Getting around your RODECaster

Where everything is on the desk, found by touch, and what each control does.

Where everything is on a RODECaster Pro 2

The desk as it sits in front of you, described from where you are sitting.

• The landmark: The touchscreen. It is in the top left and it stands proud of the surface like a wedge, so it is the easiest thing on the desk to find by feel. Everything else is described from it.
• Left of the touchscreen: The circular REC button, on its own.
• Top right: Four small knobs in a row: the headphone volumes, 1 on the left through to 4 on the right. Below them, at the left of that group, the one large knob, which is the encoder.
• The faders: Six of them across the lower half, left to right, faders 1 to 6. Each has a square button above it, that channel's button: pressing it hands the encoder to that channel, so the big knob then sets that channel's gain or level, and pressing it again hands the encoder back. Below each fader are two small buttons side by side: listen on the left, mute on the right.
• The SMART pads: Eight pads down the right-hand side, in two columns of four. They are numbered down the columns, not across the rows: the top left pad is 1, with 2, 3 and 4 below it, and the top right pad is 5, with 6, 7 and 8 below that. Directly underneath them, two buttons: previous bank on the left, next bank on the right.
• The back panel: Left to right as you sit in front of the desk, so the far left end is microphone input 1 and the far right end is the power. In order: the four combo XLR inputs, 1 to 4; the two monitor outputs, which are stacked one above the other, left on top and right below; the four headphone jacks, a block of two rows of two, 1 and 2 along the top and 3 and 4 directly beneath them; then USB 2 and USB 1; then the ethernet socket, with the microSD card slot in the same recess directly above it; then a security lock slot; and last the power inlet, a USB-C mounted vertically rather than flat, with the round power button at the very end. Worth knowing, because this app talks to the desk over one cable and not the other: USB 1 is the nearer of the two to the power end.
• What is not on the desk: Faders 7, 8 and 9 have no physical fader: they are USB 1, USB 1 Chat and USB 2, and they exist on the touchscreen and in this app only.

Where everything is on a RODECaster Duo

The same desk in a smaller frame: half the inputs, two thirds of the pads, and the same arrangement in the same places.

• The landmark: The touchscreen, which fills the left half of the top surface. Everything else is described from it.
• There is no REC button: The Duo has no physical record button. Its REC button is at the top left of the touchscreen, so this app is the way to record without the screen.
• Top right: Two small knobs side by side: the headphone volumes, 1 on the left and 2 on the right. Below them, the one large knob, which is the encoder.
• The faders: Four of them, left to right, faders 1 to 4, under the screen. Above the row of faders is a row of four square buttons, one per fader: pressing one hands the encoder to that channel, so the big knob then sets that channel's gain or level, and pressing it again hands the encoder back. Below each fader are two small buttons side by side: listen on the left, mute on the right.
• The SMART pads: Six pads down the right-hand side, in two columns of three. They are numbered down the columns, not across the rows: the top left pad is 1, with 2 and 3 below it, and the top right pad is 4, with 5 and 6 below that. Directly underneath them, two buttons: previous bank on the left, next bank on the right.
• The front edge: One 3.5mm socket, which is the headset input: a headset's microphone and its earpieces on the one plug. It hears the same mix as headphone output 1.
• The back panel: Left to right as you sit in front of the desk, so the far left end is microphone input 1 and the far right end is the power. In order: the two combo XLR inputs, 1 and 2; the two monitor outputs, stacked one above the other, left on top and right below; the two headphone jacks, also stacked, 1 on top and 2 below; then USB 2 and USB 1; then the ethernet socket, with the microSD card slot in the same recess directly above it; then a security lock slot; and last the power inlet, a USB-C mounted vertically, with the red power button at the very end.
• What is not on the desk: The Duo has nine faders and only four you can put a finger on, so faders 5 to 9 live on the touchscreen and in this app only. By default the four physical ones carry Mic 1, Mic 2, Bluetooth and the SMART pads; of the five you cannot reach, four carry the headset input, USB 1, Chat and USB 2, and the ninth ships empty for you to put something on.

What the controls on the desk do

• Channel buttons: The square button above each fader hands the encoder to that channel: the encoder then sets the channel's gain on a mic, or its level on anything else. Press the same button again to hand the encoder back.
• Mute and listen: The two small buttons below each fader. Mute silences that channel everywhere, the same as Mute in the app. Listen puts just that channel in headphone output 1, the same as Listen in the app.
• The encoder: The large knob. Turning it changes whatever it is set to, and pressing it moves on to the next thing: the faders with no physical fader (7, 8 and 9 on a Pro 2, 5 to 9 on a Duo), then the monitor speaker level, then round again. Pressing and holding it mutes or unmutes whatever it is set to: a virtual fader's channel, the monitor speakers, or the channel a channel button has given it. That last one is AccessCaster's addition, so it only works while the app is running. With announcements on, AccessCaster says what it is set to as you press, the level as you turn, and the mute as you hold.
• The SMART pads and bank buttons: A press plays a sound pad, or switches a voice effect or mixer action on, depending on how the pad is set up on the SMART pads page. The two bank buttons step through the banks of pads, and with announcements on the new bank is spoken.
• Headphone knobs: Each headphone output's own volume.