Late in 2018, Australia’s Røde Microphones launched the Rødecaster Pro, the “world’s first fully integrated podcast production studio. But its need for mains power made casting on the road a challenge. The Maonocaster solves that drawback thanks to a built-in battery.
Podcasts are a relatively recent idea, where hosts record serialized audio episodes about whatever niche topics are of interest and make them available for download or streaming. Pretty much anyone can record and upload casts, and it’s estimated that there are over 750,000 podcasts online, with millions of regular listeners.
Podcasting production studios like the Rødecaster Pro and now the upcoming Maonocaster are designed to help you create professional podcast recordings. The latter, which is currently raising production funds on Kickstarter, features four channels for two microphones (with phantom power for condenser mics and noise cancellation) and two other audio sources (such as digital audio players for background music or smartphones for live interviews and additional audio).
The system is powered by a 5,000-mAh battery for up to eight hours of continuous recording. It comes with a couple of ports to the front for real-time monitoring, there are fader, dials and buttons for source control, and you can spice up your casts with six vocal effects, four sound effects and three custom pads (to allocate your own sounds to). There’s even a bleep buttons for muting expletives.
One minor downside could be that a media card slot hasn’t been included in the design, meaning you won’t be able to save your on-the-go recordings direct to SD or microSD. But you can save podcasts to a tablet, smartphone or laptop over USB-C.
Kickstarter pledges for the portable production studio on its own start at US$149, but Maono is also offering bundles that include microphones and headphones. If all goes to plan, shipping is estimated to start in September. The video below has more.
Maonocaster takes podcast production on the road [New Atlas]