---
title: 'You’re Using Your Stream Deck Wrong… Here’s a Better Way'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZbsumEprTek'
video_id: 'ZbsumEprTek'
date: 2026-06-15
duration_sec: 0
---

# You’re Using Your Stream Deck Wrong… Here’s a Better Way

> Source: [You’re Using Your Stream Deck Wrong… Here’s a Better Way](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZbsumEprTek)

## Summary

The video explains how to optimize the Stream Deck Plus XL for a streamlined workflow as a content creator. The creator shares his intentional layout using multiple profiles, key logic, and dial stacking to avoid clutter and improve efficiency.

### Key Points

- **Underutilized Stream Decks** [0:00] — Many people underutilize their Stream Deck due to poor setup, not lack of features.
- **Stream Deck Plus XL Overview** [0:56] — The Stream Deck Plus XL has 36 keys and 6 dials, which can lead to mess without a plan.
- **Home Profile as Main Hub** [2:02] — The home profile is the main hub for launching apps, websites, and quick controls.
- **Column-Based Layout** [2:32] — Keys are organized into 9 columns of 4 keys each, with each column serving a specific function.
- **First Column: Lighting and Prompter** [2:51] — First column controls key lights, Elgato Prompter modes, crosshair toggle, and mouse software.
- **Audio Control Columns** [3:29] — Two columns for audio output device, mix selection, mute personal mix, and mute microphone.
- **App-to-Channel Assignment** [4:05] — Buttons to assign new apps to game, browser, or music channels in Wave Link 3.0.
- **App Launching Columns** [4:54] — Three columns for frequently used apps: Elgato apps, content creation tools (OBS, Audacity, DaVinci Resolve, Canva), and other apps (Steam, Chrome, Spotify, Discord).
- **Statistics and Websites Columns** [5:42] — Columns for CPU/GPU monitoring, benchmarking tools, websites (YouTube, X, Twitch, Google Drive), and weather/time/battery info.
- **Dial Configuration for Home** [6:30] — Six dials control system volume, game audio, browser audio, music audio, and two Key Light Airs (brightness and color temperature via dial stacking).
- **OBS Profile Overview** [8:20] — Separate OBS profile with columns for OBS controls, audio meters, mute buttons, prompter control, and lighting.
- **Key Logic for Multi-Function Keys** [12:20] — Key Logic allows single press, double press, and hold to perform different actions (e.g., start stream, instant replay, start/stop recording).
- **OBS Dials for Audio** [13:14] — Six dials split into two groups: three for stream mix audio (system, game, music with browser via dial stack) and three for personal mix audio.
- **Wave Link Profile** [16:17] — Standalone Wave Link profile for advanced audio controls: device switching, mix selection, mute, effects toggling, app assignment, soundboard, Voice Mod, Discord, Spotify.
- **Profile Navigation Cycle** [19:59] — Home key with Key Logic: single press goes to home profile, hold goes to OBS profile; from OBS, hold home goes to Wave Link; from Wave Link, hold home goes back to OBS.

### Conclusion

Intentional layout with multiple profiles and key logic transforms the Stream Deck into a seamless extension of your workflow, making content creation faster and more enjoyable.

