Loupedeck has kicked off a crowdfunding campaign for its latest creator control pad, the Loupedeck Live S. The Loupedeck Live S directly competes with the popular Elgato Stream Deck in size, functionality, and pricing, and also has some additional attractive features.
The Elgato Stream Deck MK.2, which currently costs $150 on Amazon, has 15 customizable keys...and that's it.
Straight off the bat you can see the new Loupedeck Live S offers the same array of 15 customizable touch zones, but it has flanked them with tactile buttons and dials. On the left, there are two tactile dials and a tactile button, and on the right there's a trio of tactile buttons. And those tactile buttons aren't just plastic blanks, they're color-codable with built-in RGB lighting.
In its Indiegogo blurb, Loupedeck describes its new offering as perfect for streamers who need to "control the entirety" of their streams from "one easy-to-use interface." Loupedeck highlights the ease and intuit of using dials to control volume levels alongside fast, configurable touch controls.
Software support is important for getting the best out of any control deck: According to Loupedeck, the Live S is ready to work with many popular streaming apps, including Twitch, OBS Studio, Streamlabs, Ecamm, Spotify, Philips Hue, and Voicemod. For content creators, the Live S also includes plugins for apps like Adobe Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition, and Final Cut Pro. In our Stream Deck review we noted that Adobe app integration was a winning feature for the Loupedeck lineup.
Loupedeck's PC and Mac software claims to offer users "unlimited customization," and there are indeed lots of options. You can customize the display with static or animated icons, and have up to 14 pages of these ready to swipe through. Moreover, screens can be context dependent and switch when you use different apps. You can easily download more plugins, profiles, and icon packs from the Loupedesk marketplace.
The Loupedeck Live S went live on Indiegogo today, and the developers are already one-third of the way funded. As always, it's important to note that Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform, and no product is actually guaranteed; treat any money toward crowdfunding campaigns like investments, not purchases. That said, the developers say the Live S will start shipping in October.
At the time of writing there are still Early Bird options listed at €119 / £101, which is about $127 (the first 100 units at a better price have sold out). Loupedesk says that the retail price of the Live S will be $179 if you want to wait until it's officially released.
There are larger, more varied, and more expensive control panels available if something like the Loupedeck Live S or the Stream Deck don't offer enough features for your needs. And, of course, Raspberry Pi aficionados can ignore these pre-made controllers and build an alternative.
