It looks nice, but I’m currently using the elgato wave. I bought into it back when you released it and compared it to an expensive mic. I’ve tried tuning mine but have never been satisfied with how I sound in recordings. Is there a company or place I can go to and send a recording and have someone customize settings to sound great that I can then adjust on my end?
how did they release this in its current state? Seems strange, like they didnt test it, not a big fan of "gaming gear" coming out unfinished in the same way some games come out unfinished nowadays. But great video- I am looking for a replacement for the GOXLR. So if you see anything that could do that, I would love to see it from this channel
Thank you for calling them out. They seem to know what makes a good product, but rush them out a bit. While a software-heavy approach might be always fixable later, it could also never happen.
I have so so so many of their best products and i love them (duh otherwise i wouldn't spend soooo much money on them) but they are overpriced definitely. I mainly bought them because of FaZe Clan even tho I have little to do with them. I am aware of the mistakes i made but i wont change. That should not be a reason to buy stuff but it was for me and now i have all of their stuff and am buying this microphone too.
good point, the apex pro was bad because they rushed it as other companies also started expirementing with the hall effect switches, for a long while they had the worst HE keyboard that wasnt alot faster but now... its the second best option due to a small redesign and software updates
Gotta say, I love the "It's good enough, so stop lying" stance. Besides, the streaming community is gonna research this stuff anyway- with the amount of money we're spending on our soft & hardware, we need the facts up front, lol
Jim Lill's latest video on microphones does a deep dive into this, trying out capsules of all mics, and with a nice testing rig actually play everything side by side with proper frequency distribution graphs and so much analysis. I wish consumer brands didn't treat us like babies and gave us more technical insight, give us the nerdy stuff, the graphs, the specs, even in the marketing material.
It's a wider symptom of anti-intellectualism and willful ignorance in the general public at large. They don't WANT to know too much, and more importantly, the leadership of major companies (not the engineers themselves) don't want you to know too much either. This is why R2R is SO goddamn important. I just saw a video by Sarah-n-Tuned that she posted an hour ago where she was able to use a 50-year-old technical booklet that had FULL technical instructions for the wiring layout. Even just 20 or 15 years ago, this sort of technical information was freely and widely available for a large variety of products. Now? Good fucking luck lol.
These mics dont target audio-enthusiasts. The marketing and probably also the mic itself is literally not made for you if thats what you want to see in short advertisements.
@@spdcrzy It's funny how software has been moving towards mass open-sourcing, while hardware is doing the opposite. Even computing hardware is overpriced and underdocumented, you can build a high-end server for less than $1000 with used 7-year-old parts lmfao
@@nade5557 Wrong brand and mic then. Professionals wouldnt care about those overmarketed buzzword filled toys. And honestly this video has as much bs in it as the advertisement for the mic itself.
The worst thing is, there must’ve been an audio engineer involved in the design process of this thing at some point. And yet they got this so wrong in so many ways.
Yup. Probably because the marketing department didn't understand a word the engineer said, and just went with their own stuff. Happens so often, it seems.
@@floorpizza8074 The marketing department doesn't care, and it really isn't their job to care tbh. False marketing like this is only bad if they get punished for it, and they won't. If marketing can get away with straight up lying, they will do it and I can't even blame them. Unless regulatory agencies are allowed to tear these companies to shreds they will keep doing it because it is quite literally the best choice they can make.
so what ur saying is 1 audio engineer is suppose to come up w everything another would and both would perfect it....thats stupid. no one is equal so why would their ideas be equally as great? not even teams can get things 100% right why would you expect everything in the world to be 100% were only human
man, this attitude you had around this mic was not only informative, and helpful to me, but was a relief of authenticity RUclips has been lacking lately, because the side of actually believing in the mice being good. Moreover, putting your morals front and center is a great influence on the world. I appreciate that. I hope SteelSeries sees this and doesn't feel attacked but more ashamed. Then i hope they act accordingly and do what you suggest to their product. Thank. you for making a great video. Side note, at 4:25, that mic and setup, you sound like that guy in "film editing pro" who, in my opinion, has one of the greatest audio treatments to him voice. very natural but strong.
I have always strayed away from organisations that post false marketing materials. There is no reason to do that as it's going to push away the people that understand from the brand. If the microphone's good, there's no need to make stuff up. I am loving my elgato wave1 and there wasn't the same bs there.
Honestly I've been using the Steelseries software for awhile now, it feels like they're constantly adding features to it. Lately it feels like they took a deeper dive into it and added a bunch more stuff, heck the added the auto-clipping, 3d aim trainer, the sonar streamer mode, and a lot of other small and big features. The keybinds part they added was also fairly recent. I wouldn't be surprised if they fix the weird mic thing in another update in under a month from now. Also always be sure to select the beta opt-in features as it sometimes has features that aren't fully realized and still being developed, that could've been what was causing the issue with the mic too tbh. Idk for sure, just a random user and have been using Steelseries for about 3-4 years now.
Thank you so much for this! I was looking at this mainly for the simplistic dual pc option. I was skeptical and was really hoping you’d review this before I made another purchase I’d be unhappy with! Thank you so much for all you do!
Always good stuff. Its mind blowing that companies are releasing things with massive shortcomings when its so obvious that there are huge channels like this that will point them out.
I'm considering a college engineering project involving modular audio equipment, allowing quick swaps of mic capsules and frames (e.g., dynamic to shotgun mics). Do you think there's a market for this, or should I stick to making a shotgun mic and mixer? The mixer would also be dynamic allowing a user to change the amount of faders buttons and more. If the project goes well I might expand on it and give more functionality.
Is there any chance the "gain" knob is bi-modal, i.e. press it once before turning it for gain control, then press it again before turning for monitor volume control. Good review! Thank you as always.
