THE MYSTERY
[voiceover, trailer, CES footage, b-roll] At CES 2020, Elgato Gaming - the company best
known for their popular and accessible video capture cards, and more recently the Stream
Deck - teased a new kind of product. Something they’ve never done before. They called it “Project Wave.” It was mysterious, they tried to avoid making
it obvious, they wanted everyone to guess about what it was, they didn’t want to come
out and say it. It was clearly audio-related, but what could
it be? A mixer? A microphone? A GoXLR competitor? A red herring? [cut to camera, up close] It’s a microphone. It’s clearly a microphone. CES was mostly a blur, so I was originally
remembering the product trailer being much shorter and less… obvious of what the product
was, but nope, they show the entire thing plain as day. All the articles questioning “what ever
could it be?” feel even more silly now. But the cool thing is - it’s not JUST a
microphone. It does have a lot more to it, functionality
and tricks up its sleeve. Despite going against a few things that I
typically say are “no-nos” for streaming microphones in 2020, this thing has actually
impressed me. [nerd or die ad spot]
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is what Project Wave actually is… [back to video] THE REALITY Well congrats, “captaincool31”, you were
correct. Project wave is kind of like a USB microphone
and a GoXLR all in one. Well, before I go much further, I guess it’s
worth clarifying that “Project Wave” is not just ONE product, but two. Possibly more later, but that’s unclear. And if you count accessories, then it’s
closer to like 5 products, but let’s not worry about those for now. There are two “Project Wave” microphones,
the Wave:1 and the Wave:3. They’re basically the same thing, though,
and I’m not sure the Wave:1 should even exist, but we’ll cover that later. The main concept is actually a pairing of
a wonderfully-crafted microphone with a LEWITT-made capsule, with some pretty nice software to
make your life easier as a streamer. The “Wave Link” software runs on your
computer and works very much like the GoXLR software. This means you get a full, multi-virtual audio
cable setup registered within Windows or Mac OS. So yes, it’s like a USB microphone and a
VIRTUAL mixer all-in-one. But there’s no physical inputs on this thing,
it doesn’t qualify as an actual mixer. But the software can still replace one - if
you are a single PC streamer - we’ll touch on this in a moment. [“thinker” b-roll] IS IT A TOY? The wave microphones as a physical product
do not feel great. Mostly made of plastic, it’s lightweight,
almost cheap feeling - though they’ve made major improvements from the earlier test products
from CES - but it’s not a toy and outside of dropping one down a flight of concrete
stairs, I don’t anticipate any build quality issues over time. The mic shape and design resembles classic
vocal mics, like you’d see on the desk of a late night talk show host, which is pretty
neat. I wasn’t kidding about it being lightweight,
though. The mic itself is actually under the minimum
weight limit for a mic arm like the Rode PSA1, so you’ll want the pop filter and shock
mount to help with that. Cheaper mic arms should rejoice, though. They’ll hold up fine unlike typically-heavy
expensive microphones. In the box, Elgato provides you with a USB
type C to A cable - though this is only 2.0 mind you, you can use it on basically any
USB port you have - a thread adapter for attaching to boom poles, mic arms or mic stands, and
the mic itself, pre-attached to the surprisingly robust for its size desk stand. But, as usual with USB microphones, this desk
stand is… mostly useless unless you’re a child? It’s so short, I’m sure to develop neck
problems or even WORSE posture trying to use it like this. That being said, it is a condenser mic and
can be used from far away, so you can aim it up a bit at you and keep it at a distance
without much trouble - just keep in mind you’re introducing more room and desk noise as a
result, we’ll talk about this later. My biggest complaint here. Such an obvious one.... These mics only come in black. While the “wave” is supposed to be some
sort of play on “sound wave” - WAVE, PROJECT WAVE, ELGATO’S COLOR IS BLUE, WHERE’S
THE OCEAN BLUE COLORWAY VERSION?! COME ON, TEAM! [shot in use at desk] A TALE OF TWO WAVES Depending on which mic you have, the interface
on them might look a tad different. Oh yeah, and Wave:3 (that’s strange to say out loud) is a tad
taller. The Wave:1 microphone just has a single knob
on the front to adjust monitoring volume to the headphone jack and can be pressed in to
mute the microphone. The Wave:3 on the other hand has many more
lights. That’s where the “3” and “1” numbers
come in. The Wave:1 only controls one level adjustment,
monitoring, whereas the Wave:3 controls 3 different levels - monitoring to
headphones, gain for the microphone, and a “balance” of the mic between real-time
monitoring of the microphone and sound being output to it via USB. Pressing the knob in on this mic will switch
between modes, with muting being delegated to a capacitive button on the top of the mic. The mic capsule itself in both microphones
