TC-Helicon GoXLR Revolutionary Online Broadcaster Platform with 4-Channel Mixer, Motorized Faders, Sound Board and Vocal Effects, Officially Supported on Windows

This gets the job done and has eliminated the need to string together unreliable and confusing software solutions and hardware MIDI devices to do the same thing.I've owned this for about a year and it has gotten better and better with regular software and firmware updates as well.The software is easy to use given the complexity of how you're able to set everything up. The routing section is top notch and extremely useful and easy to follow. The ability to save and load profiles makes switching between your different setups easy and immediate. The ability to assign text, colors, and images to your inputs is nice as well, and makes it easy to customize for whatever your setup calls for. It's been rock solid for me in terms of reliability, and I can only recall one time where I had to power-cycle it to resolve an issue. That's far better than what I was experiencing with previous software solutions.I'd hate to call the next items "cons" or "downsides", because these features were never advertised as being part of the product. But here is a list of suggestions, or things I'd love to see added in a future update:-Personally, I don't use the effects or sampling at all. I would love to see configuration options in the software to reconfigure some of the buttons and knobs for other functions. For example: switching profiles with the press of a button, assigning a knob to quickly change the microphone gate and/or gain, panning a channel's audio left or right.-Make the mic mute/cough button configurable on a specific mixer channel instead of just on the XLR input. I sometimes would like to instantly mute/unmute an input other than the XLR channel just by holding down a giant button.-Add an option to configure the level LED's as pre or post fader. Early on, I noticed that the levels were pre-fader levels, and somewhere along the lines with a software update this changed to post-fader levels (thank you). I've had scenarios where it would be nice to configure this on a per-channel level though.-If it's possible, add the ability to re-name the hardcoded channel names. Mic/Chat/Music/Game, etc. It becomes less of an issue with profiles, it would be awesome to have custom names for inputs.That's really about it... I have no hesitation recommending this product to anyone who needs a digital mixing solution or a good hardware audio interface for a hybrid software & hardware audio setup. Personally, I think it's underpriced just right when you consider any true alternatives (Consider reliability, ease of use, and fit & finish) that are on the market.This line could have an interesting future, and I think there's a gap between cheap analog solutions, expensive digital solutions, and buggy software solutions that TC Helicon has managed to balance with this.I'd be the first customer in line if:-A "pro" version was created that nixes the effects and sampling, at least devote less hardware real-estate to it. Use the space to add more hardware faders, maybe keep a few knobs if they're configurable for things like gain, gate, and compressor.-For the "pro" version, more XLR inputs & outputs on it, rather than having to re-use the 3.5mm connections for different things.-A multi-USB output, so you could have one digital mix to your main PC, and another digital mix to your streaming PC.- Or even better, an ethernet connection and driver package for pulling/sending audio to any PC on your LAN.-A USB-A input/output that uses a generic audio driver, I don't think it's uncommon that a lot of gamers have existing USB headsets or microphones they might prefer to use over an XLR/3.5mm device, just for convenience. It could also be a nice stepping stone to move up from an existing USB only mic .

I've been streaming on Twitch for a little over 1 year. Up until now I've been using a condenser mic with a basic XLR interface connected to my single-PC setup, and it's served me well. Around the time GoXLR was announced I had been putting together a wishlist of audio gear purchases, include a multi-channel mixer and voice changer, like many of my streamer friends recommended. I was looking for a way to gain more discreet (read: physical) control over my audio sources and inputs, as well as boost the quality of my audio chain with more powerful EQ, compression, gate, etc. (previously had used filters in OBS). Budget of dollars and desk space were limited.The GoXLR has answered ALL of those needs and exceeded my expectations in many other ways.Not only did it allow me to upgrade to a dynamic mic (the gain-hungry Shure SM7B) to help mitigate my untreated room reflections and background noise, but it has been an incredible upgrade to the control I have over my streams audio. I believe they say it has over 70db of gain in the preamps, which sound amazing and have very little noise (even when set to the 57db of gain I use for the SM7B).This mixer is supposed to be optimized for a streaming setup, and it shows in the specific features they included, as well as the arrangement of what is physical vs what is software controlled. You can fine-tune to your heart's content, but will always have the most important settings close-at-hand with a fader, knob, or button. It's really that simple. (insert "even a caveman can do it" meme here)With a single XLR input, this really is a mixer that gives up some advanced features in favor of allowing a single user to gain basic access to things many consider "extra" like voice changing and sampling along with the mixer. You'd have to spend well over $1000 to get all of these features in a collection of other devices, and not all of them will play well together, or even come close to fitting in the footprint the GoXLR (fits next to my streamdeck behind my keyboard).So will an advanced audio engineer find the device worthwhile? Probably not. Podcasts and multi-person streams will find other devices more appropriate for multi-track recording (currently not possible on the GoXLR) and more expandable. But for a streamer looking for that next step beyond the "basic" standard steup and more control over audio, I can't imagine a better tool. I also have trouble imagining ever needing to graduate beyond it, as it will work even with a 2-PC stream rig extremely well, as evidenced by the plethora who use it that way.The voice changer is great, lots of store-able presets and fine-tuning. The sampler is amazingly powerful and was totally unexpected - being able to sample any source coming through the mixer at a single touch is so useful and fun. You can be a radio DJ with prepped sounds or even grab them live - it's so easy!Setup was a breeze - 5min to get rolling, hours of fun messing with all the features making voices and samples. I have very little background in audio production so I needed to look up one or two things in the TC Helicon YouTube tutorials to get it set how I liked in the mic chain (compressor/gate settings). Software seems like it will continue to improve as they patch it and add more features, tooltips, and fix minor bugs (which are few).The TC Helicon staff on their Twitter and Discord are amazingly helpful, as is the community of users. Any technical difficulties (there can be many different ones with audio setups in Windows) are quick to be addressed, but I've not had any major ones. As they develop more materials around the product I imagine the initial user experience will get even better, as it should. Right now someone with zero audio experience may need some help, but the resources are there if you look for them.One final note: Do yourself a favor and install EarTrumpet to help keep Windows from messing with your source routing - this is great even if you don't use the GoXLR, but it's the perfect companion to their app.All-in-all, a great tool at a great price with tons of features and controls. Good software with tons of potential for further improvement. The ideal "next step" from basic XLR interfaces to total stream audio control!