires watchOS 3, due for release tomorrow. Of course, if you’re part of Apple’s public beta program you can get an early peek right now.

Get Pitch, Please! 2.5 today, free for existing users and just $0.99 (USD) on its own. Or, for an even better deal, get the whole Music Box for $3.99 (pro-rated for any previous purchases).


Pitch, Please!

Find your starting pitch with our universal app, widget and watch app.


forScore Music Box

Get our four utility apps or complete your collection with this app bundle.

iOS 7

| News

When iOS 7 came out, it was a striking pivot from every version that came before it. Its redesign ended the era of realistic imitation and ushered in the stark, layered interface we’ve all become so familiar with. Love it or hate it, it made its mark.

It’s hard to believe that iOS 7 was released almost three years ago now, and although we know there are still people out there who are using it, we cannot continue to support it effectively. Later this month, when we release version 10.1, forScore will require iOS 8 or later.

There’s no perfect time to end support for older versions of an operating system, and we appreciate that there are valid reasons to not want to upgrade. Sadly, Apple’s latest developer tools (the ones required to support iOS 10) cannot compile and run code on devices using iOS 7 or earlier, so we’d be selling a product we can’t test. We won’t take that risk.

Fortunately, every device that can run iOS 7 can also run iOS 9 (and most will be capable of running iOS 10 as well), so we’re not ending support for any iPad hardware. Older versions of forScore will continue to run as is, of course, and Apple will even allow users who purchased forScore 10.0.4 or earlier to re-download and install that version on their iOS 7 devices at any time.

We’re excited to continue pushing forward, to take advantage of all the latest and greatest features, to benefit from critical security and stability improvements, and to support incredible new hardware on day one. Closing the chapter on iOS 7 lets us do exactly that.

Sneak Peek: forScore 10.1

| News

This summer’s release of forScore 10 has been a tremendous success, and we’re extremely grateful for all of the acclaim and positive feedback we’ve received from both customers and the press. After months of hard work it’s incredibly rewarding to finally see the real-world impact of each new feature and improvement. You might even think we’d be headed out for a long vacation.

We’re a restless bunch, though, so of course we immediately jumped right in to begin crafting the first big update to forScore 10, version 10.1, and today we’re giving you a sneak peek at what’s to come. Although we don’t usually spend much time talking about “minor” point releases, make no mistake that 10.1 is going to really take things up a notch.

In fact, thanks to the major foundational improvements we made in forScore 10, we’re going to stick with it for a while and let these point releases serve a much bigger role. Focusing on them will give us more flexibility and let us release interesting features when they’re ready instead of artificially delaying them until the next major update.

So without further ado, you can read all about forScore 10.1 here.

Music Video Sightings

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Long-time user, frequent contributor, and honorary employee Alan Steinberger has shared a few music videos with us featuring him playing from his iPad with singer Matt Forbes. There are a few shots of forScore sprinkled throughout several of them, most prominently in a cover version of Rod Stewart’s “Some Guys Have All The Luck” as seen below:

Learn more about Alan here, and check out all of Matt’s videos on his Facebook page.

forScore 10

| News

Today we’re very excited to announce the arrival of forScore 10 and forScore mini 3 on the App Store. These huge updates are absolutely free for all existing users, as always, and they include some incredible new features and enhancements that really take so many of forScore’s key functions to the next level. From brand new annotation tools and powerful audio track adjustments to setlist folders and the seriously upgraded Darkroom, they make everyday tasks easier, faster, and better.

Thanks to everyone who supported us and helped us get here, all the way up to version ten and beyond! We love working on forScore and appreciate the continued opportunity to bring you our latest ideas and improvements. And, of course, a very big thank you to our tremendous team of beta testers: they volunteer their time to try out our rough drafts, help us hone in on issues, and give us their feedback on all the changes we make. Thank you all.


forScore 10

Available now for iPad


forScore mini 3

Available now for iPhone and iPod Touch