## Transcript

I think a lot of people are
underutilized in their Stream Deck. Not
because you don't know what it can do,
but because of how you're setting it up.
And once I put a little more thought
into my Stream Deck's setup, everything
just got faster. Your Stream Deck layout
can be the difference between an
efficient workflow and an inefficient
one. As Stream Deck has evolved, we've
gotten more keys and more dials, and as
great as this is, this could also lead
to more mess. So, today I want to show
you how I've got my Stream Deck plus XL
set up to streamline my workflow as a
content creator. Before we get started,
I do want to let you know that I am an
Elgato partner, and this video is
sponsored by Elgato. They sent me the
Stream Deck plus XL for free prior to
release for the purposes of making
content on it. They don't get to read my
script, they don't get to see the video
before you do, and they have no say in
what type of content I make on the
Stream Deck plus XL. They just said,
"Here you go. Have fun." The Stream Deck
plus XL is an absolute unit of a Stream
Deck. With 36 keys and six dials, this
thing is huge. Its size is both its
greatest asset and its biggest
opportunity. Setting one up with no
plan, no rhyme or reason can easily lead
into a mess of pages, folders, profiles,
and key layouts that make no sense. So,
allow me to help you avoid that. As I
thought about how to set mine up, I
thought about what I actually do and how
I actually use Stream Deck. And
basically, I open apps, I open Chrome
directly to specific websites, I control
my lights, control my audio, control my
streams and my recordings, aka OBS, and
I monitor a few things here and there. I
could just make one profile with
multiple pages for every single aspect
that I just mentioned, but let's be
real, that gets really messy really
fast, and navigating that is not as
intuitive as it can be now thanks to
some recent upgrades in Stream Deck
navigation. So, instead, I'm using a few
profiles to manage my entire workflow.
And let's start with my home profile.
Think of home as the main hub. This is
the profile where I will launch all the
apps that I frequently use, the websites
that I visit frequently, a couple of
quick access controls that I do use
frequently, and a couple of random
things that I don't interact with too
often, but are nice to have right here
in my default main profile. We have 36
keys to play with here, and I look at
those 36 keys as two different groups.
Four rows of nine keys or nine columns
of four keys. I wanted this layout to be
very intentional, so I went with
planning this layout based off of having
nine columns with four keys apiece. And
therefore, every single column or groups
of columns serve a specific function.
Let's start left to right and start with
the first column here. This first column
is my key lights on
and off. I'm able to toggle between chat
mode and display mode for my Elgato
Prompter. I can toggle the crosshair
when I'm reading a script, for example,
I can I can know exactly where my camera
lens is by toggling this crosshair on or
off. And in the event that I need to use
my Scimitar Elite Wireless SE mouse for
something like editing my timeline in
DaVinci Resolve, I can press this button
at the bottom to make sure that IQ has
been launched and open so that it can
work with Stream Deck, blah blah blah.
All right. The next two columns are my
audio control columns. Now, from the
top, I can switch my audio output
device. It's either my headset or my
speakers, okay? The second button here
allows me to control what mix I'm
actually listening to, and right now
it's set to my Stream Mix, but if I
press that button, it outputs all of my
personal mix, which is what I
traditionally use 99.99%
of the time when I'm not streaming. The
third button here allows me to mute my
entire personal mix in the event that I
just need to mute everything really
quickly. And finally, the button here at
the bottom allows me to mute my
microphone. In the third row, I have the
ability to add different apps to
different channels within Wave Link 3.0.
So, for example, let's pretend I launch
a game on Steam that I've never played
before at all. It's the first time this
game runs on my computer, and I need to
assign it to my game channel. As soon as
that opens and starts running, I simply
hit this button right here, and it
automatically adds it to the game
channel in Wave Link 3.0, which then
makes sure that it's being routed to all
other mixes where game is active as a
channel. I can do the same here in case
I want to add anything to browser or
anything into the generic music channel
as well. These audio controls here, as
far as keys are concerned, are mainly to
control where the audio is going, what
you what device is outputting the audio,
and what channel a given application is
sent to upon its first launching. The
next three columns are the apps that I
use very frequently on a day-to-day
basis. First column up over here, I have
every single Elgato application that I
use from Wave Link, Stream Deck, Camera
Hub, and Control Center. The next one I
have here is the content creation
column, okay? I have OBS for whenever I
want to go live or record a video like
the one that I'm doing right now. I have
Audacity in the event that I just want
to record audio. I've got DaVinci
Resolve so I can edit the videos, and I
have a link straight to Canva.com so
that I can start working on thumbnails
or any other assets that I may need for
