(amazing intro music)
- Not long ago, I made a video about
how to use the Rodecaster Pro as a MIDI switcher.
And since then I've even gotten a MIDI pedal
to try to figure out a way to rig up
some sort of foot pedal live stream, switching magic.
And it's been sort of tough.
And then of course
Elgato comes out of nowhere with the Stream Deck Pedal.
So now we can meddle with this pedal
and see if the ElgaTO is TOtally what you need
for your TOes.
(ba-dum-tss)
So this is a pretty simple device really.
It's basically just a three button USB switch
but the buttons are really big
and you operate 'em with your feet.
But if I didn't have this on the desk right now
it would defeet the purpose of me showing it to you.
(ba-dum-tss)
It retails for $90 and this is not sponsored,
I bought this my self.
If you've used something like the Stream Deck
in the past this is just as easy to set up.
In fact, you can even copy and paste settings
from your Stream Deck into the Stream Deck Pedal
but before I show you how to configure it
and how I use it, let's talk
about the build quality and the construction a little bit.
It's really well built, and at this point.
I think Elgato has a pretty good reputation.
The thing I like about Elgato stuff
at least the things that I have used
like the Cam Link, the Stream Deck, the Video Capture, and
now the foot pedal is that they actually seem to be designed
by people who use these things.
Sometimes you can find things that seem pretty neat
but they end up kind of being more
of a solution in search of a problem.
And they don't really fit organically into your workflow
even if it seems cool.
And you're trying to find ways to use it.
This is something that actually solves
a lot of problems for me.
The bottom of it is all metal
and the top is all hard plastic.
I have no issues with the durability of this.
It seems very strong.
I'm sure you could break it.
If you just jumped on it with your full body weight
in a big pair of steel toed boots or something.
But if you're just using it like a normal person
it's going to be fine. As somebody who's been using guitar
and drum pedals for the past 20 years plus.
This is not as well built as these
which are just big hunks of metal
but I also have absolutely no worries
about this falling apart through a lot of use.
And most of the time, honestly, when I'm in here using it
I'm either barefoot or wearing socks.
So it's not like I'm smashing it with shoes anyway
but it could more than stand up to
your shoes being used on it
shoed you choose to do that.
(ba-dum-tss)
Now it does come with different sets of springs
to adjust the tension of the pedals
which I think is actually pretty cool.
So if you unscrew these six screws here,
you'll see there are different springs
installed in the pedals.
It comes default with a medium tension,
but I put mine on the hardest tension
so that way if I have my foot resting on it,
I'm less likely to accidentally trigger a pedal.
But that's just totally personal preference up to you.
The hardest tension is what I've been liking so far.
And basically you've got a left and right pedal.
And then one big pedal in the middle.
Elgato says you can also block out the pedal.
So that way it doesn't move can just use it as a footrest
but I'm not going to spend $90 on a footrest.
So that seems like a really dumb idea.
But you do you. And of course, as you'd expect
it includes the USB C cable you would need to get started.
And then it works basically just the same as a Stream Deck.
There is a little blue LED indicator light
to let you know that it's on and now we can configure it
...if I can configure out how to screen record. (interrupted rimshot)
So this is one of the pages
of my normal Stream Deck configuration.
But if I click right here, you'll see Stream Deck Pedal
as long as you have the most current version
of the Stream Deck software installed, of course.
If I click on the pedal, then it brings up the three buttons
and I can assign them the same way that I would
with a regular Stream Deck.
Now, for me, when it comes to using the Stream Deck
during a stream there are a few things that I use constantly
and a few other things I almost never use.
So this is all about the stuff that I use constantly
which in my case is switching between scenes in Ecamm Live.
I just either switch forward or backward between scenes
and so the left and the right pedal are set to go
forward and backward between scenes.
And then the middle pedal I can configure
to whatever I need it to be for a given stream.
So it's kind of like the wild card.
So the setup was pretty easy.
I'll even delete one of these right here.
So that was my previous scene button.
All I did was I just went
to my regular Stream Deck configuration
and then just copied some of the commands, went to the pedal
and then pasted the commands and it was set up and ready to go.
And of course, just like with the regular Stream Deck
you can have different profiles.
So if you want to select a different profile for
different streams where it's configured differently,
that's entirely up to you.
So now if I want to do something like start a stream here
I can do that.
I can push the pedal.
And then here I am at my default scene, I'm going
through my scene and I want to jump over and do a screen share
because I'm showing something– look at that, it's amazing.
And then I want to jump back over here
and I want to jump back to the screen share,
and that is so amazing.
It just totally blew my mind.
And it's so crazy.
And I can do all of those things hands free
The pedal is under my desk,
I don't know if you can hear how loud it is.
