Loupedeck Live S Review – More Than a Streaming Sidekick

Introduction

I must admit that I was previously unaware of Loupedeck the company until they contacted me about reviewing one of their parts. This is not entirely surprising as I am not heavy into the Twitch/Game Streaming world. Sure, I may have done a little basic streaming of my own in years back, but I never went full in with a streaming setup that included a stream deck.

The prospect of reviewing one of Loupedeck’s units was quite interesting, as I had seen similar stream decks being used by a variety of professionals that may not necessarily stream games. As for the company, Loupedeck is based in Finland and has been making inroads against its primary rival, Elgato.

Previous reviews I have read and watched have often praised the Loupedeck parts for their overall hardware design and build quality. The biggest weakness of many of these older reviews has been the software side of the equation. Complaints typically revolved around implementing schemes and applications to the deck. Some complained that it was clunky, that there were no default profiles for popular applications, or that the software was just slow.

Times have obviously changed, and Loupedeck has undergone some significant changes over these past few years. As a spoiler, Loupedeck has improved their software dramatically, so much so that even an individual such as myself who has not touched a stream deck before this, was able to get up and running in a variety of applications in less than an hour.

The second big change is that Logitech went ahead and purchased Loupedeck this past Summer (2023). This makes sense as Elgato was previously acquired by Corsair, and Logitech is certainly interested in this growing market as many populations have fast enough hardware and internet connection speeds to support streaming activities.

Loupedeck certainly seems like it is in good hands with a company that has truly global reach and a far larger marketing budget. They also can bring to bear much more extensive software engineering to help this product not only grow, but to become far more flexible in its usage. I would imagine that the aim is not so much for everyone to have a Loupedeck, but perhaps to create enough applications and support that its functionality appeals to a far larger audience than just streamers.

Live S Design and Impressions

The Loupedeck Live S is a compact stream solution that features fewer buttons and knobs than previous decks from Loupedeck. I guess you could say this is a cost conscious edition that does sacrifice some of the bells and whistles. That does not mean that it is cheap or that it does not have much the same functionality as the larger, more expensive products.

The deck itself is slightly larger than the typical cellphone and is slightly thicker. It is still a relatively compact unit that can fit nearly anywhere on a desk and clearly does not require that much real estate. It can lay flat, or it has an included stand that props it up by about 20 degrees. The stand itself is a sturdy plastic piece that snaps into the back of the Live-S. Once installed it really does not move and shows no flex, even when pressed down upon with a reasonable amount of pressure.

There are two rotating knobs, four physical buttons, and then 15 touch sensitive LCD squares. At first I thought these were OLED, but after further discussion and seeing it in different lighting environments it becomes obvious that it is a backlit LCD panel. These LCD “buttons” do not actually press down and are only touch sensitive. There is no tactile response when pushing these units, unlike the four physical buttons which have a pleasant feel when depressed.

The knobs feature a tactile/ratchet feel that gives the user good sensitivity to how much rotation is being applied. The knobs can also be depressed like the other physical buttons and have a good snap to them. I found out quite by accident that by pressing the top left knob, I would mute my computer. Handy that. The default action of the lower knob is to adjust the backlight brightness of the Live S.

Loupedeck includes a 90 degree rotated USB-C connection. The cable itself is over 6 feet long and is a native USB-C unit. The company also includes a USB-C to A adapter for those without a native USB-C connection on their computer. The way the cable is rotated from the port makes it pretty easy to route. It lies fairly flush with the top part of the stream unit and is a good balance of flexibility and stiffness. The cable itself seems rather robust and does not feel cheap at all. The braided fabric exterior will help protect the cable and should provide a lifetime of use with the product.

Overall the physical build of this product is above average. It has a good heft to it, but it is not heavy. It is easily transportable, but when sitting on a desk on its stand does not move when manipulating knobs and buttons. The rubber feet ensure that it does not move unless the user REALLY wants it to move. I have absolutely no issues with the overall design and build quality. It is a well designed part that hits all of the major points for usability across multiple applications.

Installation and Software

Setting up the Live S was a very simple affair. Plug in the USB cable, run the installation software, and start exploring the functionality. It really could not have been easier.