a video. This third column here in the
apps grouping is just all the other
stuff that I use. I open Steam to play
games, I go to Chrome to do some
browsing Spotify Discord
self-explanatory. And the last three
columns are kind of a bit of a random
mixture, but not really. This column
here, the third-to-last column, is my
statistics column, if you will. I can
take a look at my CPU utilization right
here directly off my Stream Deck, and I
can also check how hot or not hot my GPU
is currently running. And then the last
two buttons here are going to launch
CapFrameX and RivaTuner in the event
that I want to capture any sort of
benchmarking for any game that I am
currently playing. Second-to-last column
is all the websites, YouTube X, Twitch,
Google Drive, and then this final one
over here is going to show me the
weather for today, the weather for the
next 2 days, the time, and if I had iCue
open and this mouse on, it's off right
now, it would show me the battery level
for my Scimitar Wireless Elite SE.
And that's it. All right. Now, the dials
are a bit of a different story because I
have six dials at the bottom. I am only
concerned in this profile here
controlling anything that impacts me and
only me. So, I have a dial to control
the volume for my system channel, which
is going to be my PC and Windows sounds.
I have a dial for the games. I have a
dial for browser audio. I have a dial
for music audio. And that's it. The last
two dials are going to be controlling my
Key Light Airs. Now, instead of just
turning them on or off, I'm actually
controlling the brightness and the color
temperature for each one of my two Key
Light Airs right here in front of me.
But, if you notice, I have two dials for
two different settings for two different
lights. That means that I would
technically need four dials. A
brightness dial and a color temperature
dial for one Key Light Air and a
brightness dial and a color temperature
dial for my second Key Light Air. But,
thanks to something that Stream Deck has
built in called the dial stacking, we
don't have to worry about running out of
dials because if I double-click in,
bam, I'm able to stack commands on
dials. So, what this means is that if I
go back here, let me go back home.
Pop.
All right. I can simply turn the
brightness up right now as you can see
it change right now. We're going to go
back to nine, but if I want to change
the brightness of my other light, I push
this dial in and now I can start messing
around with that one. I think this one
was set to
seven. All right. And I can do the same
exact thing with this other dial for a
color temperature, but I'm not going to
do that because I like I'm a control
freak and I like everything staying the
same always as far as lighting is
concerned.
Okay, perfect. So, this is the home
profile. This is the main hub. This is
where everything begins.
So,
what happens when I have to go into OBS,
launch OBS, and start controlling things
from a completely different perspective?
Well, let's make it easy. I've already
created an OBS profile and a couple of
other profiles that we're going to cover
in this video today, but as you can see,
I have an OBS key right over here. So,
I'm going to simply press it and it'll
automatically open up OBS. So, let me
switch over here to my OBS profile so
that you can have a look at what this
looks like. Again, columns are
intentional. They have purpose. They
serve functions, okay? Don't look at it
from left to right as far as rows are
concerned because that doesn't mean
anything. The first two columns in this
profile control OBS from switching
scenes to starting a recording, starting
a stream, capturing clips, so forth and
so on. This is pretty self-explanatory.
I'm not going to really dive into that.
Obviously, yours may look a little
different, but basically, first two
columns control OBS. That's all you got
to know.
The next two columns start the audio
grouping, and as you can tell here, the
audio grouping is four columns wide. If
that I guess that makes sense. It does
make sense. Anyways, I have two meters,
all right? The first meter, the one that
you're seeing move right now is my
microphone. And that way I can get a
quick visual representation of where I'm
at as far as my levels are concerned
when I'm speaking into the mic.
Underneath that, I have a mute button so
I can mute my microphone. And above this
here at the top, I have the button to
change what device my audio is sent to,
be it my speakers or my headset. That's
it. Third column, or fourth column
rather, is about the same exact thing
except it's going to show me the meters
for my stream mix. So I can get an idea
of where my stream audio is versus my
mic audio. And I'm able to change what
mix I'm listening to on a given device.
So I can change between the personal
mix, which is what I hear, and the
stream mix, which is what my audience
hears. And here I want to be able to do
that because as I'm streaming, I want to
make sure that the audio my audience is
getting is actually good. And that maybe
I didn't accidentally leave myself muted
the minute I went live. And you'd be
surprised how often that actually
happens cuz it happens a lot.
The next two columns, and the last two
columns in the audio grouping over here,
allow me a little bit more finite
control for the stream mix and the
personal mix, okay? From the top, I can
mute the entire stream mix or I can mute
the game channel, I can mute the browser
channel, or I can mute the music channel
