I’vedabbled in streamingin the yesteryear , but I am by all odds not a waft . I play my game alone , with a little music turned on in the background and plenty of intensity to get me engross . So , devices like the wildly pop Elgato Stream Deck never appeal to me .
I could see the utility of having consecrated buttons for productiveness purpose , but I could n’t free actually spending money on a gadget . But then Cooler Master ’s Stream Deck competitor , the MasterHub , render up on my doorsill .
The modular desktop ascendance gore is foursquare targeting the Stream Deck , but Cooler Master has a unique approach path on a desktop control midpoint . It ’s fully modular , allowing you to mix , match , and trade out different components right away to make a command center unambiguously suit to you . The MasterHub wo n’t get me started on cyclosis , but it apace became second nature for access some of my most frequent setting , Indian file , and applications .
What you make of it
The MasterHub is fully modular . The machine itself is just a moldable base with a wad of gold - plated pins , and you add faculty on top that secure themselves magnetically . That allows you not only to choose what mental faculty you require on your MasterHub but also how they ’re put down out . I wrote off that second point when I saw the MasterHub earlier this class , but it make a immense dispute .
I used the large dial faculty with an IPS display in the bottom - left quoin of the gadget , and given that the MasterHub is set up on the correct side of my desk , it ’s the closest control to my hands . If I were streaming , however , I might put the 15 - key IPS presentation faculty closer to my hand , or if I was using Photoshop controls , I might utilise the precision fader mental faculty .
There are various different versions of the Stream Deck , but the MasterHub ’s modular feeler is really something special . You have to adapt your work flow to one of the Stream Deck ’s layout , and although Elgato make that well-situated to do , it ’s still a transition . The MasterHub adjust to your work flow . You coiffure up the modules you desire in the layout you want , and you may even double over - up on module if you need more control of a specific character .
you could change the layout at any time , too . Cooler Master has done a great job of urinate the MasterHub feel antiphonal to changes . While writing this article , I trade every module I had set up to go from a horizontal orientation to a perpendicular predilection , and everything inhabit to the correct orientation with my right preferences within seconds . you could store multiple visibility through the MasterHub software ( more on that next ) , so it ’s not out of the interrogative sentence to completely change the layout for different role .
I ’ve touched on a few of the module here , but overall , Cooler Master has five modules for the MasterHub now . There ’s the turgid dial with an IPS display and the 15 - key IPS display module , but Cooler Master also offers a faculty with treble scroller wheel , a module with three knobs , and a faculty with five mini faders . That ’s a solid starting lineup , but I suspect Cooler Master will design and unblock more module over time . When I travel to the company ’s main office sooner this twelvemonth , for exercise , it render off a consecrate display module that could slot into the MasterHub radix .
Tactile response
Although the Stream Deck and MasterHub are targeted at cyclosis , it ’s hard to overstate how nice it is have tactile knob and buttons for digital control . I can check my volume with a big knob , ringlet webpages with a roller , and plunge my frequent apps like Steam and Discord with a button . I even set up a couple of hotkeys I practice unremarkably as buttons , including rick on HDR and opening the bulk social in Windows .
All of this comes together with the MasterHub software , which is easy to use but a bit barebones at the moment . You ’ll find a list of commands on the right side , which you may filter by choose a pommel or push button . Once you find the setting you want , you drag it over to the boss or button you want to assign it to . If it ’s a button , you could employ one of several picture Cooler Master let in or upload your own , as well as rename the naming .
The most powerful module is doubtlessly the 15 - central IPS display , where all of the actions in MasterHub are usable . There are dozens of options for your system and getting around your PC , from found website or app to triggering hotkeys to adjusting media . MasterHub has a multitasking option , as well , allowing you to trigger a series of action mechanism with a single button imperativeness . And , if 15 keys is n’t enough for you , you may store multiple pages and thumb through them directly from the keypad .
There are a good amount of options for your system and MasterHub ( as well as Cooler Master ’s MasterCTRL with a compatible tank ) , but these types of control pads live on and die by their integrations . And out of the logic gate , Cooler Master has a full suite of options available . For streamers , you have control for both OBS Studio and Streamlabs . Both admit options to start up and stop cyclosis , transition between scenes , and control your various audio rootage . There are definitely more options for OBS , though . you’re able to control the practical camera , apply a filter , and much more .
Options for Twitch are useable , too , from triggering an ad to claver options to defecate a clip . Cooler Master does n’t have dominance for any other cyclosis platform , however . That ’s not going to be a self-aggrandising deal in most case , but the Stream Deck has controls for just about every platform you could want .
Somewhere the MasterHub has a leg up is Adobe apps , or at least Photoshop , Premiere Pro , and Illustrator . You ’ll happen controls for all of these apps in MasterHub , free of charge . The Stream Deck technically support these apps — and even more Adobe apps — but you ’ll want to expend $ 15 for the hotkeys and icon for each if you do n’t require to adjust up the controls manually .
Although Cooler Master has a solid number of pick out of the logic gate , it needs a sight of work . There are so many tools that do good from this type of control condition snapper , and Cooler Master does n’t have a organization to integrate those putz yet .
Cooler Master needs to go further
Cooler Master could make thebest Stream Deck alternativein the cosmos , and it would n’t matter . Elgato has had year to build up a big library of plugins from first- and third - political party generator that you’re able to download directly to the Stream Deck , and usually for free . Cooler Master does n’t have that yet . The company says it will launch a marketplace for plugins at some point , but it will really come down to community sake if that marketplace is worth investing in or not .
The other issue is price . The MasterHub kit is very expensive . you’re able to blame up the canonic cyclosis outfit with faders , rollers , and the 15 - key display for $ 299 on theMasterHub Kickstarternow , but it will be $ 399 when it officially launches . And if you want all of the mental faculty , you ’ll pass $ 399 now or $ 549 when it formally launches . Meanwhile , theStream Deck+will turn tail you $ 200 , and you could get a basic Stream Deck for less than $ 150 .
The MasterHub appeals to those who need a lot of controls , not just a few cutoff . It offer some clear advantages over a regular Stream Deck , but it also comes in at a much gamy cost . Cooler Master has built a solid innovation , but I ’d hold off on investing in the ecosystem until we can see what the marketplace has to offer , as well as what Cooler Master design to do with its modular system in the future .