In the SteelSeries GG app the gain adjust for the mic is in the Mixer tab, not the Mic tab. Just make sure you have your mic set as the input device. It's on the far right column, but in the Mixer tab.
I currently use and recommend the Shure MV7, dual inputs for growth and upgrades, sound comparable to the sm7b and dynamic helps to cut ambient noise. Harris, love the content and while I understand that bigger isn't better, them comparing to the yeti isn't far fetched since streamers either have a yeti or sm7b for the most part. Just like most streamers have a Sony alpha or brio. Same with goXLR yes most still have the goXLR still to this day. Don't believe me, do a poll. Keep up the good work though sir!
?!? Sonar is neither new (so no, they are not late to anything in this regard) or any kind of argument in favor for the microphones, so that chapter makes no sense to include here. Also that is not a 10-Band EQ, but a parametric one. The values are not set and you are relatively (!) flexible in how to EQ your audio, what is fantastic too. Biggest pro is that the setup of Sonar is super easy and that the software is constantly improving. Also a bigger capsule has clear positives, if utilized correctly (what is usually done in condensor mics) its of course not "bigger = better", but physics do matter when it comes to sound. (crazy, i know). So that statement is not false in itself. And "oh no, they are comparing their numbers in the most favorable way possible to their competition!!". Yeah, also what a crazy new concept that companies do this. So great that you have studied audio engineering, but you dont know the difference between EQ-types and that the size of capsules matters. (hence why different mics use different sized capsules) And a comparison with a shotgun makes NO sense whatsoever, being a completely different type of mic with a different use case and pickup pattern. It is literally build to be less sensitive for often outdoor use or for recordings when the person cant kiss the mic all the time. The fact alone that you are even explaining that bigger capsules tend to create a warmer sound, what is often sought for in microphones for voice-recordings these days, literally dismantles your critique. Is it a matter of taste? Yes. Is a bigger capsule better for every circumstance? No. Will it have a beneficial effect for the specific use case of this mic? Yes, absolutely. Some of the big capsule condensors create a fkin awesome sound. Just listen to a King Bee II. Unnecessary for RUclips and an audience that mostly uses their smartphone, but for professional recordings in a the right environment - very VERY tasty, also due to its bigger capsule. Its really hard to criticize a company for talking bs, when you are doing the same. Yes, they do marketing aka. bringing up stuff that might mislead the average consumer... Not cool, but if you want to criticize SS for this, then have fun doing the same with every other company out there. The critique is overblown and framed + titled in a very bad and overdramatic way to generate clicks. If you want to criticize false advertising, do that in a more general way, because there is so much bs marketing out there for audio-equipment, its easy to do a whole video about it, but picking one company for doing the same shit everybody else does and try to criticize them with twisted arguments that ignore the product itself - sorry, but that is misleading on its own. And i think you should have higher standards with an audience of over half a million of people.
The Headphone Out monitoring volume is @ 12:15 on the lower left portion , you can fix the Monitoring there. That being said, I have this mic (Alias Pro) and bought it expecting the 2 PC setup to be a solution for 2 stream PC ... it is a solution, just not a great one. Still debating to keep it but there is nothing like it at its price.
Big agree on having a Gain knob be in software, because 9/10 you dial it in for your setup, and that's it. The rest is just level control. Would much rather see a software gain, and then interface be able to control your input level inside OBS or something like that, or have it set to control a mix level inside that wonderful mix software they provide (which is very cool about this product)
Thanks for all your reviews and stuff, helps me choose my streaming gear without being too much in the unknown of what's good and what's not, really appreciate it, keep up the good work Harris ^^
Really strange that you need a DC adapter, I use a dirt cheap behringer interface that can record 4 separate tracks at the same time and supply phantom power and that all runs off of the USB bud power
i think whats happening with the gain is that the input gain is set by windows the same way your headset mic is set and the gain knob is additional gain
i love to see awesome content creators like yourself calling out these big companies when they lie to their customers, we need more people like you! It goes to show that there are still big companies lying about their products because people dont know better......
How is voicemeeter in its free version anti consumer? not enough channels? i'll have to check out if it can actually replace voicemeeter in my use case, but like, free vs free i dont get it lol
Ive always found the software to be really wonky even with my steel series artis pro wireless being pretty old at the point. The noise cancelling seems to do nothing as my friends can still occasionally hear stuff happening in the background.
I’ve been using Sonar for a little while now and my biggest gripe is having to alt-tab to control it. Although with key binding being available for every function… I wonder if I could control it with the new Elgato Stream Deck Plus?
@@khunlimited thanks. My concern is that Sonar may not recognize the Stream Deck buttons as mappable buttons and than I’ll have to map the stream deck buttons to my keyboard and then match the sonar mappings to the same keyboard mappings. IMO this is overcomplicating it and definitely worries me.
@@BiO811HazarD ah I see. Yeah in my case it’s more like the latter. Where in DaVinci Resolve I have hotkeys set that I can use my keyboard for, but I also binded my stream deck’s dials to those same hotkeys and use that instead.
Speaking of false advertising, your title is doing the exact same thing. This is quite a stretch. THEY SAID 3 TIMES AND IT'S ONLY 2.2 - And I'm comparing to another above average mic!
Correct me if im wrong but the XLR mic needs a power brick as the mic is a XLR condenser mic so it needs phantom 48v not the 5v provided by USB, the cheaper mic is straight USB so its not getting the most out of the condenser pod.
The gain knob sounds like it's just broken, or not functioning as intended. Does have a neat lighted ring, but it feels like they went too far with the DC power input. Like someone calibrated it with only USB power (which is plenty to power XLR mics, from what I've seen).
Clipping can be solved by turning down the artificial gain that windows puts on your mic to make it louder btw, in the sound settings. You dont want it at 100%, maybe more like 50 or 60.
