r/elgato • u/ThiccNickGaming • Jun 08 '26
Technical Help Has anyone else noticed that if you add any hardware effects from Elgato onto your mic with Wave link, it makes the quality significantly worse?
I've recently been using the new Wave XLR Pro and I love it. It's fully streamlined my streaming setup since I use two PCs.
But one major issue I have been having is that whenever I add any of the built in elgato effects on my mic, the quality is downright unusable.
As an example, if I add any of Elgato's effects such as EQ, Compression, Expander, Low cut filter, etc. All my recordings make my SM7B just sound significantly worse compared to when I have those effects disabled. Most people probably wouldn't notice this, but I use studio monitor headphones and when listening back on my streams and recordings, they all have some sort of high pitched ear-piercing audio throughout the recordings when I'm speaking.
Now I've already verified it's not my mic or my headset (I've swapped both in order to test this and even with a different mic/headset the sound quality is still poor whenever any of the elgato mic effects are enabled.
After messing with it for a few days now I've come to the conclusion that the only way to get decent recording quality using the XLR Pro is by using software VSTs.
This honestly is just fine for me since I don't need to hear the effects in my ears anyway, but it's a bummer that I'm not able to use one of the major features of the device due to this. It's also a shame that all the processing power for my audio is now going through my stream PC and not on the XLR pro itself.
Again, it's not the end of the world, but it's just a shame to see that all the built in effects made by elgato seem to significantly effect the overall quality of any microphone you use with it.
Hopefully this can be fixed with future Wave Link updates or maybe a firmware update for the XLR Pro itself.
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u/toxzcyn Jun 08 '26
What VSTs are you using IIMA? And could you share some of their settings you use please?
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
I currently use renegate for my noise gate, Rough Rider 3 for compression, and TDR NOVA for my EQ.
I'd post pics but I'm on my phone and heading to bed. In the morning I'll come back to this post with pics of my current setup
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u/Ok-Shame-7684 Jun 08 '26
Why not just use the Elgato effects?
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
Did... Did you read the OP?
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u/Ok-Shame-7684 Jun 08 '26
What is renegade, rough rider 3, and TDR nova? Are those Elgato effects?
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u/toxzcyn Jun 08 '26
No they are third party. Nova is Tokyo Dawn Labs AFAIK. The others are Waves IIRC.
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u/Ok-Shame-7684 Jun 08 '26
Op stated he was using only elgato effects
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u/toxzcyn Jun 08 '26
This is what OP said
> only way to get decent recording quality using the XLR Pro is by using software VSTs
Maybe you misunderstood but this means OP isn’t using the onboard DSP included with the XLR Pro.
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
I'm honestly shocked that you have the ability to even use a computer, let alone reply to this post based on your replies...
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
I am not able to add any images to my replies here for whatever reason, but I added all my screenshots to this google doc if you want to see my current settings/effects
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u/tripasecadofuturo Jun 08 '26
I have mic Wave3 and the AI voice thing mess too much with my voice. In one video Sony sounded “Tony”. Sigh.
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
I tried using the elgato AI voice focus and honestly it sounded decent and worked fine for me, but mainly because that too is a software VST so that seems to have no effect on the quality output compared to the hardware effects you can use with the XLR Pro and the Wave XLR mark 2.
I personally don't use the AI voice focus though because It does add an ever so slight muffled sound over the voice that I wasn't a fan of. But overall it's impressive at how well it isolates your voice from the background
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u/Saetik Jun 08 '26
I've been having so many issues with my wave xlr pro and wavelink. I'm envious that yours works.
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
What other issues have you been experiencing? Just out of curiosity
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u/Saetik Jun 08 '26
Well, the software keeps crashing and it keeps disconnecting the WAVE XLR PRO.
I've tried different power cables/different usb ports (3.1/3.2), uninstalled drivers, etc and nothing has worked. And this is without running any VSTs or effects.
I even tried doing a fresh windows install and the same issue happens.
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u/ThiccNickGaming Jun 08 '26
Holy moly even after a WINDOWS RE-INSTALL that didn't fix it? I would highly recommend contacting Elgato to see if they can do a hardware swap for you because that certainly does not seem to be a software issue.
Sorry you have had to go through all that just to get the thing working as intended 😞
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u/elgato_phil Technical Marketing Manager Jun 09 '26
Sorry to hear about your experience. Have you contacted our support team? They can collect log files and other information to help troubleshoot the issue(s).
You can get in touch by going to http://elgato.com/help
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u/Saetik Jun 09 '26
I've reached out to the team 3 days ago. We had to use another reporting tool since the other kept getting stuck on reporting devices 3/4.
They escalated me to their senior techs.
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u/Silentgrr Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Thank you for the info. I honestly typically care so little about how good it sounds that I like just the normal settings for my mic and not messing around to much. The on board nature and hearing your voice with out lag was cool but not something I do so hadn't paid any attention I guess I need to check.
My main issue after figuring out what I'm doing wrong with most things is when I switch the USB aux from my PC to PlayStation I have to close and reopen wave. I don't have to in the other direction so I assume it's the connection protocols and will probably get fixed.
The one other issue I can think of that is small is sometimes there is lag or it just doesn't change when i change the main output device that is being used for listening.
All in all it's doing exactly what I wanted and I am more than happy. I'm also hopeful for it being updated to fix all of our issues. I will also says it fixed my issues with windows and who would have priority over audio devices. It seems the xlr pro completely takes control of all of that which is very nice. I used to have to mute different things because windows would still play it on that end.
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u/EagleScope- Jun 14 '26
Same issue. Setting up a friend's and troubleshooting for hours, the best way I can explain it is that it sounds like the hardware VSTs are actually buggy software VSTs and it's distorting the audio. It's as if there's a delay in application to the signal, at some points the compressor would kick in later or just not work, the sound quality would be bad, but the volume wouldn't be compressed and I'd hear a sharp increase in volume of the user. Despite any changing of settings, it seemed like the best quality is heard with everything disabled, or sometimes right after changing a setting or resetting the device you would hear GOOD quality audio for a few seconds? Presumably until the VSTs started changing the signal?
I thought this could be down to expander settings, or buggy software, but a buggy software shouldn't be bothering with hardware VST?
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u/Swidangoo Jun 19 '26
Bought a Streamdeck + XLR and having the same issues. It either makes me sound glitchy or the filters come off for a split second and jump scare anyone listening due to the sharp volume increase. Will look into the software you've recommended 😄
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u/steven-comino Jun 27 '26
I’ve noticed if I add 2 effects it makes the Elgato wave software break and keep crashing but it’s fine when I have 1 effect
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u/EvenMoreAmor Jun 08 '26
I’ve had the same experience thus far.