This past January, I updated the TMDS Studio board for recording podcasts. I bought a brand spankin' new RØDECaster Pro. I'm still using the RØDE Procaster mics Stoakley recommended several years ago. The cables are still fine, and although a pair of headphones died recently, I do currently have four functional headsets. The dusty old MacBook Pro I've been using to record and edit, however, has really been showing its age lately. So I bit the bullet and upgraded this key link in the chain.
A few things here... firstly, in their infinite wisdom, Apple got rid of the USB port. The RØDECaster Pro connects to the laptop via USB, so I needed a $25 adaptor. It really ticks me off spending thousands on a laptop and then discovering I need to spend another $25 to connect via USB.
Then, the MacBook Pro wanted to update to Catalina, so I did that. I must confess, nothing else I own or use is from Apple, so I just accepted the update without thinking twice. It turns out Catalina has very strict privacy rules with third party applications using external microphones, and Audacity simply wouldn't work. Audacity, my audio recorder and editor of choice, does not support the latest Apple operating system. At least not yet.
Finally, after some frustrating and unfruitful troubleshooting, I found a hack that works for me. A little annoying, but it gets the job done while I wait for Audacity to figure this out. That left one more issue...
I licensed a soundboard from a company called Ambrosia which also does not function in Catalina. Furthermore, the page for their support is serving up a 404. I did get 7+ years out of that $50 investment, so I decided to spend another $50 on a fancy new soundboard from Farrago.
Tomorrow will be the big test for the new tech. An episode of Hebsy on Sports records at 9:20am and then the annual Toronto Mike'd Festivus episode with Elvis records right after.
In the ever evolving world of podcasts, the only constant is change.
