How I’ve Configured My Stream Deck  ## Metadata - Author: [[Streamlined Solopreneur: Tips to Help Business Owners Grow Without Burnout]] - Full Title: How I’ve Configured My Stream Deck - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/b61521ab-4ed6-41cf-958c-3dfb08bba055 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Joe's Stream Deck Expansion Story** - Joe Casabona shares how since buying his first 15-key Stream Deck five years ago, he expanded to three devices that are essential in his workflow. - He uses them for various tasks from live streaming control to home automation, enhancing work efficiency. Transcript: Joe Casabona It's a streamlined way for me to manage live streams, devices, and automations. I absolutely love it. In fact, since getting my first 15-key Stream Deck like five years ago, I've expanded to a 32 key and I bought two more stream decks in the meantime. Every year I end up updating my how I've configured my stream deck blog post over on Casabona.org, but this year I decided to actually release an episode about it. So today I am going to tell you all about how I am using my three StreamDecks. Let's dive into it. First of all, if you don't know what a StreamDeck is, it's a hardware device with programmable buttons that you connect to your computer. It connects to services like OBS or Ecamm Live, which are both kind of video production software, YouTube, Twitch, PhilipsU, Apple Shortcuts, and so much more. A lot of streamers and podcasters use it to manage live recordings and their environment during live streams. For example, if you ever see me change colors for my lights during a video, I am doing that with my stream deck. I'm also starting timers and changing camera views and doing all sorts of other fun stuff thanks to the Elgato stream deck. It's like having a mini control room that only needs one person to manage it. ([Time 0:00:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/28a68812-26e2-46c3-a138-3187f6759a16)) - **Visual Buttons Beat Keyboard Shortcuts** - Stream Decks offer visual custom buttons that help remember complex or rarely used commands better than keyboard shortcuts. - Their integrations with tools like Philips Hue and Ecamm Live enhance ease of use beyond standard shortcut keys. Transcript: Joe Casabona When I tell people this, a common question I get is, why can't you just use keyboard shortcuts? And I do. I love keyboard shortcuts. I even have Raycast modifying my caps lock key to make it a hyper key, which is on the Mac when you press command, option, control, and shift all at the same time. And I use that so I can have even more keyboard shortcuts. But you can't put custom graphics on keyboard shortcuts. And the truth is the stream deck makes it way easier to remember certain actions. There are times where I'm unsure of what the keyboard shortcut is, but luckily I have it mapped to a key on one of my stream decks. Plus the stream deck makes certain integrations like with Philips U or Philips U easier. ([Time 0:02:36](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5626e174-3702-491c-b1ae-3ae6edfd42ee)) - **Use Stream Deck for Focus and Timers** - Use Stream Deck buttons to launch and control focus apps that block distractions and manage notification settings. - Track different work activities by creating dedicated timer buttons in apps like Timery for better work time management. Transcript: Joe Casabona Like I said, this replaced my 15 key stream because I quickly ran out of keys, especially because there is support for Keyboard Maestro, which is one of my favorite keyboard shortcut Apps. And it's just wonderful. So let's dive into it. This is page one of, I'm going to be talking about page one of my Stream Deck first. And the way I'm going to do this, I lay it out in the blog post too. I'll be going row by row. So the Stream Deck XL has four rows with eight buttons. That's how you get 32 keys. And my Stream Deck XL actually has two pages. So it does have paging abilities. So starting in row one, I have the ability to turn on the focus app, which I think is over at HeyFocus.com maybe, or HeyFocus.app, HeyFocus.com. The focus app will block distracting websites and apps. And so this runs a shortcut as well. I start the focus app. It runs a timer-y It sets my focus modes on all of my devices to green zones, which kills all notification except texts and calls from my wife and my kids schools. And when I want to do deep work, I push that button because again, focus is a great app that will straight up close my email app. For example, I compulsively check my email app. And so one of the things I make sure to do is when the focus timer is running, when I'm in a deep work mode, I can't check my email. I can't check Slack. I can't