In the Steelseries GG Software, dial gain by going to the Mixer tab (you were on Mic tab 5:40) Chat/Game volume knob on the mic doesn't make sense (7:00) except maybe for content creation, but not everyone who wants a good mic is a content creator. Their line of headsets already has that. Gain volume makes sense on a mic. You can quickly adjust volume if someone says you're too loud. I can't defend their advertising though.
the mixer has its issues. It takes up a ton of system resources for no reason what so ever. Its the reason i switched to voicemeeter, it also likes to reset my inputs a lot which i find infuriating. also their claims of the diaphragm being 3x bigger i think is comparing to the tiny mics on headsets not standalone microphones.
oh my gosh bumping the gain on my mic or my output is such a big problem for me. I use a Steinberg UR12, brilliant interface, but the gain knobs are just so easy to bump, especially where my interface sits on my desk, behind my keyboard. And when I switch over from gaming to music production and move my keyboard, my wires get caught on it and my gain levels get messed up. Its so annoying!! I also use Steelseries GG and it is absolutely brilliant. I found Sonar because i have a Steelseries mouse and keyboard (Apex 7 and Sensei 310) and I cannot go back to not using the EQ functions for gaming. I don't use it for music production because that is on a different device, however for gaming, discord, and media consumption, being able to change the EQ for each type is incredibly powerful.
Is it just me or does the gain knob vs monitoring thing a software issue? One is behaving as it should and the other is not adjusting? That's so weird.
Ik the blue yeti for a long time was advertised as THE microphone to have for youtube but those times have been over for ages now so idk what that comparison means
One issue I ran into when i had this Mic was that when running a 2 pc setup the Mic would come into my obs all choppy and playing with diffrent settings in sonar I could not get the audio from being choppy.
The best thing about the sonar mixer is the constant crashing and just plain forgetting settings. I have a $200 arctis pro paper weight in my closet because the software was so annoying.
I really wanted to like the Alias Pro since I recently started a dual pc setup but the lack of total control of my stream audio was a deal breaker. I did one stream with it and decided to stick with my Wave 3 mic and Wavelink to control my stream audio. I still use Sonar for my gaming audio because the eq is amazing.
I use computer software that filters the sound to remove the external noise and then I get it to the mixer so that I can clamp from the mixer to the mobile and the process is successful so that I can open the TikTok or Space on Twitter except I hear my voice at the time of speaking and I just want to hear the voices of others without my voice. Is there a specific mixer that provides me with the option of separating adjusted audio from computer to mixer and makes me muffle it and it is only apparent to me the sounds of others not my voice.
I thought i saw something that said 48v on the back? Maybe thats why for the power plug and not bus power. I dont think you'l get 48v off any port from your pc
HTC had a magnetic phone case back in 2016-2016 ish and the HTC ONE case lit back lit holes in the front of the case and this mic looks almost inspired from that
Hey ! i have a weird Question maybe the community or you can help me. Im using a Shure SM7B + GOXLR and a Rode Microphone im looking for a different microphone arm thats a bit more flexible than the idk Rode PSA1?
Hello! thanks for the informative video. I did just buy their mic, the normal one not the pro. It's working well for me, but Idk if i actually love it. the mute on it is awesome, i mean how easy it is and the way I can tell if it's muted or not. but like you said, the dial thing is a turn off for sure. I would love to hear from you about a recommendation about the same price, something not like the yeti that picks all sounds, even the dishes in the kitchen. But in the same time has great voice clarity, and good noise cancelation. While at it, could you please recommend a good app for the mic?
How would the Steelseries software hold up w/ the GoXLR? Would I want to use the Alias Pro with the GoXLR or the DAC that comes with it? And if I were to use both (via the headphone monitor jack), would I need a dongle to remove the background noise or something?
The software does have a gain, it’s on the front page where u can change the gain on the different softwares, you can control the mic with the dial or type in a %, personally I have mine at 75% with my razer serien x, trying to upgrade but I don’t know what to get
I'm really unsure of what he means by that. It's basically free and if you want to pay you can pay what you want to. That's so far weighted in favour of the consumer that I'm baffled by the idea that they're anti-consumer. The steelseries app is free and doesn't force you to use that specific microphone, but it's still just a tacked on addition to the driver interface for their gaming stuff and that's subject to change if this product is successful. I'm also confused by the idea that you wouldn't want to be able to control the input gain with a knob on the interface. It's the one most important thing you'll need to adjust and having it in software is going to lead to it resetting after updates and ruining your sound quality. Just don't have the interface sitting where you're going to be putting your hands and you won't knock it. If you want to know where your ideal setting is then mark it with a paint pen and you'll always be able to get it back to the right spot.
I've been using the SteelSeries app because you don't have to have their mic to use it. The noise cancel/ noise gate which seems to work really well for me but I do find it really weird there is no gain
Personaly I went with a Podcast Pro from Sontronics, a great budget friendly dynamic supercardioid, my only qualm with it is it doesnt have a native shock mount.
their software has one big problem, it randomly crashes and messes all your audio till it restarted. its been doing this for over 2 years. ive used the program almost 2 years.
gotta get that software, when i installed voicemeeter it just randomly pitched my voice up and made me sounds like a nerd emoji, so i had to uninstall the driver for my interface and reinstall it to reset everything. im using a podmic as well so its not like its just a cheap mic i got from walmart
speaking about ai noise canceling what ever happened to rtx voice/ nvidia broadcast? that was game breaking when it came out but nobody talks about it now.
I hate it, it tries to take over the audio defaults constantly. i get better performance across 3 mics at the same time with a github ai noise canceling vst and equalizerapo
@@Mach1Greeble what are you talking about? rtx voice? I've been using it for 3 years now and never had a single issue with it or had it try and change my audio unintentionally even once.