is exactly the same, so overall the sound “quality” achieved from both will be basically
identical. The only real difference here is that the
Wave:3 can operate up to 96khz, while the Wave:1 is limited to 48khz. Both mics operate at 24-bit. The back of both mics is also the same. You have a USB type C connector - but again
it only needs a USB 2.0 port - and a 3.5mm headphone jack for real-time monitoring and
USB audio playback. There’s a $30 pricetag difference between
these two devices. While I personally feel they should have gone
all-in on the one microphone and having one without all the fancy features feels a tad
non-committal, I also feel there’s plenty of people who will want the mic itself and
the cool audio routing software without actually using anything ON the mic itself, so saving
$30 while doing so isn’t a bad deal. Thankfully, their software makes it easy to
not use the onboard tools. [b-roll of both mics together] CONDENSER DISPENSER As I mentioned at the start, Project Wave
goes against two rules I usually have for my audio recommendations for content creation:
It’s both a USB microphone AND a condenser microphone. I have long spoken against using condenser
mics for desktop streaming setups due to the issue of background noise and controller or
keyboard and mouse noise. Without a heavily sound-treated room, moreso
than you think it should be, once you start EQ-ing and adding compression, it’s gunna
start sounding bad. Dynamic mics are almost always a superior
way to go when it comes to noise rejection, that’s why virtually all broadcast mics
are dynamic. That being said, condenser mics do have a
place, and plenty of streamers use them with finely-tuned noise filtration without issue. And RTX Voice makes that even easier, assuming
you’re not on the new Windows 2004 May update. [joke R_T_X it’s in your voice] Weirdly, Elgato’s reviewer guide spent time
justifying the condenser capsule choice for “higher quality” and other weirdness,
which is technically true, but if your mic track is way more full of keyboard or ambient
noise, most of that is moot. I also frequently suggest viewers don’t
invest in USB microphones because they always come with compromises and don’t allow for
much of an upgrade path and limit what additional audio gear you can add to your chain. You can’t plug a USB mic into analog-based
audio hardware - I mean, you CAN with the headphone out, but that’s just terrible
practice. BUT there’s also a massive market of people
who want something more plug and play and easy to use while still having some flexibility. I think Project Wave provides that. In fact, that ties in with why I consider
the use of a condenser capsule ok in this context, too. Overall, condenser mics - good ones at least
- don’t really need an “upgrade path” like dynamics. There can be some pretty big jumps in what
you can do going from cheaper dynamic mics to the big boys, but good condenser mics can
kinda just be used indefinitely without a compelling reason to “upgrade”. Just evolve your processing skills over time. So with the kind of audience that wants this
mic - mostly a single PC streaming setup with all the audio routing features - this is one
of those “set and forget” kind of setups where you never have to worry about upgrading. As long as you don’t want too complex mixing,
hardware processing, things like that. For Project Wave the condenser mic capsule
- which, again, was developed by LEWITT, a legendary audio company - is still pretty
nice. It’s not going to reject much background
noise at all, but the sound you get from it is lovely. In fact, this entire video, voiceover and
all, has been recorded using the Wave:1 and Wave:3 microphones, albeit with some post-processing
applied. Here’s how it sounds unprocessed compared
to a couple competitors using my usual Lord of the Rings quote:
[Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky, seven for the Dwarf Lords in their Halls
of Stone, Nine for the mortal Men doomed to die, one for the dark lord on his dark throne. In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find
them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness
bind them. In the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie.] Overall, I like the sound you can get out
of this microphone. By default, it sounds MOSTLY natural - though
feeling a little muddy on my voice and still carrying some of that “compressed” sound
that every USB mic seems to have - but can be EQ’d to clean up and really fill out
and sound great. [Retro room LCT440 PURE]
Granted, it doesn’t compete with some of the big boy mics from LEWITT, but for a fraction
of the cost I wouldn’t entirely expect it to. [back to main take]
The default “muddiness” I feel doesn’t allow for the natural “warmth” to my voice
that I aim to re-create, something you hear IRL but not so often over microphones, like
the 440 PURE mic picks up. But it’s super clear in the high range and
not boomy at all, which is great. This is how a microphone should sound. You can get a nice, clear presence to cut
across your background music bed, gameplay sound, and so on. There’s a couple settings you should be
aware of with this microphone in the Wave Link software, though. By default (at least for my installation)