Setup can include inputs from the Live S, so it just seems a bit more interactive. There are some short introductions on basic use of the product that helps to get started without reading manuals or watching videos. Overall it is a seamless install that provides good information to the user as things get rolling.

The interface features a graphical representation of the Live S as well as what plug-ins and applications are installed. Applying those settings/applications to the Live S is very simple. Click on the folder for the application that is pre-installed, drag functionality buttons to the Live S on the screen, and watch the actual Live S populate those empty buttons with shortcuts, widgets, and application settings.

There is a tremendous amount of flexibility with the software as you can set multiple profiles and multiple workspaces under each profile. So while the base install features the four physical buttons accessing a different workspace, this can be expanded to an infinite amount of workspaces per panel with just a few clicks of the mouse. Set the profile to streaming and have a different setup for VMix, OBS, and other popular streaming applications. Change the profile to photography and have workspaces for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Illustrator. There are many already installed presets for these popular streaming and productivity applications.

Loupedeck also provides a marketplace for official and user created profiles, widgets, and applications for the Live S. Once signed into the marketplace around 100 different downloads are available to the user that covers a wide variety of applications and a few games. One of the games that is profiled is MS Flight Simulator 2020. A user has created an application that will map many common functions onto the Live-S that will save a user from having to mouse around in application for common engine functionality, gear, flaps, navigation, and communication. All of those things can be assigned a button on the Live-S, and the user can utilize the four physical buttons to give a total of 60 programmable buttons with related icons available to the player.

Functionality assigned to the Live S is not limited to official marketplace applications and widgets. Users can take the time and create individual profiles for games and apps not included in the marketplace. The user can import/create icons to go on the programmable buttons as desired. It is a relatively simple process to import or create icons that will fit onto the programmable tiles. Then those tiles can be tied to keystrokes or shortcuts. It is a very flexible solution that is shockingly easy to learn and set up. After a day of working on this, it becomes second nature to just create these profiles and workspaces with what is a robust software solution for this product.

Widgets are another fun little option that can be applied to the Live S. I have a shortcut to profiles and plugins, the time/date, and a weather widget that I have programmed to my location. These are all easy to put in there, and may require (at least for the weather) to sign up for a weather API provider that is free to the individual user.

It is all incredibly easy (though still has a small learning curve) that allows complete programmability of the Live S with nearly any function you could want in a software application. Want to extend the flaps down a couple of notches? Apply that setting to the volume knob and have easy control over that without having to hunt and peck keys on the keyboard. Extend gears? Hit the button with the 3 gear icon rather than try to find G or whatever else that functionality was assigned to on a 110 key keyboard.

Closing Thoughts

I really did not know what to expect when being offered this product for review. It has been over a year since I last streamed and had informed them of such, but they proceeded to tell me about the other applications and functionality that such a stream deck could provide. And they were right.

I primarily focused on the productivity portion and found that having a stream deck with commonly used functions layed out how I like them made for a pretty easy transition from either mousing to the command in application or using keyboard shortcuts. One click on a button to the right of my mousepad made it easy and seamless to call up these functions.

The only real negative that I can see with this part is the ability to mount the Live-S to any kind of device or piece of kit. There are no mount points on the unit, so some ingenuity would be required if using this as a multi-function unit in a sim. For most users who will play/race/fly at their desk and not a dedicated cockpit, this is not an issue. The Live-S sits securely on a desk without moving, regardless of the surface.

My time with this part has been very pleasant and I can say that I haven’t been frustrated in the least with getting it to work as I want. It did take some time to figure out a few things, but this is not an uncommon experience with any new piece of software or hardware. It is very easy to get it up and running even without diving into how-tos and pages of manuals. It is certainly not decoding the Rosetta Stone.

I strongly recommend this part to any streamer looking for a quick, accessible, and flexible solution. I also strongly recommend this for any user that could utilize a non-keyboard based multi-function device for gaming or productivity apps. It even has MS Office support that can be downloaded from the marketplace. It is an attractive, well built, well supported device that can be easily had for under $200 US.