Never really got into standalone mics but I can say from my experience with 3-4 of their "gaming headsets" they almost always have an issue with the mic/software, to the point people are hearing my voice twice or their voices are echoing etc. that's part of the reason I stopped buying their products. I've been a bit more cautious about what I buy bc of them and some of the razer headsets I tried out. So I typically just wait for an audiophile to review something and decide from multiple reviews
I already had SteelSeries GG installed (because I use the Arctis Pro Wireless and Rival 600 mouse) so I got pretty excited about a build in mixing software. Checked but couldn't find it. Is it windows only? I am searching for an easy-to-use software that can split macOS sound since forever.
I hate the way they did the headsett, because they made it so it automatically switches to steelseries sonar gaming, so i have to switch to steelseries sonar media every single time, because the gaming one sounds beyond garbage...it might just be the software, but this has lastet atleast 2-3 years (i use the artics nova 7)
I miss my previous gen Arctis Nova 7 headset, I had to replace it with a Nova 7X and it no longer has the hardware chat/game mix. The hardware just controls the Sonar software which bugs out now and then. Also I can't turn it on for a few seconds after unplugging it and now and then it wont connect at all. Never had any problem with the old one. Just keep making that one.
I like the separate power brick. USB power is notorious for signal noise that is borderline unfixable. Even if USB power would be sufficient, auxiliary power at least as an option is a required feature for any decent audio interface imo.
the reason it probably needs to be plugged into the wall is for 48v phantom power. the wall power is not for the control device, rather the microphone itself. it's not a "Passive microphone" as you would normally find with most pc microphones you can plug directly into the computer. it's an active microphone, needing power to operate.
They can fix this stuff in the software, but at least on my Mac I can't update the firmware (it just errors out). SteelSeries have had logs of this firmware update failure for weeks and haven't been able to fix it.
I just got a Trust GXT 232 about 3 yrs back it's a cheap £20-40 price range mic and then I bought a mic arm for like £20 and then I spent £35 when voicemod was on sale for a lifetime membership no subscription needed that and OBS filters is all I use to tweak my mic the OBS is a little more complicated to set up for the non software savvy but voicemod's voice lab is relatively simple to use and you could pick how to use it in a quick 5-10 minute youtube tutorial I don't need a £150-350 mic to sound like i'm in a studio doing a podcast and I love it! plus alot of softwares have built in noise cancellation like discord so it's got you covered there too i'm getting a rog s core headset for £82 week after next and it's mainly for comfortability on pc it being only 270g and a nice big cushion for the headbad and ears! the mic is cheap but sounds decent enough that if I use my software that it wont matter! and voicemod has pop filter options these days
What do you think of the mic OR what's your favorite mic right now? (or answer both, whatever, I'm not the boss of you)
my CAD GXL2200 is amazing
I dig their pro headphones that you recommended years ago. Not sure the mic will be an upgrade for me.
It looks nice, but I’m currently using the elgato wave. I bought into it back when you released it and compared it to an expensive mic. I’ve tried tuning mine but have never been satisfied with how I sound in recordings. Is there a company or place I can go to and send a recording and have someone customize settings to sound great that I can then adjust on my end?
how did they release this in its current state? Seems strange, like they didnt test it, not a big fan of "gaming gear" coming out unfinished in the same way some games come out unfinished nowadays. But great video- I am looking for a replacement for the GOXLR. So if you see anything that could do that, I would love to see it from this channel
My favorite Budget Mic Rn is the Rode-NT USB+, And favorite XLR Mic for streamers atm is the Lewitt 440 Pure
Thank you for calling them out. They seem to know what makes a good product, but rush them out a bit. While a software-heavy approach might be always fixable later, it could also never happen.
I have so so so many of their best products and i love them (duh otherwise i wouldn't spend soooo much money on them) but they are overpriced definitely. I mainly bought them because of FaZe Clan even tho I have little to do with them. I am aware of the mistakes i made but i wont change. That should not be a reason to buy stuff but it was for me and now i have all of their stuff and am buying this microphone too.
@@Alexifeu bro did NOT learn his lesson
@@Alexifeu "I'm aware of the mistakes I made, but I won't change." I'm genuinely dumbfounded by your comment.
@@Kamiyada27 I can't tell if it's just a bait because wth kinda mindset is that
good point, the apex pro was bad because they rushed it as other companies also started expirementing with the hall effect switches, for a long while they had the worst HE keyboard that wasnt alot faster but now... its the second best option due to a small redesign and software updates
Gotta say, I love the "It's good enough, so stop lying" stance. Besides, the streaming community is gonna research this stuff anyway- with the amount of money we're spending on our soft & hardware, we need the facts up front, lol
u need viewers too and i doubt in the beginning they care about the mic being the quality of a studio recording mic
But that's the thing: this mic is already good. They don't need to lie, the truth will sell the thing just fine.@@undergroundjem645
It's a trash stance that lowers the standard of living. It's a trash usb mic with a scam xlr version. Don't eat this slop up and buy a behringer c-1
@@CaptKami18 U DONT COMPREHEND ANYTHING LMAOOOO LOSER
A lot of streamers by garbage though. Pretty lights and name brand = good.
Jim Lill's latest video on microphones does a deep dive into this, trying out capsules of all mics, and with a nice testing rig actually play everything side by side with proper frequency distribution graphs and so much analysis. I wish consumer brands didn't treat us like babies and gave us more technical insight, give us the nerdy stuff, the graphs, the specs, even in the marketing material.
It's a wider symptom of anti-intellectualism and willful ignorance in the general public at large. They don't WANT to know too much, and more importantly, the leadership of major companies (not the engineers themselves) don't want you to know too much either. This is why R2R is SO goddamn important.
I just saw a video by Sarah-n-Tuned that she posted an hour ago where she was able to use a 50-year-old technical booklet that had FULL technical instructions for the wiring layout. Even just 20 or 15 years ago, this sort of technical information was freely and widely available for a large variety of products. Now? Good fucking luck lol.
