We’re big fans of the Roland Go: Mixer line of products, which allow you to accompany your smartphone videos with professional-quality sound, whether you’re doing a live music recording, a solo “just chatting” talk-a-thon, or some other type of content. As great it is, though, it’s pretty overkill for one-person broadcasts and other simpler streaming setups. For those, the Roland Go: Podcast might be a more suitable alternative.
Billed as “the simplest way to do high-quality live streaming with a mobile device,” the system ditches the multi-input mixer and all the extra hardware that will require, instead opting for a ready-to-use barebones setup. Can you do the same thing you can do on a proper mixer? Of course, not. However, for simple streams that don’t require more than a single USB mic and a smartphone camera, this should make for suitable setup.
The Roland Go: Podcast consists of a USB mic and a companion app (iOS and Android) that you can use to livestream on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms. To use, simply plug in the mic to your smartphone’s USB-C port, hook up a pair of headphones to the mic (so you can monitor the audio), and launch the app. From there, you just follow the setup instructions in the app and do your thing, with the smartphone camera capturing and the mic feeding it the accompanying audio.
The microphone is equipped with a full-range condenser mic that, the outfit claims, can capture clear, warm, and articulate sound. It has four polar pattern options, namely cardioid (when there’s only one person on stream), omni (when you have multiple people), stereo (for musical performances), and switched stereo for flipping the left and right audio to match your video image (in case your stream is mirrored for whatever reason).
The Roland Go: Podcast mic also comes with two volume knobs (one for the mic and one for the headphone jack), as well as an audio meter for managing your sound levels. It also has a built-in stand, so you can’t get very creative in mounting it, especially if you want the isolated platform it provides to eliminate any low-frequency rumble from your audio, as well as a mute button if you want to quickly cut off audio on your stream.
According to the outfit, the app supports using both front and rear cameras of the smartphone, so you can have a two-way conversation on opposite sides of a desk using just one microphone (set it to either stereo or omni), as well as two smartphone cameras (just run the app on the other phone), with the other device serving as a secondary wireless camera. You can even use split-screen views and picture-in-picture, so you can have both feeds onscreen at the same time. Do note, the app only works for streaming directly on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook, requiring you to use the native app for other services, such as TikTok, Instagram, X Spaces, and more.
The Roland Go: Podcast comes out in May, priced at $140.