go to any of the distracting websites. I also have a bunch of timer buttons here. So I have the ability to start a timer in Timery, stop Timery, and then add time to whatever project. This brings up a little menu box. So I push the button and then it will go ahead and ask like, what was the project and how much time did you spend and things like that. Then the rest of this row is specific timers inside timery. So I have a writing timer, a general management timer. Then I have the Apple Music button. I very rarely use this. Like, to be honest, I could replace it with something. I just haven't thought of something better, but it is a way for me to open Apple Music very quickly. And then four more timers, my timer for when I do rss.com work, my timer for when I do Wizards Guild coaching, my timer for when I do just regular coaching, and a personal timer, which I Will generally attribute to if I have a therapy appointment or if I am doing something for the kids or if I go to the gym. I'll push the button, go to the gym. When I come back, I'll stop that timer. ([Time 0:04:02](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cb6f104a-3b70-4855-9561-c44ad3713c08)) - **Customize Buttons for Media and Shortcuts** - Assign Stream Deck keys to control music playback and organize timers for specific activities like coaching and podcasting. - Customize buttons to run shortcuts that convert text and URLs into formats friendly for video platforms like YouTube. Transcript: Joe Casabona The third row is the first four buttons are Apple Music controls. So previous track, play, pause, next track and shuffle. And then four more timers, my CRM timer, which is sales based calls or sales based work. So if I'm doing cold outreach or just outreach in general, following up, stuff like that. The podcast timer, which is running right now because I am recording a podcast. The product work timer, which I usually do when I'm doing like website copy and stuff like that. And then a website timer because while I don't do a lot of web development for hire work, I do have a couple projects right now. I generally try to work with nonprofits that stuff. And so I do run a timer for that. The bottom row is a variable row. So there are a number of shortcuts. The first one will take a list of markdown links and turn it into a YouTube friendly set of links. So this is like if I'm copying something out of Notion for a YouTube video, I'll run this shortcut. It'll replace the text on my clipboard with YouTube friendly links because otherwise it's just plain text. ([Time 0:06:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9812c62d-53bf-4c54-a9f4-5d9d20995a78)) - **Stream Deck for Smooth Video Production** - Use Stream Deck for video production tasks like switching camera views, adjusting scenes, and adding chapter markers during recordings. - Keep page two less organized to allow flexibility for adding new scenes without deleting existing ones. Transcript: Joe Casabona So I'm not going to go row by row here because all the rows aren't filled up, but I do have a number of buttons here, largely for different scenes in Ecamm Live. So I have my DCAM, which I think is a different set in my office. I have an Ob, I'm sorry, nope, Ob's Bot Tail 2, which can do pan, tilt, and zoom. And so I've configured the camera to point to a different part of my office where I can do talking head videos, just with a different set. And then I do have this, the E camera. So I have, I'll get to the A, B, and C cameras in a minute because they're on a different stream deck, but that was the, that's the D camera that shows a different set. The e-camera crops my primary camera just slightly differently in e-cam live because if I'm standing or sitting, I want the frames to be a little different. I have a sit-stand desk, so I have different zooms for the different views there. I have a split screen. I have a button that just brings up the Taylor Swift gif of it's me. Hi, because I end up saying that a lot. And the rest of the buttons are really different scenes for live streams, bringing up comments and scenes I'm more likely to swap out based on the video I'm creating, which is why there's A lot of open space on page two of the stream deck. I can just kind of drop scenes in there and like not have to delete stuff. I do have one that's really nifty. It is called add marker. It's in Ecamm live and it will allow me to basically add chapter markers. So I could be talking, I can press add marker and then it, I can put in text like page two of 32 key, right? And then it'll timestamp the video with the text in a text file when I'm done recording. So if I want to add chapter markers to a video or podcast episode, the add marker button is really clutch. I always record