These mics dont target audio-enthusiasts. The marketing and probably also the mic itself is literally not made for you if thats what you want to see in short advertisements.
@@spdcrzy It's funny how software has been moving towards mass open-sourcing, while hardware is doing the opposite. Even computing hardware is overpriced and underdocumented, you can build a high-end server for less than $1000 with used 7-year-old parts lmfao
@@CallMeTeci It comes down to being able to do your due research if you want to. And not lying in an advertisement
@@nade5557 Wrong brand and mic then. Professionals wouldnt care about those overmarketed buzzword filled toys.
And honestly this video has as much bs in it as the advertisement for the mic itself.
Fellow audio engineer dropping by. Everything said here checks out. Great vid 🫡
I swear if I catch you pulling a KickedTripod I'm revoking your audio engineering license.
Agreed. I’ve used mics made by DPA that are so so tiny, but still blew me away with how good they sound.
TIL Theo is an audio engineer?
@@trebabcock no he's just a moron
The worst thing is, there must’ve been an audio engineer involved in the design process of this thing at some point. And yet they got this so wrong in so many ways.
Yup. Probably because the marketing department didn't understand a word the engineer said, and just went with their own stuff. Happens so often, it seems.
@@floorpizza8074 The marketing department doesn't care, and it really isn't their job to care tbh. False marketing like this is only bad if they get punished for it, and they won't.
If marketing can get away with straight up lying, they will do it and I can't even blame them. Unless regulatory agencies are allowed to tear these companies to shreds they will keep doing it because it is quite literally the best choice they can make.
so what ur saying is 1 audio engineer is suppose to come up w everything another would and both would perfect it....thats stupid. no one is equal so why would their ideas be equally as great? not even teams can get things 100% right why would you expect everything in the world to be 100% were only human
@@undergroundjem645 What are you talking about man
@@ltcuddles685 im answering to the comment the original one goofy...have you ever been in engineering curriculums
man, this attitude you had around this mic was not only informative, and helpful to me, but was a relief of authenticity RUclips has been lacking lately, because the side of actually believing in the mice being good.
Moreover, putting your morals front and center is a great influence on the world. I appreciate that.
I hope SteelSeries sees this and doesn't feel attacked but more ashamed. Then i hope they act accordingly and do what you suggest to their product.
Thank. you for making a great video.
Side note, at 4:25, that mic and setup, you sound like that guy in "film editing pro" who, in my opinion, has one of the greatest audio treatments to him voice. very natural but strong.
I have always strayed away from organisations that post false marketing materials. There is no reason to do that as it's going to push away the people that understand from the brand. If the microphone's good, there's no need to make stuff up. I am loving my elgato wave1 and there wasn't the same bs there.
Honestly I've been using the Steelseries software for awhile now, it feels like they're constantly adding features to it. Lately it feels like they took a deeper dive into it and added a bunch more stuff, heck the added the auto-clipping, 3d aim trainer, the sonar streamer mode, and a lot of other small and big features. The keybinds part they added was also fairly recent. I wouldn't be surprised if they fix the weird mic thing in another update in under a month from now. Also always be sure to select the beta opt-in features as it sometimes has features that aren't fully realized and still being developed, that could've been what was causing the issue with the mic too tbh. Idk for sure, just a random user and have been using Steelseries for about 3-4 years now.
Thank you so much for this! I was looking at this mainly for the simplistic dual pc option. I was skeptical and was really hoping you’d review this before I made another purchase I’d be unhappy with! Thank you so much for all you do!
Transparency in this industry is paramount. Thank you for pointing this out
Always good stuff. Its mind blowing that companies are releasing things with massive shortcomings when its so obvious that there are huge channels like this that will point them out.
With regards to the 3.2 larger claim, i took it to mean vs gaming headsets and not other standalone xlr / usb mics.
I'm considering a college engineering project involving modular audio equipment, allowing quick swaps of mic capsules and frames (e.g., dynamic to shotgun mics). Do you think there's a market for this, or should I stick to making a shotgun mic and mixer?
The mixer would also be dynamic allowing a user to change the amount of faders buttons and more. If the project goes well I might expand on it and give more functionality.
a modular mic would be cool, I think it's good enough of a niche to work
100% there is a market for that. Audio designers for games and movies could seriesly benefit from having an easily swappable pickup method
Is there any chance the "gain" knob is bi-modal, i.e. press it once before turning it for gain control, then press it again before turning for monitor volume control. Good review! Thank you as always.
In the SteelSeries GG app the gain adjust for the mic is in the Mixer tab, not the Mic tab. Just make sure you have your mic set as the input device. It's on the far right column, but in the Mixer tab.
I currently use and recommend the Shure MV7, dual inputs for growth and upgrades, sound comparable to the sm7b and dynamic helps to cut ambient noise. Harris, love the content and while I understand that bigger isn't better, them comparing to the yeti isn't far fetched since streamers either have a yeti or sm7b for the most part. Just like most streamers have a Sony alpha or brio. Same with goXLR yes most still have the goXLR still to this day. Don't believe me, do a poll. Keep up the good work though sir!
Also own and use an MV7 and agree it is a fantastic mic. Pricy, but but you’re absolutely getting a quality mic.
I love my MV7, have it connected to a Scarlett Solo, works and sounds great.
I have the MV7X (MV7 with XLR connector) and love mine. Big upgrade to what I was using before.
pretty sure windows does sound app separation now so even if u dont want sonar u can still do it
?!? Sonar is neither new (so no, they are not late to anything in this regard) or any kind of argument in favor for the microphones, so that chapter makes no sense to include here. Also that is not a 10-Band EQ, but a parametric one. The values are not set and you are relatively (!) flexible in how to EQ your audio, what is fantastic too. Biggest pro is that the setup of Sonar is super easy and that the software is constantly improving.