there are two checkboxes enabled for the microphone, labeled “Enhanced Lowcut Filter” and “Clipguard.” I’m not sure what is enhanced about the
lowcut filter, but since the mic is already not very boomy and I don’t have any low
frequency hum in my room, I leave that unchecked. With it enabled, I feel like I lose even more
warmth and start to have a “cold” or “tight” feeling to my voice. Clipguard is this mic’s secret weapon. I absolutely love this. Clipguard is a technology that Elgato have
implemented within the analog-to-digital converter of the mic, very similar to how some of the
more expensive audio recorders operate with a “safety track”. Two different audio channels are run from
the microphone, with the second one running 20db lower than the first. The microphone, then dynamically switches
between these tracks to circumvent any peaking or clipping. This means you can basically get as loud as
you want without distorting. The main mic track has 95db of dynamic range,
but you get the extra 20db of range via Clipguard. This is a KILLER feature for this microphone
and makes the lives of basically all streamers instantly better. I’m so tired of hearing distorted, clippy
and peaky audio on streams, it’s so exhausting on the ears. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this
- as I mentioned, audio recorders can do this quite well - and I discovered during my HyperX
Quadcast review that it seems to have some sort of limiter running on it to prevent clipping,
and the GoXLR has one, too that can’t be disabled - but this might be the best execution
of the idea for streaming-specific gear. Color me impressed. [screaming into mic samples] Here’s what that looks like in waveforms
compared to it being disabled. Now, you should still manage your mic gain
appropriately to your distance from the mic, as cranking up the gain to max and relying
on Clipguard to avoid clipping just means you’ll have a massive noise floor compared
to what you could have. Also, this will have no impact on the tone
of your voice, just levels. Here’s a quick white noise test to see how
the noise rejection feels. Here’s a quick test while typing to hear
cherry MX blues with O-rings behind this microphone. Here’s a test from up close and far away
to test for proximity effect. Both microphones claim on the box to have
a built-in pop filter. Yet they sell a pop filter as an added accessory. What gives? Well here’s some plosives testing. Now with the pop filter on. I do appreciate that Elgato committed to the
primary cardioid pickup pattern for this mic. Many USB mics coming out from gaming companies
today take the Blue Yeti clone approach of having like 5 different pickup patterns and
dual capsules in it, which no one is using for that kind of product, and I feel it just
requires more cost-saving corners to be cut. Plus the extra controls to do all of that
switching. No such nonsense here. So yeah, it’s a pretty solid mic. Am I still waiting for a streamer-focused
USB microphone that’s dynamic? Yes. Though I know one is in the works but I can’t
say more than that. BUT do I think a condenser mic is a solid
choice for this product? Also yes. THE SOFTWARE The main superpower of this mic that makes
it stand out from all the other “just a USB mics” out there is the Wave Link software
it ships with. Now, this software doesn’t run “on”
the mic or anything, it is just software with the mic basically acting as a hardware license
key to activate and use it, but it’s very powerful and intuitive for what it is. When you plug in the mic and install the software,
it registers about 7 virtual audio devices to utilize for routing your sources through. On Mac, this actually allows you to capture
desktop audio sound to OBS and other streaming programs - which isn’t possible by default,
even with Apple’s own Quicktime screen recorder, and some alternatives to set that up could
cost you a hundred bucks. Using the software and operating system routing
settings you can completely separate and balance sound from your games, music, browser, voice
chat, and so on. You have complete control over your audio
mix. Plus, you don’t even need to use the virtual
audio devices they provide - you can remove them from the queue and add other devices
registered to your computer - including other microphones and output devices. This lets it play nicely with the GoXLR, too! Though somehow the software overrode the icon
for the GoXLR’s “Broadcast Stream Mix” with the Wave Link icon, even though they
don’t use the same device names, it’s… weird. The software UI is mostly intuitive, but let’s
run through it quickly. The main window presents you with your audio
channels. This is the main fader section of the mixer,
if this was physical. You can add and remove audio devices to the
list, change the levels, and tweak mic settings. You’ll notice there’s actually two faders
per microphone. The awesome thing about Wave Link is they’ve
actually implemented a main mix and a submix - or two different mixes that you can manage. One is your monitoring mix - how loudly you
hear things to your headphones or speakers - and the other is your stream mix - how loudly
