Elgato Wave Link vs ROCCAT Swarm II

Elgato Wave Link is a free audio routing and effects app for streamers, podcasters, professionals, and other content creators. It works with USB and XLR microphones, third-party interfaces, headsets, and capture cards recognized by the computer. A horizontal routing matrix lets users direct audio sources to outputs, with up to five independent mixes and separate routing and volume levels. Users can group multiple applications, such as Zoom, Teams, Discord, Spotify, or Chrome, into one channel. The app supports VST3 effects on Windows and Audio Unit effects on macOS, with unlimited effects per input. Mixes can feed OBS Studio, MS Teams, or any application that accepts audio input. Its Stream Deck plugin can change volume, mute channels, toggle effects, and switch mixes. The Wave Link 3.0 plan lists up to eight software or non-Wave inputs, four Wave-device inputs, and five virtual mixes. Windows requires Windows 11 and 8 GB RAM; macOS requires version 15.0 or newer and 8 GB RAM.

ROCCAT Swarm II is free software for configuring compatible Turtle Beach devices and selected ROCCAT products. It can update firmware; supported headsets also get a dynamic 10-band equalizer, audio and microphone presets, and controls for microphone sensitivity, noise gate, and monitoring. The app can assign functions to a remappable wheel and mode button on supported headsets. Profiles store audio, microphone, and other adjustable settings. Some devices retain settings in onboard memory when Swarm II is closed or absent, but the maker notes that not every configured function is retained. The Atlas 200 USB profile guide describes five onboard profile slots and automatic switching for profiles assigned to games or programs. The app is listed for Windows, Android, and iOS. Basic device functions do not require Swarm, and some devices support driverless setup; Turtle Beach says installing Swarm II is necessary for troubleshooting. Some advanced audio features available in 2.4GHz wireless mode may not work over Bluetooth. For Atlas 200 USB, desktop software requires a USB audio adapter on Windows and the mobile version is unavailable.