in Ecamm Live. And so that's been super helpful for me. ([Time 0:08:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dcd7f2a6-a435-485f-a3f8-ace58862ca7d)) - **Utilize Stream Deck Plus Knobs** - Leverage Stream Deck Plus knobs to adjust lighting temperature and brightness instantly by cycling through devices. - Use knobs to control camera pan, tilt, and zoom, plus mic and system volume, for precise live stream adjustments. Transcript: Joe Casabona This is also something where I have two pages, and if you look at either the video on YouTube or the screenshot in the accompanying blog post for this episode, you'll see a couple of things. This might drive people crazy the way I've arranged the letters, but again, these buttons are based on how easy they are for me to reach with my left hand. Just so you get an idea, I'm looking at my desk and my Stream Deck XL is on the furthest away on the right. So I'm reaching for it with my right hand. My Stream Deck Neo, which we'll talk about in a minute, is right next to it. And the Stream Deck XL is on my left. And that is, I can get that the closest to me. And it's also right under my like low profile boom arm. I've kind of arranged things based on how easy these buttons are for me to get, but it does like get, it does drive me a little crazy. I haven't said why yet. So the stream deck has two rows and then a row of knobs. And the first row is the A6400 scene. So this is the main camera scene. And then if we're looking at the first quadrant of buttons, so like row one, column one and two, and row two, column one and two, it goes camera, like scene three, A, B, and C. And it just looks very strange because A, B, and C are not in order. But A is, again, my primary camera. B is my OBS or my, I'm sorry, my OBS bot tail to side view. This is like a working camera if I'm sitting and C is the same camera. But if I'm standing, I usually use C zoomed in when I'm recording my short form videos. So that is why I have these cameras arranged the way I do. So again, row one, camera only scene and then camera A and then the screen sharing scene and the go live button. I put that the hardest to reach so I don't accidentally push that one. And if I'm just recording, it'll just record. And if I have it set to live, it will start a live stream. Row two is cameras B and C, the ones I was just referencing for the OBS bot tail two. Camera A overlay. So this is an overlay I can put in any scene and I can take that away or add it. So if I'm, if I've created a custom scene for something and I want to add my head to it for a minute, that's the button I'll use. And then the last button is to go to page two. But first I want to talk about the knobs. I love the knobs on the Stream Deck Plus. When they first rolled out, they weren't super useful, but they're a lot better now. So if you, they also push in so they can serve as buttons as well. And so I actually have a stack of buttons for the first two knobs. They will switch. The first knob is my adjust temperature knob. And so I will turn the knob to adjust the temperature of the current light and I will push the knob to cycle through my light. So I have my key light left, key light right, key light air, and key light neo and I can control the temperature, make it which is like a more orange or yellow tint by cycling through these Buttons. The second knob does the same thing but for brightness. So again I have all four key lights here and I can adjust the brightness of the the current one push the knob to move on to the next one. The third knob controls my OBSBOT Tail 2 in three ways. So I like Ecamm Live because it allows you to add pan tilt and zoom. However, I've noticed that for the OBSBOT Tail 2, it's really new. Ecamm Live or OBSBOT Tail 2, like one, they don't support each other for zoom yet, so I can change the pan and tilt. I can't change the zoom yet. And so one of the knobs on the Stream Deck Plus, OBSBOT supports the Stream Deck, is to change the zoom. Another knob is to change the color temperature on that because it's in a different spot. I usually need to adjust the temperature if I want some consistency between the shots and the saturation as well. So I can control those three things from the knobs. The last knob is, I don't think that's a stack. I don't change it very often. If it is a stack, it's got two. One is, oh, they're both Ecamm volume levels. So one is my mic level. So if I feel like I'm spiking, I can quickly adjust it from my stream deck. And then the other is the system volume. So I can mute that. If I want to like share sound from my computer, that's what this knob, that's what that knob setting is for. Page two has two purposes. All of the buttons are scenes I have specifically for when I do rss.com