the stream will hear everything. This is super powerful, as it allows you to
set up audio devices that only you hear in your headphones, or only your stream hears
and not you. So if you want to play music you don’t have
a license to but don’t want it going to your stream so you don’t get DMCA’d, you
can just mute that device going to your stream. Or if you play sound effects to your stream
but don’t want it interfering with your ability to hear your game, you can mute them
to your headphones. Plus you can manage the audio balance of each. I cannot understate how powerful and important
this is. This is also super useful for managing your
voice chat, such as from Discord, and controlling if your stream hears it or not, balancing
it against your voice, etc. You can change the name of each track to better
identify what they’re for. There’s a chain link icon above the level
faders which allow you to always keep the headphone and stream levels in sync so when
you change one, it changes both. You will want this for some devices, but not
all. You can click the headphone or stream icons
to mute the devices to those specific outputs. Below this “Inputs” section is the “outputs”
section, where you adjust the master volume levels for your monitor mix and your stream
mix, respectively. You have audio meters to view how close you
get to clipping for your full mix, just like your individual devices. There’s a dropdown for “Monitor Mix”
which allows you to actually choose which output audio device on your system that your
monitor mix actually goes out to! So if you don’t want to use the headphone
output on the mic itself, if you’re using a wireless headset or other DAC/AMP combo,
you can output everything to that with minimal added latency. Do note that the actual “realtime zero latency”
monitoring of the microphone can only be done on the mic’s physical headphone output,
but that’s fine. In my testing, there is a fair bit of latency
on the mic going to another output - so using it to another pair of headphones might result
in a kind of “stadium” sounding effect where you get the delayed feedback. Won’t bother some people, but will be a
problem for others. Weirdly enough, it’s more latency than the
GoXLR originally had that I complained about, and it’s like it’s just enough to not
be quite as disruptive to speech as the original GoXLR latency was. It’s weird. There’s also an ear icon next to the outputs. You can use this to quickly check your stream
levels in realtime, it’ll route the stream mix’s balancing out to your monitoring device
instead of the monitor mix, so if you use different levels for each, you can make sure
your stream is sounding how you’d like. This is neat. Elgato will also be adding a third output
device to the Wave Link software, which will basically act as a voice chat-specific mic,
like the “Chat Mic” device on the GoXLR. This allows you to mute and deafen Discord
interaction completely separate from the rest of your stream - useful for responding to
new subs and follows during your stream, or other stream-specific interactions that might
disrupt your game buddies in the middle of a match. Good stuff. At the top-right corner of the software, the
gear icon just opens basic preferences to check for software updates and change if the
software opens at startup. The speaker icon opens the Windows sound routing
settings so you can change which programs route to which audio device. This is how you assign your game to the game
output, music app to the music device, browser to browser, and so on. If you haven’t seen this feature in Windows
10, it’s pretty great. Once you have your mix all finished and balanced,
you then simply add the “Wave Link (Stream)” device to your streaming app as the main microphone
device - much like the “Broadcast Stream Mix” device from the GoXLR and you’re
good to go! It’s that simple. Unfortunately this highlights a hope I had
for the Wave Link software that never came to be: There’s no support within Wave Link
for post-processing on your microphone like the GoXLR has - albeit it’s doing so on
dedicated DSP hardware - and there’s no support for adding VST filters to Wave Link
either. So if you want to do any EQ, compression,
or just noise removal on your voice, you cannot have it run through the stream mix. You need to mute it to the stream mix, then
add the “Mic In” Wave device to your streaming app and apply VSTs there. (Or run it through RTX Voice first.) Thankfully this workaround is supported, but
I have to admit I was disappointed to not see direct support for this in the software. What’s also interesting to note is that
the Monitor Mix and Stream mix both show up as separate audio devices in Windows, so you
could route them to different recording tracks for different purposes. There is no ASIO driver included here, in
case you specifically wanted that for your DAW software or something. As far as comparing Wave Link to the GoXLR
software, when you compare how they handle just the routing alone, they mostly do the
exact same thing, but with different approaches. Wave Link uses a traditional mixer layout
with just faders for the two outputs for routing. The GoXLR, however, has 4 separate sub mixes
