The Stream Deck is a small hardware device that sits on your desk near your keyboard and offers 15 programmable buttons that you can customize to each application you open.
I've been using one for a while now and I really love it. While it is designed for people who live stream gaming, there are a lot of non-gaming uses.
The device supports both Microsoft Windows and MacOS and is connected via USB.
The device is actually just a small 4.3" TFT screen and is not actually 15 individual buttons. If you tear the device down it has a screen and two sheets that act as individual buttons.
It's a really clever design and works really well.
The buttons are bright and clear and can even be animated. Below you can find my default button layout.
When I launch Fortnite, the screen changes automatically to my Fortnite layout.
Like I said before, the device is primarily designed for game streamers and it has a ton of actions geared towards that purpose.
There are some system actions that allow you to do a lot more with the device. Although there are only a few, you can work with them to extend to almost anything you can think of.
The secret is using the Hotkey feature and a third party scripting tool to generate system hot keys that can be assigned a button.
You can take it even further and create your own application that runs in Javascript (although it does support other languages) and communicates directly to the device. You can create completely custom functionality like the CPU meter you see in the top right of my screenshot or the BTC price on the left side middle row. I have planned to make an action for the Steem & SBD prices.
The software has a library of third-party developed actions that you can assign to buttons to extend the device. Some examples are Spotify Integration, CPU Meter, Mic Mute, Stop Watch, Nvidia Shadow Play Functionality, and even real-time stats of your Minecraft server displayed on your Stream Deck.
Elgato recently announced a new Stream Deck XL that has 32 buttons. I was considering getting a second one so I can have more real-time buttons but the XL edition looks like a great replacement.
I'm always trying to find new ways to use the Stream Deck and have a few ideas for some custom actions that would be nice to have when I have time.
If you use Photoshop or any application that has a ton of hotkeys, it becomes invaluable.
The device really shines when you are live streaming and want to have soundboard functionality and the ability to quickly change scenes, mute your mic, and adjust other settings in OBS or X-Split.
I notice Elgato does frequent updates to the device and is even fairly active on the Elgato subreddit.
If you are a Twitch streamer, there are some really great features to control Twitch and StreamLabs which allow you to quickly engage and interact with your audience.
Writing your own actions really allows you to use the device for almost anything you can think of. I have seen some users use the device as a smart controller for their smart home. I have a button that connects with IFTTT and can turn my 3D printer on and off via a smart wall outlet.
If you are curious what the
At some point, I want to program it to actually send a message to my son's computer and actually load it on his screen. He loves pigs and will sometimes come over and press it.