Also a bigger capsule has clear positives, if utilized correctly (what is usually done in condensor mics) its of course not "bigger = better", but physics do matter when it comes to sound. (crazy, i know). So that statement is not false in itself. And "oh no, they are comparing their numbers in the most favorable way possible to their competition!!". Yeah, also what a crazy new concept that companies do this. So great that you have studied audio engineering, but you dont know the difference between EQ-types and that the size of capsules matters. (hence why different mics use different sized capsules)
And a comparison with a shotgun makes NO sense whatsoever, being a completely different type of mic with a different use case and pickup pattern. It is literally build to be less sensitive for often outdoor use or for recordings when the person cant kiss the mic all the time.
The fact alone that you are even explaining that bigger capsules tend to create a warmer sound, what is often sought for in microphones for voice-recordings these days, literally dismantles your critique.
Is it a matter of taste? Yes.
Is a bigger capsule better for every circumstance? No.
Will it have a beneficial effect for the specific use case of this mic? Yes, absolutely.
Some of the big capsule condensors create a fkin awesome sound. Just listen to a King Bee II. Unnecessary for RUclips and an audience that mostly uses their smartphone, but for professional recordings in a the right environment - very VERY tasty, also due to its bigger capsule.
Its really hard to criticize a company for talking bs, when you are doing the same. Yes, they do marketing aka. bringing up stuff that might mislead the average consumer... Not cool, but if you want to criticize SS for this, then have fun doing the same with every other company out there. The critique is overblown and framed + titled in a very bad and overdramatic way to generate clicks.
If you want to criticize false advertising, do that in a more general way, because there is so much bs marketing out there for audio-equipment, its easy to do a whole video about it, but picking one company for doing the same shit everybody else does and try to criticize them with twisted arguments that ignore the product itself - sorry, but that is misleading on its own. And i think you should have higher standards with an audience of over half a million of people.
btw whats the benefit of using a hyper-cardiod shotgun mic compared to a normal cardiod
Videos Awsome! Ty for all your hard work! have helped me more than any other videos on YT and love what you do for the Community
The Headphone Out monitoring volume is @ 12:15 on the lower left portion , you can fix the Monitoring there.
That being said, I have this mic (Alias Pro) and bought it expecting the 2 PC setup to be a solution for 2 stream PC ... it is a solution, just not a great one. Still debating to keep it but there is nothing like it at its price.
The Wave 3 also still sends a signal when the gain is all the way down.
Big agree on having a Gain knob be in software, because 9/10 you dial it in for your setup, and that's it. The rest is just level control. Would much rather see a software gain, and then interface be able to control your input level inside OBS or something like that, or have it set to control a mix level inside that wonderful mix software they provide (which is very cool about this product)
Thanks for all your reviews and stuff, helps me choose my streaming gear without being too much in the unknown of what's good and what's not, really appreciate it, keep up the good work Harris ^^
What makes you consider voicemeeter anti-consumer? I've been using it for years and am just curious
Truth in advertising is a major sticking point for me and makes me glad I went with the Elgato Wave DX instead.
Really strange that you need a DC adapter, I use a dirt cheap behringer interface that can record 4 separate tracks at the same time and supply phantom power and that all runs off of the USB bud power
1> You might be peaking but I hear no clipping - also you have OBS to thank for mic filters, that WILL lower the gain and will clean up the mic audio.
i think whats happening with the gain is that the input gain is set by windows the same way your headset mic is set and the gain knob is additional gain
this
Oh shit double gain
i love to see awesome content creators like yourself calling out these big companies when they lie to their customers, we need more people like you!
It goes to show that there are still big companies lying about their products because people dont know better......
How is voicemeeter in its free version anti consumer? not enough channels? i'll have to check out if it can actually replace voicemeeter in my use case, but like, free vs free i dont get it lol
Beautiful! 2:27 Edit: Can we get a Steel Series GG video run down all to itself?
RandomFrankP had a great one. He goes into serious detail.
TheFrugalStreamer has good coverage on Sonar/SteelSeriesGG as well
Ive always found the software to be really wonky even with my steel series artis pro wireless being pretty old at the point. The noise cancelling seems to do nothing as my friends can still occasionally hear stuff happening in the background.
7:52 this is actually super useful for Windows 11 users since Microsoft just decided we don't need a built-in mixer anymore
I’ve been using Sonar for a little while now and my biggest gripe is having to alt-tab to control it. Although with key binding being available for every function… I wonder if I could control it with the new Elgato Stream Deck Plus?
I have a stream deck plus and I have hotkeys binded to the dials to use for DaVinci Resolve, so I’m assuming it should work in your case too
@@khunlimited thanks. My concern is that Sonar may not recognize the Stream Deck buttons as mappable buttons and than I’ll have to map the stream deck buttons to my keyboard and then match the sonar mappings to the same keyboard mappings. IMO this is overcomplicating it and definitely worries me.
At that rate youd be better suited just Using Wave Link, since the Stream Deck Plus enables it.
@@BiO811HazarD ah I see. Yeah in my case it’s more like the latter. Where in DaVinci Resolve I have hotkeys set that I can use my keyboard for, but I also binded my stream deck’s dials to those same hotkeys and use that instead.
@@khunlimited appreciate the clarification. Sounds like what I’d have to do too.
Speaking of false advertising, your title is doing the exact same thing. This is quite a stretch. THEY SAID 3 TIMES AND IT'S ONLY 2.2 - And I'm comparing to another above average mic!
Correct me if im wrong but the XLR mic needs a power brick as the mic is a XLR condenser mic so it needs phantom 48v not the 5v provided by USB, the cheaper mic is straight USB so its not getting the most out of the condenser pod.