videos. So I can add for my lower third, share the screen and add different overlays that have the rss.com branding. I can also change my lights orange to match the rss.com branding colors. And then the knobs all control the Elgato prompter. So I can turn it from a second screen to actual text. I can change the brightness, the scroll speed, and then I can start and stop the prompter. So that's what the Stream Deck Plus is for. I'm usually looking at it on page one, again, unless I am either using the prompter or recording for RSS.com. ([Time 0:11:07](https://share.snipd.com/snip/931e374b-ef48-4a93-a85b-0172e4c723c8)) - **Stream Deck Neo for Recording & Zoom** - Assign Stream Deck Neo buttons for efficient screen and tele recording controls and to toggle focus and Do Not Disturb modes. - Integrate Zoom call management buttons to move windows, toggle video/mute, share screen, and record meetings. Transcript: Joe Casabona It's the Stream Deck Neo. I got it because before I rearranged my office, the other two Stream Decks were in weird spots and the Stream Deck Neo is really small and can be very purpose-driven. I also like that it has built-in page buttons. So there are two buttons on it that will page for you. And it also has the date and time on a screen in the middle. And that's really nice too. It's a really easy way for me to glance the time. So here's how I'm using the Stream Deck Neo. It's got two pages as well. The first page is for usually for tele or screen recording. So if we're doing row one has four buttons, I should say the Stream Deck Neo has eight buttons. So row one is start and stop tele recordings. Button two in row one is restart the tele recording. So if I mess up, I can just push the button and restart. Button three is turn on do not disturb mode on my computer so that if I am recording or trying to focus, but I don't want to go into green zone or start my focus timer, I can just turn off notifications. Usually I'll do this if there's like a group chat that's popping off that is just like annoying me. Then the last button in row one is screen record. And this will use clean shot X's screen recording function. I only use this if I don't need to talk. Usually it's I'm like sending a demo, creating a gif on how to do something or working with support for some reason. Row two starting at button one is preview for Tela. So when I am done recording a video for Tela, I push that button and it takes me to the video I just recorded in the T-editor so I can quickly edit and export if needed. And then the second button in row two is delete. So if I mess something up, I delete it. The third button is currently red. It's just like a red cycle button. And this actually tells me the status of my recording light in the kitchen. So I've run into an issue where I have some automation run at some point that turns my recording light red even when I'm not recording. And that's really annoying. And so having the visual representation here tells me, oh, the recording light is red, even though it shouldn't be. So I push the button and it'll turn white. And so it's a nice way for me to quickly glance the status. And then the last button in row two on the Stream Deck Neo is to bring up the Stream Deck app because the Stream Deck app runs headlessly. And if you navigate away from it, it can be hard to find again, which is very annoying. And so I just have a button to quickly bring it up. The second page of the Stream Deck Neo is all stuff I do in Zoom. So the first button row one will move the Zoom window from either my prompter to my studio display or vice versa. I will use this if someone is sharing their screen because I like to have it on my prompter so I can make eye contact. But if someone's sharing their screen, I want to see the bigger version on my screen. The second button is to toggle video. Third button is to share my screen. And the fourth button is to record the call. Going to row two, the first button in row two is to show the chat so I don't have to go find it. The second button is to mute my mic. And then I've got two buttons that I'm experimenting with because nothing has worked consistently so far. One is to leave the call. And so if I am not the host, I can push this button to leave. The last button is supposed to completely end Zoom. And it should be a multi-step action of open Zoom, end call, delay for a second, and then press enter, which should effectively press the end meeting button and then confirm on the dialogue. And it just hasn't worked consistently, which is very frustrating, but I'll figure that out. It's important enough for me to have as a button on my stream deck. ([Time 0:16:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1fa8685f-f852-4ffe-b227-a95b84860e80))