Shhhh! Did you hear that?
That's the sound of silence when your foot pedal doesn't make a noise! Here's how experimenting with pedals prompted a partnership with:
In case you haven't found out already:
Noisy pedals and remotes make for annoying edits
Back when I started building FluidPrompter, I knew I wanted a hands-free way to prompt.
The problem? All the pedals aimed at video makers were noisy! (And NOT user-friendly.)
Now, the whole point of prompting is to do fewer retakes and spend less time editing your video later.
So you can imagine my frustration when I had to spend extra time editing out those clicks and clacks.
And so the search for a silent hero began
Introducing AirTurn
Turning the page together
AirTurn makes Bluetooth pedals, remotes, wireless foot switches and other cool tech. Most of it is for musicians, but video makers and livestreamers are catching on too.
Getting my feet wet in the world of pedals
Say you're filming yourself. You need to keep your hands free while advancing your prompter. What's a great way to do that without distracting yourself or your audience?
After trying some clunky pedals on the market, I found the AirTurn Duo. It's a silent, momentary foot pedal you can use to hit play or pause. A great starting point for invisible, inaudible go/stop control out of camera view.
Switching it up
I then purchased the AirTurn's S-6 stomp pedal and continued to experiment. It's got two analog pedal ports on the back so you can attach expression pedals. And that's exactly what I did.
I discovered something no one else was doing with their teleprompter: using an analog pedal with buttery smooth engineering to give me the most natural way to control the speed of my prompter.
But all that got me thinking about new ways we could be meeting video makers' needs.
Flipping the script
In summer 2021, as I started thinking about options for hands-free control, I reached out to AirTurn for their developer documentation. (Not to make you yawn, but their developer docs are the best we've received from any remote manufacturer yet. Props to AirTurn.)
After AirTurn's owner, Matt, learned what I was working on, he was quick to send over a few engineering samples for me to test. Matt's enthusiasm showed how much he cares about AirTurn's customers and how open he is to assisting with new use cases. Before we realized it, we were putting our heads together to innovate.
The idea was to create new pedal arrangements that would help video makers take their production experience to the next level. Slowly, the ugly sketches started turning into a beautiful idea.
A soleful solution for video folks
After months of design and 3D printing, Matt and I tested prototypes with users at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in the AirTurn booth. We tried extra pedals on either side, stacked pedals on one side, and simple pedals.
We're getting close to dialing in the details for a brand-new setup designed for video folks.
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Advancing your prompter should feel brainless
When you’re driving your car, you don’t look down at your pedals to make sure you’re applying the right pressure to the right pedal. That distraction-free bliss is what we’re creating together. You’ll know it when you feel it. And we can’t wait for you to test it.
Oh, and if you haven’t already:
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