The gain knob sounds like it's just broken, or not functioning as intended. Does have a neat lighted ring, but it feels like they went too far with the DC power input. Like someone calibrated it with only USB power (which is plenty to power XLR mics, from what I've seen).
3:51 why haven’t you done a review on the ProCast yet?? it’s the mic i got and there aren’t many reviews out there, i’d love to see your take on it
Clipping can be solved by turning down the artificial gain that windows puts on your mic to make it louder btw, in the sound settings. You dont want it at 100%, maybe more like 50 or 60.
Hearing that Voicemeeter is anticonsumer is new to me, what's up with them?
In the Steelseries GG Software, dial gain by going to the Mixer tab (you were on Mic tab 5:40)
Chat/Game volume knob on the mic doesn't make sense (7:00) except maybe for content creation, but not everyone who wants a good mic is a content creator. Their line of headsets already has that. Gain volume makes sense on a mic. You can quickly adjust volume if someone says you're too loud.
I can't defend their advertising though.
FINALLY the person I’ve been waiting on to talk about this mic. legoo
the mixer has its issues. It takes up a ton of system resources for no reason what so ever. Its the reason i switched to voicemeeter, it also likes to reset my inputs a lot which i find infuriating. also their claims of the diaphragm being 3x bigger i think is comparing to the tiny mics on headsets not standalone microphones.
oh my gosh bumping the gain on my mic or my output is such a big problem for me. I use a Steinberg UR12, brilliant interface, but the gain knobs are just so easy to bump, especially where my interface sits on my desk, behind my keyboard. And when I switch over from gaming to music production and move my keyboard, my wires get caught on it and my gain levels get messed up. Its so annoying!!
I also use Steelseries GG and it is absolutely brilliant. I found Sonar because i have a Steelseries mouse and keyboard (Apex 7 and Sensei 310) and I cannot go back to not using the EQ functions for gaming. I don't use it for music production because that is on a different device, however for gaming, discord, and media consumption, being able to change the EQ for each type is incredibly powerful.
If you go to the mixer setting in their software the mic part on the far right is the gain setting I believe
I tried to look for the car option but Amazon did not have any
Is it just me or does the gain knob vs monitoring thing a software issue? One is behaving as it should and the other is not adjusting? That's so weird.
Can you do a quick video explaining/setting up this microphone when it comes to a dual PC set up?
Has the gain problem been addressed since the release of this video?
Senpai how come you haven't covered the Comica VM30 senpai??
Why would he
Ik the blue yeti for a long time was advertised as THE microphone to have for youtube but those times have been over for ages now so idk what that comparison means
One issue I ran into when i had this Mic was that when running a 2 pc setup the Mic would come into my obs all choppy and playing with diffrent settings in sonar I could not get the audio from being choppy.
The best thing about the sonar mixer is the constant crashing and just plain forgetting settings. I have a $200 arctis pro paper weight in my closet because the software was so annoying.
Image and sound design student here. Everything said checks out from a technical standpoint. Excellent video brother!
I really wanted to like the Alias Pro since I recently started a dual pc setup but the lack of total control of my stream audio was a deal breaker. I did one stream with it and decided to stick with my Wave 3 mic and Wavelink to control my stream audio. I still use Sonar for my gaming audio because the eq is amazing.
I use computer software that filters the sound to remove the external noise and then I get it to the mixer so that I can clamp from the mixer to the mobile and the process is successful so that I can open the TikTok or Space on Twitter except I hear my voice at the time of speaking and I just want to hear the voices of others without my voice.
Is there a specific mixer that provides me with the option of separating adjusted audio from computer to mixer and makes me muffle it and it is only apparent to me the sounds of others not my voice.
I thought i saw something that said 48v on the back? Maybe thats why for the power plug and not bus power. I dont think you'l get 48v off any port from your pc
I tried using wavelink for a while but it wasn’t really intuitive and it ended up unable to capture the audio of slay the spire for some reason.
HTC had a magnetic phone case back in 2016-2016 ish and the HTC ONE case lit back lit holes in the front of the case and this mic looks almost inspired from that
Try moving your monitor out of the frame for the wide shots when you’re talking to the camera. It’s a little dustracting
Just wondering, how to set up volume control via keyboard with hotkey? I need step by steps though. It is rather confusing for me.
Where you not able to control or fix the settings via the Engine Section of the GG App like the headphones usually has?
Hey ! i have a weird Question maybe the community or you can help me. Im using a Shure SM7B + GOXLR and a Rode Microphone im looking for a different microphone arm thats a bit more flexible than the idk Rode PSA1?
Hello! thanks for the informative video.
I did just buy their mic, the normal one not the pro. It's working well for me, but Idk if i actually love it. the mute on it is awesome, i mean how easy it is and the way I can tell if it's muted or not. but like you said, the dial thing is a turn off for sure. I would love to hear from you about a recommendation about the same price, something not like the yeti that picks all sounds, even the dishes in the kitchen. But in the same time has great voice clarity, and good noise cancelation. While at it, could you please recommend a good app for the mic?
How would the Steelseries software hold up w/ the GoXLR? Would I want to use the Alias Pro with the GoXLR or the DAC that comes with it? And if I were to use both (via the headphone monitor jack), would I need a dongle to remove the background noise or something?
The software does have a gain, it’s on the front page where u can change the gain on the different softwares, you can control the mic with the dial or type in a %, personally I have mine at 75% with my razer serien x, trying to upgrade but I don’t know what to get
I would love to hear why you find voicemeeter to be anti consumer, I've been using it for a couple years now for free and had no issues
Same.
Do you think maybe their 3.2x diaphragm size is maybe comparing it to gaming headset microphones?
Why didn't you mention the other huge knob on the interface at all?
Thank you for all of the reviewing that you do! and also love the streaming setup vids!
Why aren't you putting out new streambeats music? It's been years
For using your music, How do you like going about that with Twitch, I get RUclips in the destination, But do we need to do something for Twitch??
