Rode Rodecaster Pro II Podcast Production Console Reviews

this was upgrade for me coming from the Rode Caster pro to the Rode caster pro Two it does so much more than the one it made it so easy setting it up and using it love it has a Shure sm7b setting no need for cloud lifters I have two Cons though I don't like the power button and they only give you one Usb-C cable as these are data type there hard to find I got some from amazon and didn't work so be careful with that over all build quality is just as good other than power button

me encanto todo lo nuevo que trajo , no tengo quejas y sobre todo el servicio de Sweetwater A 5 ESTRELLAS , Frank es mi vendedor y su servicio es A 5 ESTRELLAS .

I am absolutely delighted with the Rode Rodecaster Pro II! It sounds like a million dollar broadcasting studio in a box. Not to mention, the constant update and features they continuously add to this thing regularly. Drawing from my experience with a myriad of high-end setups in the industry, I am compelled to declare that this device paired with the Shure SM7B transcends expectations and stands as nothing short of sheer AMAZEMENT! The preamps not only meet but transcend the definition of exceptional sound quality – a feat that leaves me in genuine awe at the enchanting magic that has been woven into this innovation. I was blown away by the fact that it didn't need a cloudlifter with the SM7B. I don't know how they did it, but it has amazing gain/noise floor. So much so, that if I add the cloudlifter to the chain it actually sounds terrible with it (this will save you money).

Beyond this exceptional sonic prowess, the Rodecaster Pro II astounded me by far surpassing the bar I'd set at "decent" expectations. The interface is elegantly designed, striking the perfect balance between user-friendliness and sophistication. It is intuitive enough for an aspiring enthusiast to seamlessly navigate. An impressive array of built-in vocal FX, including captivating voice changers, robotic tones, extraterrestrial effects, and more, await activation with the mere push of a button.

Moreover, the unit offers a comprehensive suite of tools for manual sound refinement, including built-in EQ, Noise Gate, Compression, and other indispensable controls. For those new to the recording arena, fret not – the Rodecaster Pro II features a quick setup mode tailored to the most common microphone profiles, producing impressive results that eliminate the need for meticulous EQ adjustments.

While I've yet to explore its streaming capabilities, my optimism soars as high as the sky, fueled by the anticipation of the Rodecaster Pro II's potential excellence in that domain. Although I've encountered a minor hiccup due to the need to purchase a USB-C to USB-A cable for my Windows computer because I don't have a USB-C hookup on my streaming PC (I do have one on my recording studio Mac Pro), my confidence remains unwavering. If your plan is to stream with this and you don't have USB-C on your PC, I'd recommend purchasing a Rode's USB-C to USB-A cable. This does come with a USB-C cable, though.

The Bluetooth functionality is a genuine triumph, effortlessly connecting with your smartphone to enable seamless voice call, video, or music recording with the added advantage of integrating plugins and FX. In the grand tapestry of its offerings, the Rodecaster Pro II exemplifies a true masterpiece, deserving of a resounding 10 out of 10. My sincere recommendation? Spare no further contemplation – take the leap and acquire this marvel. I can assure you, the outcome will be devoid of any trace of disappointment. Kudos to Rode for crafting an unparalleled gem!

Yes, the power button might be a weakness, mine is perfectly fine, I would not let it stop you from buying. The case could be metal for better electrical isolation, but the plastic case is a good high quality plastic and the circuits are sooooo quiet. It is true, use an SM7B, it is noisier with the Cloudlifter than without and higher internal gain. My sliders are decent quality. It is just super versatile and does what it is supposed to do.

I bought this as an upgrade after using the original rodecater pro. I could easily recommend both products

I don't buy a lot of equipment, but when I do, it is from Sweetwater. I trust their advice, and they are extremely helpful.

Honestly, I was thinking to cancel this order, but it was already out the door, so decided to give it a fair shot. I'm glad I did and I'm keeping... This is a problem solver piece of equipment. Love that it's class complaint and I don't need to have a separate window open on my computer to dial in a headphone mix. The sound is very clean and POWERFUL! I just finished a song in logic and sounds so clean and professional. I love the amount preamp gain and it stays so quiet with an sm7b. Also the headphone amps are great, loud and powerful. The AD/DA conversion in crisp and clear and powerful. Everything about the rode caster II makes it so easy for you to get your sound right the first time. The dsp is great. Long story short, replacing a bunch of much more expensive gear, not to mention dealing with cable clutter and noisy cables. I almost prefer these pres to my much more expensive ones. Can safely say that they get me 98% to match and I don't have a preference one way or the other. Just everything about this is clear and detailed. I watched a couple YouTube reviews, people commenting on latency. I personally don't notice any, but anytime you have dsp, it's going to create a few milliseconds. True for UAD, amp modelers, fractal, Kemper, anything digital.... I was worried that latency would be a distraction, but I can't even tell. Also some guy was saying he was going to keep his Apollo because it sounds better. I don't own an Apollo anymore, so can't do a side-by-side, but my recordings with this are as clean, if not more so than with my Apollo, so I beg to differ on sound quality. Also the DI's are crisp clear and detailed. I much prefer this approach to the likes of Jfet DI, which I just find to be difficult to use, especially when going direct with bass, looses clarity. I'm super happy, hopefully rode keeps supporting this and dropping new features in our lap. I would love some top-notch amp modeling and a guitar tuner. Also more mixing capabilities. This thing is awesome and if you are a musician worried about sound quality, don't be. I've gone through a few expensive interfaces, and this is among the best. Would love to see an ADAT input. Also an 8channel adat preamp using these preamps. ;) Hope this helps, nice job Rode!!!

