- Elgato, they've finally done it.
They took everything that people love about the Stream Deck
and everything that people love about devices
like the BEACN Mix and made a Stream Deck with dials.
Jokes aside, Stream Deck + may well be able to replace
two or even three devices on my desk,
providing one very specific change happens,
which we'll get to.
But first, let's take a look
at actually what Stream Deck + is.
Up top, you have eight different Stream Deck LCD Keys
that everybody knows and loves,
except these are actually quite a bit larger
and more spaced out than the keys
found on both the Stream Deck or the Stream Deck XL.
At the bottom, you have four endlessly rotating dials
that can be clicked in and have those
nice little tactile bumps for feedback as you rotate.
Separating the keys and the dials
is this touch-sensitive screen
that Elgato is calling the Touch Strip.
This displays the information about each of the dials
beneath it but is also capable of being pressed
or swiped for additional functionality.
At launch, Elgato has added dial functionality
for all of their flagship software,
so you can configure the dials
to adjust the ISO, White Balance,
or Pan/Tilt/Zoom of your webcam in Camera Hub,
turn lights on and off, or adjust their brightness,
or color temperature in Control Center,
or probably most importantly, mute or adjust the levels
for any of your audio inputs or outputs in Wave Link.
They've also launched a new plugin through the Stream Deck
software called Volume Controller
that lets Windows users, not surprisingly,
control the volumes of individual applications.
This is pretty smart, as you can set a profile
that'll automatically populate the dials
with any apps that are currently playing audio.
Similar to the precious Stream Decks,
you're not just limited
to these eight buttons or four dials.
You can have endless pages that can each
have different functionality
for the buttons and for the dials.
Swiping left or right on the Touch Strip
navigates through the Stream Deck pages
that you have set up, effectively giving you
as many buttons or dials as you could ever need.
The dials can also make use of a feature
called Dial Stacking, which allows you to add
as many different actions as you want to a single dial.
Clicking the dial inwards will then cycle
between the actions added.
A simple example of how I've used Dial Stacking so far
is I've got a single dial controlling
both my personal monitor mix,
as well as the audience stream mix
for something like my music.
I can adjust my personal mix volume in my headphones,
as well as the audience mix volume,
just by clicking in the dial.
You can customize each section of the Touch Strip
with your choice of icons and backgrounds,
so that each of the dial's controls
are instantly recognizable.
You can even choose a background for the full screen.
Elgato has included a bunch of different options at launch
or you can even create and use one of your own designs.
The amount of functionality that you can now get
when you're combining the Dial Stacking with the Touch Strip
now means that you have so much more space
for your Stream Deck keys.
I used to have to use five different Stream Deck buttons
per light on my Stream Deck just to allow me to turn it on,
adjust the brightness up and down,
and then adjust the color temperature warmer and cooler.
Now, all of that functionality can be added to just one dial
and the Touch Strip, not to mention how much better it feels
to adjust the brightness with just a turn of a dial,
versus having to press a button repeatedly.
Software-wise, adding controls to the dials
is as easy as it was to add buttons to the Stream Deck,
simply dragging and dropping.
There's even a new dials toggle, which will show you
all of the different available dial actions
that you can add to your Stream Deck +.
You can even set up the dials so both clockwise
and anti-clockwise rotation,
as well as dial clicks are mapped to specific hotkeys.
This allows you to control things in basically any app,
even if it doesn't have a Stream Deck plugin built already.
Thinking things like adjusting the brush size in Photoshop,
or zooming in and out of timelines in DaVinci Resolve.
Or even adjusting the playback speed on YouTube.
Smart Profile Switching still works
as it did with the other Stream Decks,
but now with the added benefit of dials.
So if you're editing in Premiere Pro,
Stream Deck + can be set to show one profile of controls,
and then if you swap to a streaming app like OBS,
it can automatically swap to showing
all of your Twitch controls instead.
Right, let's swap to talking about Wave Link
because Elgato did something
that I really never expected them to do.
They've unlocked Wave Link to anyone with a Stream Deck +.
That means that you no longer need to use
an Elgato Wave device, like Wave:1, Wave:3,
Wave DX, or Wave XLR,
to make use of the excellent Wave Link software.
You can use any microphone, be it USB or XLR with Wave Link.
If you're using an XLR mic, you can use any interface
and still get all of that Wave Link functionality.
So controlling all of your different audio channels,
submixes, adding custom VST plugins,
and that easy audio management in OBS
is now available to any microphone,
as long as you're using Stream Deck +.
That's something that pretty much everyone wants.
Yes, you still need to buy an Elgato device,
but not having to use an Elgato audio device,
and now getting the Wave Link functionality,
that's a big win.
Pricing-wise Stream Deck + costs $200,
which I actually think is pretty reasonable.
Elgato are still selling the Stream Deck XL,
which has been out for over three years now,
for $250 on their website.
So for $50 less, yes, you're getting fewer buttons,
but I actually think you're getting a much better device
in terms of usability and control.
In terms of negatives,
over the few weeks that I've been using the device,
there are a couple that I want to mention.
Your fingers can quite easily accidentally
adjust the adjacent knobs, which isn't ideal.
I would have liked Elgato to have just spaced these out
a tiny bit further to avoid this from happening.
With a slightly wider device, they could have even added
more Stream Deck keys to match the 15
that were on the original Stream Deck,
but this would have understandably come at a higher price,
which may have priced out many streamers.
Maybe they're just saving that for the inevitable
Stream Deck + XL or Stream Deck XL+.
Probably going to be a better name,
but you know that device is coming out one day.
The only other minor complaint is that the USB-C cable
comes out at the top of the rear,
rather than the bottom or through the bottom of the stand.
In my opinion, it just looks so much better
to have cables flat and hidden behind the device,
which is what both the Stream Deck and Stream Deck XL do.
On the topic of the stand,
it is removable just by removing these 2 screws here,
but this cable positioning means that Stream Deck +
can't even be laid flat, which again is going to be a negative
for those that like to do so.
So Stream Deck + inevitably combines
a few different devices that I currently have on my desk.
But what needs to happen for it to actually replace them?
Well, similar to the Stream Deck,
I think the real value for Stream Deck +
is going to come when developers build third-party plugins
that can make use of those controllable dials.
If developers jump on board,
think about all the amazing different things
that you could control with those dials.
Things like being able to adjust different parameters
of the VST plugins in your audio chain.
Or controlling the individual volumes
of your teammates on Discord.
Or even pitch changing your voice,
and adjusting the pitch with a dial.
Then there's the adjusting of colors and brightness
for things like Philips Hue lights,
or customizing the length
of different countdown timers for your stream.
Really, the possibilities are endless,
but it's going to be so reliant on the developers
of these plugins to think that it's worth their time
building out the functionality for these adjustable dials.
But right now, on release, it's just the functions
that Elgato have built for their own software.
Hopefully, this video has been helpful for you
as a first look at Stream Deck +.
Let me know your thoughts and any questions
down in the comments.
I'll jump in there and answer as many as I can.
And I'll catch you guys in the next video, peace.
They took everything that people love about the Stream Deck
and everything that people love
about devices like the BEACN Mix and.
(devices clashing together)
Well, didn't think that was going to happen.