Razer is stepping more into the streaming market with its latest products. We got to go hands-on with the new Razer Audio Mixer, Key Light Chroma, and Seiren BT mobile streaming microphone. And while they offer some handy features, all of these products come at a bit of a premium when compared to the competition. Be sure to hit the video below to see all of the details.
Adding to the Kiyo Pro camera, Ripsaw HD capture card, and its line-up of microphones, the new Key Light Chroma, Audio Mixer, and Seiren BT streaming gear all add new opportunities for creators to use an entire setup from Razer for content creation. From a Blade laptop to peripherals and now dedicated streaming gear, this new line-up of equipment helps to round out the offerings from the triple-headed snake.
Razer Key Light Chroma
Let’s start with the most expensive, the Razer Key Light Chroma. Coming in at $300, it’s a pretty pricy bit of streaming kit. It’s also on the other end of the spectrum when compared to the cheap-looking and feeling ring light we reviewed last year. Getting the Key Light Chroma out of the box, it feels very well built. The housing feels like metal and the whole thing has quite a bit of weight to it.
Also included is a straight mounting stand. It can raise from around 22 inches to 52 inches. On top is a ball head to angle the light in almost any direction. Razer also includes some cable ties to tidy up the power cord running up the stand.
My only complaint here is that I think it should get a little bit lower. On the Monoprice Dark Matter 49-inch monitor that I’m currently using, the light sits about four inches above the top of the screen and there isn’t a way to get it lower. That won’t be an issue with setups that use an arm or have a taller monitor, but for setups like this, it’s a little unfortunate that it can’t peek right over the monitor.
Setup + Synapse
The Key Light Chroma has built-in Wi-Fi and BlueTooth so setting it up is pretty simple through Razer Synapse or the Razer Streaming app. There aren’t any additional dongles to worry about.
Once connected, the light can be controlled through Razer Synapse. From Synapse, there are a couple of different lighting categories to control. Panel light will control a white light that has a white balance from 7,000K to 3,000K. It’s pretty easy to dial in some cool and warm light here. The brightness also has a slider from 0 to 100.
Razer Streaming Gear: Video
Under the panel light panel, though, is the chroma brightness panel. When this is enabled, the brightness is limited to 15%.
RGB chroma can be controlled with quick effects in the Razer Key Light panel or advanced colors can be set up from the Chroma Studio that controls all of your other Razer Chroma gear. Adding RGB to a stream can help to make it look more unique and the Key Light Chroma is plenty bright to add a lot of colors.
Stream reactions
Like the Seiren Emote, the Razer Key Light Chroma is also supposed to interact with streaming alerts.
Razer Audio Mixer
Next up in the Razer streaming gear is the Razer Audio Mixer. Coming in at $250, it’s quite similar to the $215 GoXLR Mini, but it does have a few differences. The Audio Mixer is meant to take audio feeds from different devices and applications and route them into separate outputs for streaming. And with the four sliders and mute buttons, there is quick access to change the volume of those different output channels.
On top, the mixer features four volume sliders with four mute buttons. Below the mute buttons are a bleep button and a microphone mute toggle. Because it’s Razer, RGB lighting is also all over the mixer and can be customized from within Razer Synapse.
In front is a 3.5mm microphone port as well as a headphone port. On the back, the audio mixer has an XLR input, 48V phantom power button, line in and line out ports, an optical in port, and a USB-C port.
This assortment of ins and outs lets users run the mixer for a variety of streaming setups. Optical is useful for those who use a console when gaming. Line out works well for setting up a separate streaming PC. Or, if you’re just on a one-system setup, it’s handy for that, too.
Most of the power is within Razer Synapse. There are five different tabs for controlling the mixer – Customize, mixer, mic, effects, and lighting.
Customize tab
Under the customize tab, there are clear instructions for setting up the Raze Audio Mixer. This involves setting the sound settings within Windows as well as setting outputs for apps within the Windows Sound Mixer options.
On the right, there is channel mapping for the four sliders. Users can select sources like mic, game, chat, music, and more as well as program what outputs the mute button for each channel will affect.
Mixer tab
Moving to the mixer tab opens routing and volume controls for each output mix. This way, you can set what audio is routed to the different mixes. So if you don’t want system audio to go to your stream mix, you can uncheck that.
Mic tab
Under the mic tab, there is a toggle for XLR or mic in inputs as well as toggling on phantom power if needed. You can also set the mic gain, turn on mic monitoring, and set a noise gate to help comeback background noise; on the right side is an EQ with four pre-built settings as well as a custom EQ mode. Lastly, there is a compressor tool that can be as simple as a single slider, or more robust with controls for threshold, knee, ratio, gain, attack time, and release time.
Effects
The Audio Mixer also enables the use of some effects. One effect is a voice changer with four different options – cartoon, monster, low pitch, and high pitch. Cartoon and high pitch are similar, while monster and low-pitch are also similar. Personally, I don’t know that I would use these.
Another reason I probably wouldn’t use this often is that to toggle the effect on or off from the mixer, the mute button must be held for two seconds. That makes it pretty difficult to just pop it on quickly and then turn it off again.
Lighting
The last tab for the mixer is for lighting. In this tab, there are separate controls for every single light visible on the top of the audio mixer. By default, things are green when active and red when muted, but I changed them to aqua and red colorway. Lighting can also be disabled if you’d rather not see any lighting.
Razer Seiren BT
Lastly in the new Razer streaming gear, we have the $99 Seiren BT – a BlueTooth clip-on microphone meant to be used for mobile streaming. Design-wise, it’s very simple. On top of the tall, thin shell is a microphone as well as a 3.5mm combo port for using an external microphone or headset.
On the left is a single button that’s used to power on the Seiren BT and enter a pairing mode. When on, it can also control calls with single presses, double presses, and holding the button for two seconds.
On the bottom is a USB-C port for recharging. The Seiren BT also comes with two different wind blockers to help when the microphone is being used outside.
Getting good audio when on a mobile device is important, and this microphone can help with that. The simple design works well, but it doesn’t really have any crazy stand-out features.
gadgetnewsonline’ Take
For Razer fans, it’s now possible to get basically a complete streaming setup with the triple-headed snake logo. From a powerful laptop to peripherals, monitors, and streaming equipment, there is a full line-up of gear. There are of course cheaper options out there from the likes of Elgato if you don’t need Chroma RGB and the trusty old GoXLR Mini, but it’s also kind of fun to have matching gear from the same brand.
Buy Key Light Chroma
Buy Audio Mixer
Buy Seiren BT
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