Mackie’s M•Caster Live is a compact live streaming mixer with one-knob vocal effects and RGB lighting
Want to share your ‘content’ with the world? This might be able to help
When Mackie released its first mixer, way back in 1989, ‘live streaming’ wasn’t even a twitch in a YouTuber’s eye, but the latest product to bear the company’s name is designed to be used for that very purpose.
Said to have been designed from the ground up for content creators, the M•Caster Live is a portable live streaming mixer designed for social media types, gamers, podcasters and DJs.
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This can connect directly to your smartphone’s headphone jack (if it has one, that is) or via USB to a computer, and can be powered from the mains or an external battery.
As well as offering mic, headset and media player inputs, you can sweeten the sound of your vocals with the onboard, preset-based ContourFX, using just a single knob. The StreamFX voice changer, meanwhile, enables you to apply fun effects and change how you sound.
There are dedicated headphone and studio monitor outputs, too.
As well as the hardware, the M•Caster Live also comes with perpetual licences for Accusonus’s ERA Voice Leveler and De-Esser plugins, along with a three-month, all-access subscription to the company’s other software.
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Of course, in the world of streaming, it can be almost as much about how you look as how you sound, so Mackie has equipped the M•Caster Live with an RGB strip round its bottom edge, which can light up in your choice of seven colours (or not at all, if you’d rather). You can choose from a black or white finish, too.
The M•Caster Live will be available over the next few weeks priced at $259. A range of accessories, including ring lights and a bag, will be released later in the year.
Find out more on the Mackie website.
I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.