In my testing, I was able to hear a second speaker on my mic’s recording which in the stereo mix made my mic sound more echoey. It’s important to note here that there’s an inherent problem when recording any podcast with multiple speakers in the same room: Crosstalk. Naturally, it all gets recorded down into either separate multitrack files - if you want to then edit and polish it later in a DAW - or simply export it as one single file to share directly to your platform of choice. I could even play local audio files triggered from a Stream Deck, meaning most of the trimmings you might need for a well-rounded podcast are possible. When I played some music via YouTube, we both heard it and I could lower the volume to a level where it worked as a music bed. I was able to chat with a colleague via Slack’s call option and record both sides of the conversation by pointing Slack’s audio output to Rode Connect’s Virtual channel. The fun starts when you hit record, obviously. These features rely on a previously unused digital signal processor (DSP) found in the NT-USB Mini, another reason why it’s limited to this microphone at this time. Click those buttons in Rode Connect (on one of the USB mics) and you’ll find some of the same audio enhancement options: Noise Gate, Compressor, Exciter and Big Bottom. The channel number icon is reminiscent of the physical channel buttons on the Rodecaster Pro. There are channel faders for each connected NT-USB Mini along with one each for system audio and “virtual” guests. If you’ve used the latter, the UI of Connect will ring a few bells, despite it being pretty sparse. Rode Connect almost feels like an attempt at a software-only version of the Rodecaster Pro. Rode Connect offers multitrack export or simple stereo export and it seems quicker at both in my testing than with the Rodecaster. Even if you just import the stereo mix it’s a little more work than doing it within your operating system. The advantage here is that the Rodecaster takes an age to export audio in multitrack mode and you’ll end up with eight separate files (one for each channel on the mixer) along with a stereo mix. I use the Rodecaster most often for recording both sides of a call or interview, which is now something I can do directly on my Mac (this is something that’s much easier on a Windows PC). For one, I don’t need to turn on another piece of hardware if I want to record myself and a guest (be that locally or over a Zoom call). That said, as someone that has been using a Rodecaster Pro almost daily for the last year or so, Rode Connect has some distinct advantages. If you’re doing that it’s slightly going against the whole point of simplifying things, but nonetheless, it’s possible. For example, I was able to use Quicktime’s audio recording option to pipe an XLR microphone into Rode Connect via the system audio. You can jury rig a few things so that you can use other microphones. This effectively means that, while free, there’s still some level of “buy-in” to use the app. Rode has confirmed that more of its microphones will be compatible in the future, but it’s not clear if there are plans to open this up to “any” USB microphone further down the line. At launch, the software only works with Rode’s own NT-USB Mini microphone, so you’re going to need at least one of those for the app to be of much use. Well, one in particular and it’s a biggie. Rode Connect simplifies all that, but there are some caveats. This is usually the point when you start looking for a hardware mixer (like the Rodecaster Pro). But just typing that sounds like a lot of work. On Windows you’re going to get very familiar with ASIO drivers. On macOS the most common is to create an aggregated sound device. If you are technically minded there are some OS-level tricks to solve the multi-USB mic issue. Or you could have one guest on the system channel and another on the virtual if you don’t need any other sounds at the same time. There’s only one “virtual” channel too, so you can likely have multiple remote guests, but again they will be recorded to the same channel. All your system audio will be on one channel, so if you want a quiet music bed, but a loud sound effect, that won’t be possible, but it’s still a really useful feature. Rode Connect provides individual faders for all four local microphones so you can get the mix right as you record. The flagship features include recording up to four USB microphones on the same PC, recording of system audio (jingles and music beds for example) along with a dedicated “virtual” channel for bringing in guests via Skype/Zoom and so on (and importantly they will hear all the music/jingles, too). The new, free app, aims to simplify multi-microphone recording with just one computer and no external hardware. Rode has just unveiled Rode Connect, a new tool aimed squarely at the home podcaster.
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