Hey, I didn't need this. I wanted it. It's overkill. Still I wanted a quiet preamp. Got that. Eventually going to use it for podcasting when I retire (hopefully soon). All kinds of features I might use in the future?
Planning on using it for streaming live audio too. Using an SM7B (slightly tweaked preset).
No problems. Great job Rode.
By the way, after spending multiple hours and hours trying to get "that" sound with analog gear, and not cheap gear I said f it. This gives me the smooth sm7b sound without being muddy. Plan on not doing any post editing. This will work for good sound.
Only thing I would request is adding a few more frequency bands on the EQ. 3 just isn't enough.Hoping for that in a firmware update. Great all in one. I finally got to clear my desk of all the other gear!

Rode has really stepped up its game. So much options and plenty more to come. Highly recommend.

It can be hard to leave the tools and techniques of analog audio production. Would the audio sound as warm? I ordered the Rodecaster Pro II with a combination of excitement and trepidation. Now, after (just) two months in, I am satisfied that it was the right call.

Initial set up was fast and intuitive. The physical controls (faders and smart pads) are firm and responsive, lending themselves to any number of assignment configurations. The software controls make those and other assignments through a touch screen about the size of a smartphone. It didn't take long to figure out the RP Pro II can be molded around preferred workflow and preferences. I have *much* more to learn on this front but there was nothing to slow down a quick start, followed by iterative tweaking. The onboard firmware even has presets for non-Rode microphones - including both the Shure SM7B and Electro-Voice RE20, both of which had been added to my home studio over the years.

In terms of performance, it delivers gain well above what my analog setup had and the noise floor is at pretty much zero. (The manufacturer advises against using mic activators because they actually introduce noise into the almost noiseless system.)

With a footprint of only 12"x10.6", it helped resolve physical space limitations. It has clean lines, bright lights, and makes cable management easy.

Used primarily for podcast recording and production, I've also used it in a number of live streaming environments (including YouTube, Zoom, Teams, StreamYard and Riverside). No issues so far, thanks in no small part to the unit's simple mix minus options. (The only thing that is remotely complicated is deciding which of the three built-in mix minus options.

In getting ready to write this review, I checked my Sweetwater order history and was reminded that my first podcast-related purchase was 15 years ago. Over that time, sales engineer Ed Nystrom has helped choose each piece of equipment as I built out a rock solid little boutique podcast studio. Many of those pieces are still in active use with the Rodecaster Pro II. The equipment that the device replaces is for sale on the Sweetwater Exchange.

I have been creating YouTube videos for a while and began live streaming at the start of the pandemic. As a guitarist and singer that enjoys creating content this is exactly what I was looking for. Highly recommended and I hope that Rode continue to improve it via firmware update but even at launch it is an excellent product.

I own the RCP1 and have used it since 2018 with no issues. I was so impressed that I felt like if and when the RCP2 was released I would buy it sight unseen. I did...and I'm happy. My primary use is for remote broadcasts of a weekly radio show as well as sports play by play-primarily basketball. Those of us in radio broadcasting have recognized the RCP's offer great value as well as top notch performance. That said, the RCP2 has a smaller footprint that helps keep the workspace efficient. The on board effects are intuitive and the noise gate feature with the on screen GUI is excellent. For noisy environments such as basketball games it is easy to keep the broadcast vocals on top and control the background noise resulting in a balanced high quality broadcast. The power supply interface is a bit of a concern. Unlike the RCP 1 where the power supply had a threaded assembly to make sure it stays solidly in place, the RCP2 has a USB-C tip that clips in to the back of the unit. No problems so far. But it is more exposed to being disconnected or worse-damage. Just an observation. Rode has already released some firmware updates and I cant wait to see additional features becom available. Very happy with this unit.

Rodecaster Pro II nuanced first impressions:

Even after reading and watching many reviews and tutorials, I discovered the following only after setting it up myself:

PROS:
Brightness for Screen and buttons can be manually adjusted and can dim when not used for a set time.