PLUS the sampler I/O to route, so they went with a routing table instead. This makes sense given the additional complexity
of the I/O, but since the Wave has less complex I/O routing, its approach makes sense and
is probably more intuitive for new users to grasp. It wouldn’t be an Elgato product without
Stream Deck integration, right? Wave Link installs a Stream Deck plugin which
gives you basically full control over the Wave Link software. You can toggle monitoring between stream and
monitor feeds, you can mute specific channels to either the monitor or stream mix, you can
mute your microphone to the stream or monitor mix, you can mute your individual output mixes
entirely, set volume levels for input and output channels, as well as adjust mic settings
such as gain, volume, low cut, and clipguard. Good stuff. I have two main complaints about the software. Overall, I’m very impressed with it - it
doesn’t like the mic being unplugged and plugged in while open, and it’s had some
hangups sometimes - but they spent basically all of 2020 working on polishing the software,
which is a nice step forward, given that I usually complain about their unreliable software
with most of my other Elgato reviews. Thankfully one of my complaints is fairly
benign: I can’t resize the window to view all 8 channels at once. For a “virtual mixer” it’s imperative
that I have access to all of it at a glance, not scroll to reach it. And there’s literally no reason to not let
me do it. My second complaint could be a real frustration
for many people, though. If you unplug the microphone, the audio devices
disappear from Windows. The mic acts as a hardware key to let the
software work, so I get that it’s not going to let you do anything without the mic being
plugged in, but to completely remove the devices from Windows means that your entire audio
configuration could be reset if the mic gets unplugged for any reason. I’m the kind of guy that wishes Windows
would let you lock audio devices so it never changes what’s active on its own, so that
part is kinda annoying. Along with that, if you close the app itself,
the audio devices remain, but the mix stops functioning. You’ll stop hearing anything. This affects your ability to hear anything
whether you use the headphone output on the mic or another monitoring device. It won’t affect the real-time monitoring
of the mic directly to its headphone output, though. That is always running. Also, there seems to be some conflict with
the GoXLR driver. Not in a bad way, but just a minor inconvenient
one. I mentioned that the GoXLR’s broadcast stream
mix device got a Wave Link icon already. Well for monitoring in Wave Link, the “System”
output device for the GoXLR is missing. Weird. Even weirder, the actual headphone device
for the Wave microphone is labeled as a GoXLR device when it’s not. This “Headphones (4- TC Helicon GoXLR)”
device is NOT a GoXLR device, but is the headphone output on the Wave mic. Super weird. I do wish they would develop a SDK or whatever
for users to work with, as being able to pair it with a MIDI controller, instead of just
the Stream Deck, to control levels on basically a full “mixer” presentation for cheap
would be sick. USABILITY This mic is incredibly intuitive to use. We just covered the software, but the physical
device is just as easy, too. Especially if you have the Wave:1 where you
only have a single dial and button to worry about. USB and headphones go in the back and you’re
good to go. On Wave:3, lights indicate everything you
need to know. Click the knob to change modes, turn it to
change levels or balance, and tap the capacitive spot on top to mute. But this is what I don’t like about many
microphones: Handling the mic to make these changes is a very clunky way to go. This is one of the big appeals of a mixer
layout like a GoXLR or an actual mixer. The shock mount would help with some of the
handling noise, but it would still be there, and at least on the Wave:1 using that dial
to mute brings back flashbacks of terrible Blue Yeti experiences. CA-CHUNK CA-CHUNK. Thankfully the Wave:3 upgrades you to a quieter button, but you
have to be pretty careful and precise to use it smoothly anyway. Although they did develop a Stream Deck plugin
so you can use that as your control surface instead. One of the major theories after CES and their
original teaser was that it was a mic with a separate control surface - due to the outline
teased at the end. This would’ve actually been a cool concept
and potentially allowed them to release different kinds of microphones to pair with it, but
perhaps a silly venture since it’d either have to be a direct GoXLR clone or competitor,
or be a closed in ecosystem of products with no expansion or upgrade paths. The knobs on the side of the mic allow you
to tighten and adjust the angle of the microphone. Though whether it’s on a mic arm or the
stand, you can only control the angle a tiny amount before the USB C cable hits the frame. Perhaps a super low profile thin USB C connector
could solve this. To attach your wave to a mic arm or stand,
unscrew it from the base, and screw in the bigger thread connector included in the box. Then attach to your mic arm or stand. On top of the handling concerns with the on-microphone