I'm going to stomp on it hard.
(angry pedal sounds)
I would pretty much never use it that hard.
This is kind of, normally if I'm talking
I'm going to switch back to a scene, switch forward
add on some anime lines.
So now you can kind of hear
if it's loud enough to be picked up.
It's not really an issue to me.
The MIDI foot switch that I was using before
was a little more distracting
because it would be like, "Hey, that's a great point."
Let me cut to your shot.
(ridiculously loud click)
What else do you have to say about that?
(another ridiculously loud click)
Oh boy, that's amazing. (yet another ridiculously loud click)
This just wasn't working because it's really loud
(raises voice to compete with buttons) and I have to talk over this loud noise.
So why on earth would you even want to use a foot pedal
in the first place?
Well, hands down this is a perfect solution for me
because as much as I really like my Stream Deck
I actually do get kind of flustered with it
during streams sometimes
because it's something I have to focus on
something I have to pay attention to.
Even if I have it positioned close to me
I'm always kind of looking and pushing the button.
I usually kind of know where things are,
but there's still as you're talking to someone
and then you slowly kind of reach over
to push a button.
I find that distracting both as the person in the stream
and as a viewer. Most people probably don't care
but it does bother me a little bit.
Being able to just be fully immersed
talking to someone, streaming, whatever I'm doing.
And then just switching between different scenes
switching between different graphics,
whatever I might need just using my feet
is incredibly helpful.
And that's really just approaching it from my point of view
which is sort of about having fewer distractions on screen.
But if you're somebody who streams games
or something like that,
where your hands are going to be busy
because you're using a controller,
or you're doing a mouse and a keyboard the whole time
being able to switch angles or cameras,
put comments on screen all without having
to take your hands off the controls is pretty awesome.
And if you're somebody who does like hands-on
building streams or something like that
or even as you're recording
and you just want to do one single take
recording into Ecamm or OBS
or something- say you're doing like a PC build
or a small I don't know, scale model build or something.
And you have a bunch of tools and things that you're using.
You don't have to set things down, switch a thing
pick things back up.
You can just do it all with your feet on the floor unseen.
Now what I noticed was when the Stream Deck pedal
was first announced, some people seemed really confused.
It was like, "Why would I need a thing
for my feet during a stream?
This seems stupid."
But as somebody who had been trying
to build this himself for a year
I was elated basically to see that this existed
but then this very interesting debate started to pop up
where some people were saying
it's either this or the Stream Deck.
And it was like, "I'll keep my Stream Deck. Thanks.
I don't need that pedal."
And to me, that was just ridiculous.
One, I think it's definitely a case
of don't knock it till you try it.
If you stream a lot and you find yourself pushing buttons
on your keyboard or your Stream Deck a lot
being able to do some of your most used commands
with your feet under your table is really, really helpful.
But also you don't need to choose
between this and the Stream Deck.
You can use them both!
As long as you have enough USB ports
on your computer, you're fine.
You can use both of them together.
They can play.
I just copy and pasted settings between them.
So it's not something where you have to choose one
or the other or lose functionality.
You just gain more options,
if it's something that you think that you need.
As I mentioned earlier, there are those things
that are solutions in search of problems.
For me, this is a solution to a problem,
but if that's a not a problem you have,
and you're like, "Well I should get the pedal
because it seems cool.
And Tom said, and I should listen
to everything that Tom says."
Maybe, maybe not.
Here's a great example, this right here: the Loupedeck.
This thing is super cool.
It's kind of like a Stream Deck
but you can configure it a little more differently.
And it has more physical buttons and dials.
And I use the Stream Deck a lot.
So I was very excited for the Loupedeck
but I have been going loupy,
trying to figure out a way to put this into my workflow.
And I've seen so many videos where people have it
as part of their workflow and they use it and they love it
but it's just not clicking for me.
There's nothing wrong with it.
It's absolutely great. (seriously, there's nothing wrong with it)
And I know lots of people are very happy
with their Loupedecks,
but for me it just wasn't something that naturally fit
into my workflow or made things easier.
So no matter how cool or neat something may seem
or how cool the person may seem, who's talking about it. (points at self)
It all comes down to your individual workflow
and your individual needs.
But I think that this is an amazing tool.
And if you've never thought about controlling
your livestream with your feet,
well, I think that it is something that cannot be defeeted.
These puns are feet of wordplay.
(ba-dum-tss)
Speaking of feats of excellence
thank you to everyone who helps support my channel
through YouTube Channel Memberships and Patreon.
I greatly appreciate you.
And if you want to know more ways to level up
your live streams, check out this playlist
of live stream tips and tricks right here.
(I've elgato go now)