The headphone output is much more powerful than expected and can be dangerously loud. Thankfully theres a setting for high sensitivity headphones which can lower the maximum output.

Bluetooth input sounds good for stereo music.

An undocumented secret feature is to hold down the EQ level knobs to then adjust the Q to change the width of the bell.

HARDWARE CONS:

Crosstalk from a high-Z (line/instrument) channel can be heard on neighboring microphone channels. That could be especially bad for microphones that need lots of gain. With only 4 analog inputs, if using a stereo pair at line level, only one microphone input will be clean from crosstalk.

Mic pres arent as quiet as expected.

SOFTWARE CONS, HOPEFULLY FIXED IN FIRMWARE UPDATES:

No effects available for the Bluetooth channel.

No processing or effects available for Sounds from SMART Pad

Bluetooth, Computer and Stereo-linked inputs cannot utilize the Pitch Shifter, Robot, Megaphone or Voice Disguise effects. I expected Voice Disguise to be available for Bluetooth phone calls.

The initial screen brightness hurt my eyes, and I couldn't lower it until initial setup options were all set.

Even the "Flat" preset has lots of processing enabled, giving me a poor first impression when listening to prerecorded music through the mixer (which already has processing done to it). I had to create my own "Neutral" preset to have all processing disabled.

Bluetooth output is optimized for phone calls, so the audio is monophonic with heavy compression, unsuitable for music.

Effects parameters show dials without numerical values, so a camera should be used to document parameter levels.

IN SUMMARY :

This mixer is optimized for podcasting, and it excells for that. The workflow and lack of a graphic equalizer is a little cumbersome to use as a live back-of-house mixer, and the cross talk and preamp noise hinders music production and critical listening.

I will be using it for karaoke and have programmed the Pitch Shifter on one bank of SMART pads to key change down 1-4 semitones (keys), and another bank up 1-4 semitones. That is a great feature, but unfortunately I have to use two pads for each key, one for the left channel and one for the right, since the effects cannot be applied to a stereo linked pair yet.

Overall I like it very much and will keep it, especially after observing how responsive Rode is to listen to customer feedback and implement improvements with firmware updates.

Note these are my first impressions as I haven't actually used it in a performance yet so maybe the pre-amp noise isn't so bad in a real world scenario, and maybe the Bluetooth output might sound better on a different Bluetooth receiver (tested with an iMac running Mojave)

Again there are many great features not mentioned here, as they can be learned from many other reviews and tutorials. I'm not aware of any other mixer on the market so compact or reasonably priced with a comparable feature set, including the built in multi-track recorder, so I give it 4.25 of 5 stars.

Cheers!

~Andrew

I discovered that there is noticeable latency in Logic Pro when using software monitoring. Please be aware of this when purchasing if you intend to use it as an audio interface for this purpose. Hopefully it will be improved with a future firmware update.

I like the unit has power to run my Sure SM7B and my Rode NT-1A microphones. What I dont like is the leak to main of USB sound even with Mix-Minus enabled.

This is a fantastic mixer. It just isn't good for people who stream games and have to use a different piece of software to communicate with teammates. It isn't a good substitute for the GoXLR.

Won't connect via USB-C. Then my USB-C ports start shorting out with other connected items, so I think the motherboard is faulty and return the PC for warranty service. Two months later I get my main rig back and the RCPII still won't connect to my USB-C port and will only sometimes work with a USB-C to USB-A cable on a different USB controller (leaving me to believe the RCP2 actually damaged my PC). The unit won't connect to WiFi with default firmware if your WiFi password has numbers or symbols and firmware updates over USB rarely work. Once you spend hours power-cycling it and finally somehow get new firmware on it by changing your WiFi password the unit is great until it's not. The volume pots quit working. The UI responds but the volume doesn't change. Try to power-cycle and the power button doesn't work requiring a hard power-cycle. I get RA from Rode and get a new unit and the problems and the dance is exactly the same on the new unit.

Save yourself time, money, and lots of heartaches... buy the original RCP. It's an amazing sturdy piece of kit that just works. Shame on you Rode for putting this trash out. (And I'm not even slamming the terrible new Rode Central software problems compared to the original's companion software... same comparison a thousand times over but there's no time for all the issues.)

First, let me say I love the OG Rodecaster pro but the new Rodecaster Pro 2 is trash. I have had it for 2 months now and have all types of issues that never have had with the Rodecaster Pro. On the 2nd day, the monitors stopped working. I have had to update the firmware often. That is if the Rode Center app will connect to the Rodecaster pro 2. I have had to uninstall and reinstall at least once a week. The quality of the recording is so much better with the Rodecaster Pro. I regret buying the Rodecaster pro 2 and I should of just put my money in my fire pit instead.