AccessCaster

I love my RODECaster Pro II. It is packed with features and it sounds great, which makes it all the more annoying that it is controlled through an inaccessible touchscreen and software that is mostly inaccessible too.

AccessCaster was written to replace Rode's own software, and it makes most of the mixer's features available to screen reader users. I spent months with Claude capturing the traffic between the PC and the desk, and reverse engineering what each feature and function does.

AccessCaster covers:

• Channel processing
• Fader assignments
• Output mixes and routing
• The SMART pads
• On-device recording
• CallMe guest calls, answered from the keyboard
• And more

Press a button or move a fader on the desk and it is announced through system text to speech. It supports the RODECaster Duo as well.

AccessCaster is not endorsed by, associated with, or supported by RODE. It is an independent project, and RODE have had no hand in it. I have taken every precaution I can to make sure the code is safe and that nothing it does to the desk cannot be undone, but it talks directly to your hardware, so you use it at your own risk.

Requirements

What you need for AccessCaster to run at all.

• Windows.
• A RODECaster Pro II or a RODECaster Duo, connected to your PC by USB.

Tested on

• NVDA, JAWS and Narrator screen readers.
• Windows 11.
• RODECaster Pro II and RODECaster Duo.

Audio guide

Two minutes on what the app is for. A fuller guide, in parts, is coming.

User guide

The same guide that is inside the app, under Help and About.

• All topics, the contents page
• About AccessCaster, what it does, what still needs the touchscreen, and who wrote it
• Getting around the app, the window, its keys and the tray icon
• Getting around your RODECaster, the desk described by feel, and what each control does
• Channels and Processing, one channel and everything on it
• Routing, where every sound goes, and how loud
• SMART pads, sounds, voice effects and mixer actions
• Recording, the desk's own recorder
• CallMe, making and taking calls
• Backups, saving and putting back the whole desk
• Device, the desk's own settings, firmware and wireless connections
• App settings, announcements, keyboard shortcuts and updates
• Troubleshooting, what to do when something goes wrong

Download

Download AccessCaster 3.0.0

AccessCasterSetup-v3.0.0.exe, 25.6 MB.

Edge may block this download, and Windows may warn before it runs the first time. That is because the installer is not code signed yet, not because anything is wrong with it. How to get past both.

Worth reading first: Troubleshooting, the faults in the RODECaster itself that you can recognise and work around, and what to do about each.

Source code

AccessCaster is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3.

AccessCaster on GitHub, where the source, the releases and the issue tracker are.