interface, having the headphone cable connected to your mic can be an issue, too. On the desk stand it’s probably fine, but
on an arm or higher stand, you just have your headphone cable dangling and that’s not
a way to go. So for these reasons, I’d imagine most people
aren’t going to actually use these features and rely on software and monitoring to a different
output device instead. Which totally contradicts my statement that
the Wave:1 shouldn’t exist and maybe changes it to maybe most people have no real reason
to invest in the Wave:3 for the extra $30. Huh. Well, it’s your call. ACCESSORIES You might want to save that $30, too, as they’re
going to get you with the accessories. They sell a shock mount and pop filter separately,
for $39.99 and $29.99 respectively. The pop filter isn’t necessary but will
definitely help make your viewers ears have an easier time and help teach you proper practice
with microphones. The shock mount isn’t entirely necessary
at all unless you have a really noisy desk or bang it a lot, BUT it makes mounting and
angling the mic on an arm a LOT easier and more how you want it to be. Both of these look quite nice, too. They also sell an extension rod kit to raise
up the mic. This should have just been included in the
box. It’s too short. I have to wonder if this was thought up after
packaging and everything was done. Just throw it in. IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE So what about dual microphone or dual PC setups? Obviously these are completely different situations,
but both are tricky. Let’s start with dual microphones. What if you have multiple hosts, a guest,
or just generally want to use more than one Wave microphone on a single system?
Uhhh, I’m going to say for now, don’t. Officially, two mics aren’t supported in
the Wave Link software, but it was suggested to me that you could still use two okay with
OBS or something. However, at least the first time I tried this,
things went real bad real quickly. Windows and Wave Link both got REAL confused
and once it un-froze, everything broke. Even after multiple Wave Link restarts, I
was unable to get system sound out to my monitoring device and it was no longer reading any microphone
audio from either mic. Plugging in the second mic registers an entire
set of new audio devices to go with it - which is kinda useless since you can’t use any
of them. I was able to get both mics working in OBS,
though, so that’s a plus. Now here’s a little Elgato Wave ASMR. Because why not? Because you’re worth it. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know this is a thing people do. Somewhere, somehow, somewhy. And you can do it with two Elgato Wave microphones,
just not using Elgato Wave Link software. But that’s okay, right? I’ll try pushing to 4 soon. I was hoping that since the second mic just
registers as a normal device in Windows that I’d be able to just add it into Wave Link,
but Wave Link seems to use some sort of more strict whitelist of devices, so it doesn’t
show up and many of my input devices are also missing. What about dual PC streaming setups? How would you utilize this? Well, there’s 2 approaches you could use,
depending on how you want to set it up. Either the Wave mic and Wave Link software
exist on your gaming PC, or the streaming PC. If you wish to apply post-processing to the
mic as a separate device in your streaming app, then you really have no choice but to
run it on the stream PC, so we’ll start there. This all works as we’ve already covered
in the software section. But in Wave Link, you’ll wanna use one of
the spare channels to add in your gaming PC’s audio - either via a capture card HDMI input,
or a direct Line out to Line in 3.5mm cable run from PC to PC. Then you can monitor and balance it for your
stream and be good to go. If you’re running the mic on your gaming
PC, you’ll need a workaround. They could make this easier by allowing the
dropdown next to Stream Mix to let us select a secondary output device that the mix is
sent to - i.e. your HDMI out to your capture card. You could also pair it with Elgato’s older
Sound Capture app to maybe get what you want. Alternatively, however, you can set up your
balance and monitoring as normal, but then go to your Sound Control Panel, and find the
Stream Mix device under the Recording tab. Right click it - go to Properties. Go to the Listen tab, and enable listening
and choose your HDMI output to your capture card as the output device. Then your final mix is sent along with your
gaming PC video output to your capture card, ready to be streamed. But it’s probably best to run this on the
streaming PC. CONCLUSION & PRICING
The mystery of Project Wave may have subsided, but my curiosity as to how users will take
to it and utilize it still remains. As a project, it was successful, but I’m
left wondering what other exciting things Elgato has planned for this bizarre year. Well, this has been a ride. I’ve been playing with these mics basically
since CES and it’s great to finally talk about them, as keeping something hidden while
my entire desk and workflow is regularly on display is quite tough. I did have a slip-up or two, whoopsie! I’m impressed with the Wave mics. I cringe every time I see a new gaming peripheral
