Roland BRIDGE CAST ONE Review

The Roland BRIDGE CAST ONE is a compact yet powerful offering of the company’s professional-grade audio mixing tech. With live streaming seeing a boom in recent years, companies like Roland have stepped in to provide solutions that help streamers get great audio from multiple sources, while making setup as easy as possible.

High-performance mic support

Streamers can pair the BRIDGE CAST ONE with their favorite microphone, thanks to the 75 dB of available gain and phantom power. This can handle demanding mics like the popular Shure SM7B without the need for Cloudlifter or other added extras. Once the mic is plugged in, users can record 24-bit audio at up to 96 kHz, and use built-in EQ to tune their audio to perfection.

Get broadcast-quality sound

Combining a solid XLR mic with the noise reduction, compressor, EQ, de-esser, reverb, and high-pass filter is more than enough to get great-quality, broadcast-level audio.

The dedicated PC app is used to fine-tune settings, customize EQ, add voice effects, and more. These effects shouldn’t bog down the PC, either, as the BRIDGE CAST ONE boasts its own DSP.

Dual-bus flexibility

Something I was particularly impressed by was the dual-bus system, which allows for one audio track to be sent to your stream audience and another separate track to be sent to you alone. This means you can listen to copyrighted music, for example, while sending royalty free music to your audience.

I’m also very impressed by the design of the BRIDGE CAST ONE. The I/O on the rear is very clearly marked, making it accessible to newcomers. The knob and buttons on the front feel good to adjust and push, with an overall feeling of decent quality.

Limitations

When it comes to downsides, the main thing that stands out to me is the companion app. Compared to competitors like Elgato, Roland’s app could use updates to expand options for advanced customization. While it’s fine for the basics, power users will likely want to dive deeper, which I think should be supported given how the BRIDGE CAST ONE could and should be utilized by advanced users.

There’s also the lack of support for Xbox. Now, it’s not Roland’s fault, but it’s worth mentioning so that Xbox users don’t end up disappointed.

Disclosure: Review sample provided by Roland.