Stream deck alternative: the keyboard you already own
Before you spend €150 on fifteen glowing buttons, it's worth knowing what a €10 used keyboard can do with the right software. For a lot of streamers it covers everything they'd actually use a stream deck for — and brings four times the keys. Here's the honest comparison, including where the real stream deck genuinely wins.
What people actually use a stream deck for
Look at any streamer's deck and it's the same handful of jobs: play sound effects, switch OBS scenes, start/stop recording, mute the mic, launch apps, open a folder or dashboard. Fifteen buttons, five of them memes. All of these are keypress-shaped tasks — which is exactly why a keyboard can do them.
The trick that makes a keyboard work
Windows normally treats every connected keyboard as the same device. SoundLord uses the Raw Input API to tell them apart: keys on your second keyboard trigger actions and get swallowed, while your main keyboard types normally. No drivers, no admin rights — full setup in this guide. Every key can hold:
- a sound — with per-key volume, pitch and ten live audio effects,
- an OBS action — scene switch (with auto-switch-back), screenshot, recording toggle, mute,
- an app launcher — the key face shows the app's real icon,
- a link or folder, a profile switch, or a panic key that kills all audio.
Head to head
| Stream Deck MK.2 | Spare keyboard + SoundLord | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~€150 | €5–15 keyboard + one-time licence |
| Keys | 15 | 60+ (every key assignable) |
| Key labels | LCD icons on the hardware | On-screen board mirrors every key, with live app icons |
| Sounds | Basic playback via plugin | Full audio engine: effects, loops, mixer, virtual-mic routing |
| OBS control | Yes, deep plugin | Scenes, screenshot, record, mute |
| Third-party plugins | Huge ecosystem (Spotify, smart home, …) | No plugin store — apps/links/folders cover the common cases |
| Multi-action macros | Yes | One action per key (plus sound) |
| Works in-game | Yes | Yes — raw input is global |
Where the real stream deck wins
Honesty corner: if you want LCD icons on the physical buttons, deep third-party integrations (Philips Hue, Spotify control, chat commands) or multi-step macros, Elgato's ecosystem is genuinely good and the keyboard route won't fully replace it. A stream deck is also smaller on a crowded desk.
But if your honest use case is sounds plus basic OBS control plus a few launchers — which is what most decks end up doing — the keyboard does it with more keys, better audio, and about a tenth of the money.