company release a microphone, as it’s usually either a meh Blue Yeti clone or something
totally bizarre like the deodorant stick mic from ASUS. Even better, those mics usually cost MORE
than the Wave mics. I hadn’t thought about it much, but while
the usual naysayers who expect anything streaming related to magically be dirt-free or cheap,
$130 is actually incredibly competitive not just for a USB mic, but the full package you're
getting. I already thought the GoXLR Mini was a phenomenal
value for the interface/mixer tech you got, but for those looking for a more plug and
play or all-in-one solution, Wave has it beat by a long shot. But, it’s not for everyone. Ultimately I think buyers need to take the
time to make the right decision as to whether this is the right product for them or not. Streamers just getting into the game with
no audio experience, or those with slightly more simple needs and who are tired of messy
cable setups - this is a perfect fit. Having spent years running multiple sound
cards and hum destroyers and cables everywhere to achieve what the Wave Link software now
replicates in software, I WISH this or the GoXLR were around 5 years ago. Would’ve made my life easier. The simplicity here really makes it stand
out as an option. There’s been quite a few cases where I had
to go take a meeting or business call on a computer or setup that I don’t normally
use or have my typical audio setup for, and the Wave:3 is what I grabbed for it. It allowed me quick setup for all-in-one audio
mixing, balance and listening and was the quick, convenient option I wanted. If you’re looking to do podcasting, voiceover
work, game streaming, YouTube content creation, or just some slightly advanced presentations,
webinars, or meetings, Elgato’s Wave mics are a great option. Also invest in acoustic treatment for your
environment, and watch my video on getting optimal audio quality with basic physics first,
too. If you are doing voiceover work in particular,
you may want to invest in the Wave:3 specifically for the 96khz support. For streaming this is completely irrelevant. However, if you wish to loop in any other
sort of analog audio hardware or processing, this is not the right choice and you definitely
need to invest in an XLR microphone. I have a full microphone reviews playlist
linked in the description if you want my recommendations there. If you compare these within the current USB
microphone market, it really seems like this might be the best option here. Wave is very price-competitive against the
flagship Yetis and Quadcasts on the scene, and brings the Wave Link functionality that
it would be silly to ignore. Even if you don’t think there’s anything
too unique about the sound of the mic, you wanna choose the one that brings you all this
extra functionality and convenience, right? The Clipguard, the virtual cables, it’s
a solid package. Ultimately, Wave serves a couple different
audiences here. It’s a great plug and play microphone for
content creation, but it’s also a virtual mixer for audio routing and balancing for
streaming. As separate parts, they’re not that special. Elgato releasing this mic on its own as a
USB mic with no software really wouldn’t have stood out. Would’ve been boring. Elgato releasing the Wave Link software as
a virtual cables option would’ve been neat, but not anywhere near as robust or polished
as a dedicated, paid app would need to be. If you’re looking for the best vocal microphone
you can get for your money and don’t care about all the other stuff, I might suggest
investing elsewhere. If you’re looking for great virtual cable
software and that alone, look at Voicemeter. But if the pairing of these two concepts are
what you’ve been waiting for, this is it, chief. I am surprised at how polished and fleshed
out the software has gotten for Elgato, though - I imagine selling the microphones with it
help to cover development costs. I do hope this is Elgato turning over a new
leaf, however, as I’ve long complained about their software and wished they would invest
more in it. Affiliate product links to the Wave:1 and
Wave:3 will be in the description below. I can’t believe I’m recommending a USB
condenser mic in 2020, but they done did good. This is how you enter a new product market
and do it right. No more Yeti clones, please. I’m EposVox, your stream professor. If you enjoyed this journey of a video, hit
the like button and subscribe for more videos like this. Consider subscribing on Floatplane for early
access to videos and behind the scenes content. Come join us on Discord to chat about the
products and get tech help. If you’re looking for something else to
watch, click to watch this video on the cheapest capture card I’ve ever seen.
u/eposvox , have you ever done a review/tutorial on Equalizer APO? It is a "Front End" for VST effects that can be used with audio input/ouput. I've been using it for a year now an find that it can make even the basic "gaming headset" microphone sound pretty good. I use a couple of different plugins (compressor/expeander, limiter, noisegate and EQ) and have been able to make even a $19 gaming headset/microphone sound much better.