Not Just for Live Streaming
Review by Erik Vlietinck
Loupedeck Live, the smaller sibling of the Loupedeck CT, has a similar touchscreen, rotary knobs, and eight buttons. The console is made of the same aluminum and sturdy plastic components as the CT, and comes with a mountable stand, so you can position the Loupedeck Live at a 30° angle.
The new app version (v4) that now comes with the Loupedeck Live and CT models can be used by both for any application you have installed on your Mac or PC, using actions based on shortcut keys.
Loupedeck Live includes haptic analog dials, customizable buttons, and LED backlighting. Its compact design takes up little desk space. Out of the box, the console supports Spotify, Streamlabs/OBS Studio, Twitch, and macOS or Windows operating system plug-ins. When you buy Loupedeck Live, you’ll get two extra plug-ins for creative apps of your choice.
The company came up with a simple way to control most of your apps’ features by letting you set up macros inside the Loupedeck app. These are sequences of keyboard shortcuts that accomplish a task and that you can bind to a knob or any round or touch button on the Loupedeck Live. It works really well!
In Loupedeck talk, the macros are called “Custom Profiles” and, while the Loupedeck Live comes with two creative plug-ins, you can download a whole bunch of custom profiles. What’s even better is that you can easily create your own for any software you use, and share them with the Loupedeck community.
As for the plug-ins, Loupedeck has decided for a mixed license/subscription model. Additional creative plug-ins will be available for purchase through the Loupedeck software, via subscription (up to 1,99 EUR/USD per month) or as a lifetime license (up to 29,99 EUR/USD). ■
A few words about the CT version (NOT the live one)…
I have used Loupedeck CT since it was launched. I still appreciate the small size (compared to the “keyboard size” of the previous model) and it is a beautiful object… Indeed.
However, it stays inside a drawer because:
– it is fragile ( I lost the space key (bottom left) and others are about to go
– it is soooo complicated to createprofiles
– and more important Monogram console is out,which lay out and fonctions can be easily customized (even if my Monogram takes three times more room on my desk…). Moreover quality and sturdiness are much better.
And we are still waiting for the blutooth firmware version
.
As a conclusion, I would not recommand Loupedeck CT (Live version may be different but I doubt it) and , although more expansive, I would go for Monogram (and I was not paid for this comparison ! – just my humble opinion ! -)