in the stream mix only. And on the final
column in this grouping, I can mute the
personal mix for myself entirely, or I
can mute the game, I can mute the
browser, or I can mute the music audio.
The next two columns are prompter
control. In the event that I go into a
stream and start streaming and I'm not
in chat mode over here, I can cycle
between the different prompter modes
between basically display or chat mode.
So I can press that up. If I miss
anything at all, I can scroll up and
down through chat to make sure I catch
up with whoever is chatting me with me.
You know, maybe that one or two people
that do end up watching my streams. And
in the event that I'm reading a script
and I mess up on a chapter, I can move
backwards and forwards across chapters
to make sure I get some good retakes in.
The last column allows me to turn all of
my lights on or off, not just my key
light errors, but all of my lights on or
off. I'm able to also capture a
screenshot of whatever it is, so
whatever scene I'm in in OBS, and
finally, I can go home back to my home
profile. Now, before we move on, let's
cover a couple things here. If you take
a look, you're going to notice that I
have one button to start my stream, and
that's it. I've got no record button,
and I do have a clip button right over
here.
How in the world do I record or start a
recording, rather, if I don't have a
button for it here on my Stream Deck
Plus XL with 36 freaking keys?
Well,
that's all going to happen thanks to key
logic. All right? Now, key logic is
really freaking cool, because let me
double click here.
Key logic allows you to change how a
single key behaves depending on how you
interact with it, whether you press it
one time, you hold it, or you double
press it. So, as you can see here, if I
press that key one time, it's going to
start a stream. If I double press it,
it's going to start instant replay, or
whatever that replay buffer is called,
that thing right there. And if I hold
it, it will start or stop a recording.
And I I I absolutely adore that Elgato
introduced key logic into streaming,
because that saves so much space in
terms of buttons that it it makes it
just
I can't think of anything clever to say.
It's just a really cool feature, okay?
This is the entire setup for all the
keys. Let's move on to the dials. The
dials are a little different, because in
my mind,
I've already set up my lighting. I've
already got it dialed in. That's not
going to really change much, if at all.
So, I don't need to waste a dial or
dials on lighting. But what I do need is
control for audio that I hear, aka
personal mix, and the audio my audience
hears, aka the stream mix. So, I have
six dials. I've divided them up into two
groups. Three dials for stream audio,
three dials for me audio. But, I'm I I
take it a step further because left to
right, what I see on my left to me is
priority. And when I'm streaming or
recording, my audience's audio is
priority over my audio. So, they're the
first set of audio that we're going to
see here. I have my system audio. I've
got my game audio, and I have my music
audio. And if you can see or if you can
tell, I'm missing a channel, and that is
my browser audio. But, if I double-click
here, you're going to see that this is a
dial stack, which you've already
covered. I'm able to just say, "Hey, I
want to mess around with my music audio
right now, but if I press this button in
or press the dial in, I can switch over
to controlling my browser audio." And
the last three are basically the same
exact thing mirrored, but just set to
personal audio or personal mix, and
that's it. Congratulations, that is my
OBS layout and setup on the Stream Deck
Plus XL. I have two profiles here with
you so far. I've got my home profile,
which is the main hub, and I have this
OBS profile, which is going to allow me
to control OBS when I'm creating
content. Blah blah blah. All right. I
need to get back to my home profile,
okay? And that's what this home key over
here is for. Um it's just a a switch
profile command in Stream Deck, which is
going to be right over here. Navigation.
Where are you at? I can't read.
Apparently, reading is very difficult
for me. Let's click on that. There it
is.
Navigation, switch profile, dropped it
in there and called it a day, right? And
then I changed the icon to home to
represent home. You get the point. So,
I'm going to go ahead and press it now,
and I'm right back in my home profile.
But um
you might notice
I don't have a single button here to go
back to my OBS profile. And I'm not
about to open up Stream Deck and take my
mouse and go over here and drop down and
select the OBS profile to switch that.
That would be ridiculous. So, what I did
is thanks to Key Logic once again, I
took this key where OBS was originally,
I dropped the Key Logic command, which
is going to be under Stream Deck
false.
It's under multi-action. I stand or sit
corrected. You're going to take Key
Logic, you're going to drop it down, and
then you double click, and boom.
A single press of this key will launch
OBS, and if I hold it, which I'll do
right now,
it will automatically take me to my OBS
profile. And if I go back and hit that
home key once again,
I'm right back at my main profile.
Love it. Now, let's go back to the OBS
profile, and let me hold the home key,
and let's see what happens.
Boom. Now, I'm in the Wave Link profile.
The reason I created a standalone Wave
Link profile is because there are
certain actions I'm going to need when
