Have spent the last 2 days setting up and testing my
@elgato Wave XLR Pro, here are my thoughts...
#1 Complaint, there is no proper built-in Noise Gate. You have to download a plugin, and the one plugin I've tried does the job ok, but GoXLR, among other proper mic features/settings, has a noise gate built right into the software, why was this NOT a thing with the Wave XLR Pro?
#2 With direct monitoring turned on, the mic never turns off so every sigh, breath, sniff, keyboard stroke and mouse click all come through over the mic, but as any audio person knows, direct monitoring needs to be real time, but without a true noise gate with proper thresholds, this can be annoying, which leads to...
#3 With direct monitoring turned off, you can hear your voice, but there is a VERY noticeable delay cuz the processing is now software and not hardware like it is with direct monitoring. However, with noise gate PLUGIN working (when it works), the stream/recording will not pick these up. I'd still prefer the experience with GoXLR in this context.
#4 Seemingly every other shutdown/restart I have no audio. I have had to unplug/plug in the XLR Pro when this happens. I have fast startup turned off. All USB ports/cards/hubs are to set to always have power in device manager, but this still every so often when a restart/shutdown happens. Oh and while this next part makes sense, if you unplug/plug while Wave Link software is open, the software breaks. So Pro Tip, completely close out of Wave Link before doing this. I've had this happen a couple times and it was due to frustration. That last part is on me, but hopefully someone reads this and does this in the correct order.
#5 Ducking, while I do love what this feature can do, it also seems to engage even when my mic is muted. Not end of the world, but I can see it being annoying to the viewers when that while my mic is muted, say for if I have to take a phone call, all other audio will be dropped down constantly while I am on that phone call.
For the positives, overall audio quality and production is (sincerely) fantastic. Once you get a handle on the software, and your I/O's are not only set correctly in the software but are also connected correctly via all hardware, it does work... again though, when it works, it works well. Going back to my inconsistently consistent issue of restarts/shutdowns and I have no audio....
#Elgato #WaveXLRPro