8:03 Why do you consider it anti-consumer? Too many/few settings? UI?
I'm really unsure of what he means by that.
It's basically free and if you want to pay you can pay what you want to.
That's so far weighted in favour of the consumer that I'm baffled by the idea that they're anti-consumer.
The steelseries app is free and doesn't force you to use that specific microphone, but it's still just a tacked on addition to the driver interface for their gaming stuff and that's subject to change if this product is successful.
I'm also confused by the idea that you wouldn't want to be able to control the input gain with a knob on the interface. It's the one most important thing you'll need to adjust and having it in software is going to lead to it resetting after updates and ruining your sound quality. Just don't have the interface sitting where you're going to be putting your hands and you won't knock it. If you want to know where your ideal setting is then mark it with a paint pen and you'll always be able to get it back to the right spot.
I've been using the SteelSeries app because you don't have to have their mic to use it. The noise cancel/ noise gate which seems to work really well for me but I do find it really weird there is no gain
How are you gonna pull 48V Phantom out of a 5V 1.0A USB Port?!
Personaly I went with a Podcast Pro from Sontronics, a great budget friendly dynamic supercardioid, my only qualm with it is it doesnt have a native shock mount.
when will you guys finally put Stream beats to RUclips music ?
why tf are the plugs on your power strip sideways?? like yeah its dumb that this requires a power brick but that shouldnt take up more than 1 slot
their software has one big problem, it randomly crashes and messes all your audio till it restarted. its been doing this for over 2 years. ive used the program almost 2 years.
gotta get that software, when i installed voicemeeter it just randomly pitched my voice up and made me sounds like a nerd emoji, so i had to uninstall the driver for my interface and reinstall it to reset everything. im using a podmic as well so its not like its just a cheap mic i got from walmart
yeah my interface has all the knobs on top and I have it placed well out of the way on the side of my desk :) Also it has not easily knocked buttons.
speaking about ai noise canceling what ever happened to rtx voice/ nvidia broadcast? that was game breaking when it came out but nobody talks about it now.
I hate it, it tries to take over the audio defaults constantly. i get better performance across 3 mics at the same time with a github ai noise canceling vst and equalizerapo
@@Mach1Greeble what are you talking about? rtx voice? I've been using it for 3 years now and never had a single issue with it or had it try and change my audio unintentionally even once.
Is that a Majesty guitar at the back?! :O
Never really got into standalone mics but I can say from my experience with 3-4 of their "gaming headsets" they almost always have an issue with the mic/software, to the point people are hearing my voice twice or their voices are echoing etc. that's part of the reason I stopped buying their products. I've been a bit more cautious about what I buy bc of them and some of the razer headsets I tried out. So I typically just wait for an audiophile to review something and decide from multiple reviews
I wonder if the gain thing can be fixed by adjusting the mic levels in the system settings to be lower then increasing the gain on the dial.
Mix levels are different than mic gain (and they should be)
So... what is the mic you are using to record this video [the one you're not reviewing in this video]? It sounds fantastic!
This video came up at perfect timing. Looking at new mics for the future right now and was eyeing some of their mics and headsets.
Wow, the issues with that interface are absolutely embarrassingly bad! How did that make it though any level of testing?
I already had SteelSeries GG installed (because I use the Arctis Pro Wireless and Rival 600 mouse) so I got pretty excited about a build in mixing software. Checked but couldn't find it. Is it windows only? I am searching for an easy-to-use software that can split macOS sound since forever.
uninstall the app then reinstall it
Could it be that the gain knob only adjusts the monitoring, meanwhile input vol is set somewhere else?
help, im confused why i dont have the multi multi mixer on mine?, to control output for me/outside
@Senpai, would u be doing a video comparison between Voicemeeter and the SteelSeries mixer?
I hate the way they did the headsett, because they made it so it automatically switches to steelseries sonar gaming, so i have to switch to steelseries sonar media every single time, because the gaming one sounds beyond garbage...it might just be the software, but this has lastet atleast 2-3 years (i use the artics nova 7)
I miss my previous gen Arctis Nova 7 headset, I had to replace it with a Nova 7X and it no longer has the hardware chat/game mix. The hardware just controls the Sonar software which bugs out now and then. Also I can't turn it on for a few seconds after unplugging it and now and then it wont connect at all. Never had any problem with the old one. Just keep making that one.
I like the separate power brick. USB power is notorious for signal noise that is borderline unfixable. Even if USB power would be sufficient, auxiliary power at least as an option is a required feature for any decent audio interface imo.
the reason it probably needs to be plugged into the wall is for 48v phantom power. the wall power is not for the control device, rather the microphone itself. it's not a "Passive microphone" as you would normally find with most pc microphones you can plug directly into the computer. it's an active microphone, needing power to operate.
They can fix this stuff in the software, but at least on my Mac I can't update the firmware (it just errors out). SteelSeries have had logs of this firmware update failure for weeks and haven't been able to fix it.
I just got a Trust GXT 232 about 3 yrs back it's a cheap £20-40 price range mic and then I bought a mic arm for like £20 and then I spent £35 when voicemod was on sale for a lifetime membership no subscription needed that and OBS filters is all I use to tweak my mic the OBS is a little more complicated to set up for the non software savvy but voicemod's voice lab is relatively simple to use and you could pick how to use it in a quick 5-10 minute youtube tutorial I don't need a £150-350 mic to sound like i'm in a studio doing a podcast and I love it! plus alot of softwares have built in noise cancellation like discord so it's got you covered there too i'm getting a rog s core headset for £82 week after next and it's mainly for comfortability on pc it being only 270g and a nice big cushion for the headbad and ears!
the mic is cheap but sounds decent enough that if I use my software that it wont matter! and voicemod has pop filter options these days