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Computer peripherals are an ever-expanding genre of technology that is constantly evolving. As people use their personal computers for more activities, we see more products being asked to fit their new needs. Streaming in particular has taken a turn on the PC peripheral market, and one of the most interesting offshoots of this is these consumer-level powerful console-style controllers. (opens in a new tab)
Elgato was the first big name company to throw one out with the Stream Deck. This panel of buttons became host to macros, specifically designed to work mostly with Elgato’s streaming software. Because of the LED displays you could easily program faces for those buttons, and it’s a good way to control things like your lighting effects, microphone or screen capture mid-stream.
But it was mostly limited to streaming software, which was always a little disappointing. It meant that when competitors like the Loupedeck Live we reviewed (opens in a new tab) came onto the scene that run macros on a wide variety of devices, the Elgato Stream Deck options lost a bit of their appeal.
Elgato seems to have noticed this, and released the Stream Deck + (opens in a new tab) as the latest addition to its line of controllers. This looks like a much more versatile device that even comes with more button options including tactile knobs, for those of us who like that sort of thing.
These extra button options give the new Stream Deck + a much nicer look to it, with a touchscreen panel in the middle separating the traditional buttons from the handles. Plus, they really seem to have different use cases. The site shows several profiles where you can see how they work, like giving more granular controls to things like volume.
When it comes to audio, there’s a complete station built in if you choose to use Elgato’s Wave Link mixing software. It boasts its own royalty-free track library, which is also a big plus for streamers looking for simple settings they won’t get burned for.
Now that Stream Decks are more common and developed concepts, there are also tons of plugins for different programs and situations, which means you don’t have to set everything up yourself from scratch. This can be one of the biggest barriers to actually using these devices well, so hopefully they’re good.
The Stream Deck + costs $200 USD in the Elgato store, so it’s not exactly the cheapest kit. It does, however, come in a little cheaper than the Loupedeck Live which is $269 USD, so it will be very interesting to compare the two as options for those crazy about macros.
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