Elgato Stream Deck Pedal Arrives To Kick Your Twitch Streaming Up A Notch
Elgato, a division of Corsair Gaming, has rolled out a new peripheral you might not have realized you needed but could help level up your stream game. Called the Stream Deck Pedal, it's a glorified foot pedal like the ones used in the transcription field (it looks very much like the one I used when I dabbled in medical transcription many years ago). However, it's purpose-designed for streaming and gaming with some unique features.
Why a foot pedal? It's not for transcribing, but for offering streamers and games hands-free control of their feeds. Whether you're playing a game with a mouse and keyboard or a dedicated controller, it can be inconvenient to manipulate your stream with your hands. Or to mute your microphone as you're getting ready to sneeze (or belch).
I'll admit to having been skeptical at the prospect of a Stream Deck Pedal at first glance, mainly because of how similar it looks to basic foot pedals I've used in the past. And to that end, it features three pedals, including a large middle button flanked by narrower ones on each side. It connects to your PC by way of an included USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable.
Where this differs is in the customization options, both physical and within software. Elgato thoughtfully includes interchangeable springs so you can choose between a soft, medium, or hard tension. You can mix and match too, allowing you to set lighter tension for one or both side pedals and a heavier tension for the middle button (or vice versa). You can also lock the middle middle button so that it serves as a persistent foot rest.
Elgato's also pitching a heavy-duty chassis (it has to withstand foot stomps, after all) and anti-skid feet so it stays in place. On the software side, users can create Smart Profiles with unique pedal layouts that automatically load when switching between apps. So that means you can have a custom profile for streaming and a separate one for video conferencing.
You can also configure chain reactions.
"With Multi Actions, any number of actions can be stringed together, assigned to one pedal, and triggered intermittently or all at once. Snap a screenshot, open a destination folder, and launch Twitter for quick sharing. Or change scenes, play a track, and cue your voice changer—with one tap," Elgato explains.
Pretty neat. While it currently shows as being out of stock, Elgato says the Stream Deck Pedal is available now for $89.99. That's not too bad for a three-button pedal, especially one as customizable as this. As a point of reference, similar style foot pedals on Amazon typically go for around $65 to $70, and sometimes more.
