RØDE RØDECaster Duo All-in-One Production Solution for Podcasting, Streaming, Music Production and Content Creation

For quite a while (around 3 months) I’ve been looking for a microphone interface to go with my RODE Podmic but it has to have DSP features such as Compressor , De easer , EQ and noise gate , unfortunately the only ones I could find where the Focusrite Vocaster which does have Compressor but it’s not in depth and only has a single slider , the only other one I could find that matched what I was looking for was the universal audio Apollo twin which costs between £600 - £700! After going for the Rodecaster Duo - initial impressions are , software is fantastic and I love the fact everything can be done on either the device itself or the software. Using audacity to check the noise floor via ACX test with gain set to 58db , below are the results or check pics. - mic muted 58db gain: noise floor = -83.06db - mic unmuted 58db gain: noise floor = -77.72db (untreated room) The DSP functions such as the compressor , noise gate and de esser work very well and it makes your voice sound more full and more present. The only downside I found as soon as I took it out of the box is , the build quality , when I buy high end audio equipment I expect a weighty very nice feeling product that gives me assurance it’ll last years , but unfortunately with the Rodecaster duo , it just doesn’t feel as nice as I’d hoped , if it was all made of metal or mostly metal construction It would be without a doubt the best mic interface I’ve ever had , I just don’t feel £348 of quality to be honest and only time will tell if it lasts. It definitely still deserves 5 stars from me because you can tell allot of effort and dedication has gone into the software and OS , I really appreciate that. If Rode can improve the overall quality of their next device and give it some more weight , I’ll be buying it 100% The headphone amp is very loud and I cannot go above half way without exploding my ear drums , I only have cheap Goodmans headphones that cost about £10 so I cannot comment on the performance of higher powered headphones. I also love the fact you get a quality control certificate in the box that actual humans have checked and signed , that’s a very nice additive and I’ve never seen that before! Mine also came with a EU plug which isn’t great but you just need to buy a IEC C5 cable , AKA a clover leaf 3 pin lead , I got a 1.5m from Amazon for £4.76 and it works fine. Overall I absolutely love this devices software and hardware capabilities , the build quality and weight isn’t bad , I just expected more.

Absolutely love this thing, not using for podcasting or recording, just as a tool for gaming and talking. Sturdy, satisfying buttons and knobs, simple to set up, guides you through it. Plenty of routing options if you need to, 5 pages you can assign custom touch pads, be it voice changer or funny sounds, up to you. But pricy, but I’m sure I’m future proofed with it as there’s app support. One downside - with SD card i, if you record, it may crash/freeze and you’ll have to unplug from power and all the sources to then restart it. Not seen anywhere what brand or type SD card is recommended

Switched from a full size GoXLR and haven’t looked back! Great bit of kit, simple to set up and looks modern compared to the xlr giving your desk setup a much classier look. But most of all the stand out feature has to be the preset for the shure SM7b without tweaks it makes this mic sound how you always tried to get it to sound on a GoXLR.. if you know you know!

Picked this up to replace my aging GoXLR, and this device is a significant step up in almost every way. Manages to push my 250Ohm DT1770 pros without breaking a sweat, and as someone who makes good use of the soundboard, having 48 "smart pads" (8 pages of 6 buttons) at my disposal has been great, things like the custom sounds for the censor button are a lot of fun, but there have been a couple shortcomings, some more significant than others. One minor gripe that I haven't seen many other people talk about is with said censor button. Unlike the GoXLR, which will only mute the microphone input when holding the censor button, the RODECaster will mute every single output, on all output channels. This seems sensible at first, since the RODECaster has multiple microphone inputs, and it stands to reason that one would want to mute all of the microphones with the censor button to avoid any profanity leaking into the audio mix via someone else's mic, but it also mutes other audio (game audio, voice comms, music) to the broadcast mix, as well as the headphones. An option to select which devices are affected by the censor feature would be nice. Also, a lack of sleep option is bothersome as someone who has their desk in their bedroom. While the device does have an option to dim the lights and display after a certain period of inactivity, there is no way to turn off the lights and display automatically, and the only way to do this manually is to power off the interface entirely. This wouldn't seem to be a problem on the surface for most use cases, but for some reason the device can backfeed current into my PC, causing all of my peripherals to light up anyway. This is apparently a quirk in the way that power negotiation is handled by the USB standard, and can be fixed by using a USB hub in between the PC and the interface, but I shouldn't have to buy more hardware to fix flaws in what was a £425 audio interface at the time of purchase. That leads me onto my biggest issue of them all. The noise. When I first set up the device and put on my headphones, there was this horrific buzzing/crackling/hissing noise, which persisted no matter what output (both 1/4" rear headphone jacks, both speaker jacks, and the front 1/8" jack) I plugged the headphones into. Apparently RODE were very proud of the preamps and other electronics that they used for their inputs (which, to be fair, are great), but seemed to entirely cheap out on the outputs. This was almost a deal-breaker, but after some research decided to pick up a relatively inexpensive ground-loop isolator, which removed the hiss entirely with an imperceptible effect on volume/audio quality. Overall, a great audio interface, but loses a star due to the fact that I've already had to buy extra hardware to deal with the audio hissing, with a potential third purchase of a USB hub to fix the power backfeeding issue, both of which are barely acceptable in a device that costs over £400.

This is a third party reseller, not Amazon, and NOT an authorised RODE reseller, despite that it says ‘Visit The Rode Store’ at the top of the page. Mine arrived in a battered box with a non-UK mains plug, and while it worked for a while it developed a fault and I had to get a refund. I have now purchased a full price one from another source, and I expect it to be brand new this time. Great product though, you might be lucky, but BUYER BEWARE.

Amazing, have had this for 2+ years now using it on the daily and it performs flawlessly, still receiving software updates for new features along with bug fixes. Would definately recommend if you are looking for an audio console/central place to manage all your audio/broadcasting needs.

It’s a solid mini solution for podcasts, but I made a mistake. For £49, with just a little extra spend, you can get the RØDECaster Pro II which comes with more tutorials, greater functionality, and a much easier setup overall.

If you're here it's likely you want to upgrade your GoXLR. I use the RodeCaster on a two PC setup, it was little more fiddly to set up but once you dial it in the experience is great and it is PACKED with features. The only thing missing is the full range of virtual audio inputs. Currently I can't separate my System sounds when it comes to Main PC sound and music from Spotify. The rumour is that this will soon be added with a software update, so here's hoping.