Razer decided microphones needed to do more in this streaming generation. The end result is a professional-grade USB microphone with an 8-bit Emoticon display built-in.
The microphone is usually visible on streams because it needs to be close to the streamer's mouth for clear speech pickup. However, it's not really of interest to viewers, or at least it wasn't. Someone at Razer had the clever idea of turning the microphone into an interactive device for viewers by adding a display.
The end result is called the Razer Seiren Emote and it launched late last week for $179.99.
Alvin Cheung, Senior Vice President of Razer's Peripherals Business Unit, explains the thinking behind the Seiren Emote. "Up-and-coming streamers are looking for more ways to engage with their fans and grow to new heights in order to become like their idols ... With the Razer Seiren Emote, we are providing them with a new creative avenue, enabling an additional layer of interaction between streamers and fans that is truly fun and engaging."
Razer explains that a "professional-grade" microphone has been achieved by using a hyper-cardioid pickup pattern on the microphone, which eliminates background noise while cupturing "the subtle nuances in voice." There's also a built-in shock mount for vibration dampening, and an interchangeable gooseneck for height extension.
The built-in display will garner the most attention, though. It's an 8-by-8 RGB LED screen which can be used to display hundreds of emoticons, both static and animated, and streamers can create their own. The streamer can choose what to display using Razer's companion app, but it's also possible to link it to the stream and have events trigger the emoticon to change. For example, if a viewer makes a donation, someone new follows the streamer, or an alert happens, the emoticon on the microphone can be setup to change automatically.
The novelty of a microphone that does more than just allow for great voice capture is sure to make the Seiren Emote very popular with streamers. Lets' just hope it also turns out to be a great microphone.