it comes to controlling my audio that I
maybe only need to interact with once or
twice within a content creation session
or every once in a blue moon when I'm
not creating content. So, for example,
as you can see here, all 36 are taken
up. The first 1 2 3 4 columns are all
Wave Link controls. I can switch the
audio device I'm listening to. I can
switch what mix I'm listening to. I can
mute the stream mix. I can mute the
personal mix. I can mute my mic. And
now, I can start turning off or on the
different effects that I have going into
my Elgato Wave DX through the Elgato
Wave XLR Mark II. So, as you can tell
right now, Voice Focus is turned off.
And if I were to hit the compressor
button,
the compressor would be turned off. If I
hit Elgato EQ,
the Elgato EQ effect is turned off. If I
hit Loud Max, my limiter will also turn
off, like so. So, now all of that is
off. And you know what? Just for
shiggles, let me go ahead and turn the
expander off. Now, every single effect
that I have set up for this microphone
is off.
But, let's start turning back on,
because I want this audio to be good.
So, expander is back on now. We're going
to go ahead and turn on the compressor
next. There it is. Compressor is on. So,
is my Elgato EQ. So, is my Loud Max
limiter. And I'm going to leave voice
focus off for now, cuz I haven't been
messing with it, and that's okay. All
right. Same exact thing as in my main
home profile. I'm able to add
applications to each individual channel
from here. I have some soundboard audio
that if I wanted to add in any sounds
from my computer that I maybe create or
download on my own, I can pop them in
here and start playing them in my
streams and in my recordings for my
audience. I've got Voice Mod controls
over here, Discord controls here,
Spotify controls here, the ability to
launch Elgato Wave Link, the ability to
launch Discord, the ability to launch
Spotify, and my ability to go home. As
far as the dials are concerned, it is
the exact same layout as they were set
up in my OBS profile, but swapped.
Okay? Because in my mind, when I am in
this profile, I'm not necessarily
concerned with the audio for my stream
or my audience. I'm now concerned about
audio on my end, whether from what I am
taking in as audio is concerned or what
I am executing and putting out to you.
So, instead of having the stream mix
audio dials on the left, I have the
personal mix ones now. Now, listen.
I just kind of heard myself say that out
loud. Maybe that's a little too much.
And And maybe you're right. Maybe that
is crazy, but if you haven't tried
actually putting thought, like real
thought, into how you set up something
like a Stream Deck, I want to challenge
you to do that, because it it if you're
already enjoying it, you're just going
to love it even more. Because once you
make this device your own, it just feels
like an extension of you. And when you
start using it and you start flowing, it
just you enter your flow state. It feels
really, really, really good. So, I'm
going to hit my home button, okay? And
as usual, it's going to take me right
back to my home profile, my main hub, if
you will. And as you can see here, I've
got the Elgato Wave Link icon here. If I
press it, Wave Link's going to open up,
and if I hold it, it's going to take me
right back to my Elgato Wave Link 3.0
profile in the Stream Deck app. And you
know, sometimes when you are in the
middle of streaming or making content
and you're in your OBS profile, for
example, you have to be able to swap
back, right? So, we're going to go back
to home. I'm going to hold the OBS key,
go to my OBS profile, and I'm over here
like da da da da doing some things. Oh
crap, I need to go play a sound for my
sound board. So, let me hold that home
key. Boom, I'm in my Wave Link profile.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy, but now
now, I need to get back to my OBS
profile. Well, if I press the home key,
it'll take me to my home profile, but if
I hold it, I've set it up to take me
right back to my OBS profile. I set this
entire thing up to be a cycle of sorts,
like a circle, okay? Like I can just
easily navigate across all profiles that
I actually need to have. I don't have a
mess of pages, I don't have a mess of
folders, and this just flows and works
so seamlessly. I absolutely
love it. I love my Stream Deck Plus XL.
It's massive and feels great to use. And
I believe, all right, I believe that if
you're going to get a Stream Deck, then
this is the one to get.
But, no matter what Stream Deck you end
up going with, put some thought into
your setup. Make it work for you instead
of against you. Anyhoo, that about does
it, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that
you found this video helpful and
informative, and if you did, make sure
you hit that like button. That would be
amazing. And you know, maybe even maybe
even subscribe. I'm like 800 away from
10K. That'd be great if I hit that. All
right? Of course, I'm going to have a
link to the Stream Deck Plus XL in the
description below. It is my partner link
with Elgato, so if you buy it using that
link, you're going to help me out big
time, but it's not going to cost you any
extra. And if you don't want to go with
the XL version, I'll also have a link to
the Stream Deck Plus, the regular little
brother version, if you will. Lastly,
let me know in the comments below,
what do you want me to help with next?
Until then, and until next week, be good
to yourselves, be good to one another.
Peace out.