MAONO MaonoCaster Lite AU-AM200-S1 All-in-One Podcast Equipment Set with 3.5mm Microphone for Live Streaming, Podcast Recording, PC, Smartphone

This is a very cool audio console for the beginner or intermediate level podcaster OR someone who wants to do some basic voice over work. The "Pro" sound effect with everything adjusted to personal preferences using the included XLR mic sounds EXACTLY like making a recording from a sound booth. This would be an ideal setup for someone recording their voice while reading a script. CONSOLE FEATURES: For the price, it is definitely the most capable console I have used. There are a lot of options here that are not found on others in this price range, and a few that work substantially better. The ability to adjust LO, MID, and HI as well as the recording volume and microphone volume all at the same time is the main selling point for the console. You can't get anything else at this price that does ALL of that and has the extra features. This brings the CONSOLE up to intermediate level, for sure. I had a lot of fun with the different voice pitches, too. The female voice can get glitchy, but if you adjust how you talk you can get a nice effect. If you speak too softly, the audio does sort of vanish, though. The other voice effects sounded fine, though. Robot voice....eh....more like B-Movie Monster. It's not bad, really, but should probably be labeled differently. Some of the built in sound effects are great. Kids cheering, applause, booing, and the crow sounds are pretty useful. Would like to see a firmware update allow you to overwrite these with your own effects, though. That'd be pretty useful. Definitely more useful than only having only four programmable buttons. Music Only, Side Chain, and Loop Back work as expected. No complaints! The De-Noise button, however, cuts words off very abruptly causing some distortion if you have a lot of short pauses and it will take practice to use. If you speak clearly and fluidly, this may not be an issue for you...I, however...pause often... Luckily, with the foam cover on it there isn't much background noise on the recordings anyway. I didn't use the De-Noise button, and I didn't have to do any cleanup in post. The auto-tune works really well overall. I'm not much of a singer, but I imagine this could be useful for someone who wants to do a little bit of music work. There are definitely a plethora of outputs and in inputs to facilitate song production for someone just starting out. My recording software picked the device right up. Output through USB-C to PC was flawless. I didn't have any issue crossfading through the sound effects or music (using my MP3 player). It just worked really well and is pretty intuitive. Big labeled buttons and wheels are a lot easier to understand than thirty tiny knobs like my first console. MICROPHONE: The included microphone is just okay. It's going to give you a voice-over sound, but it isn't anything special. I would absolutely advise investing in either a quality lapel mic or even a shotgun mic or two to pair with this. It has TWO microphone inputs so you can easily set this up for interviews during a podcast. I prefer the audio I get using a powered shotgun mic with built-in gain settings. One thing I want to make note of here is that this does NOT supply enough power to run other XLR microphones through the console and included XLR to 3.5mm cable. I have not tried using this in conjunction with a phantom power supply, however....If you plan to, do so at your own risk! It does provide enough oomph to power basic shotgun mics, desktop microphones, and all other mics natively meant for or compatible with the 3.5mm jack. CONCLUSION: If you're just starting and want a solid audio experience that just works and doesn't have a huge learning curve...This thing is great. This is absolutely podcast making gold, even using the included beginner microphone. If you have a good 3.5mm mic, I can see this being a great upgrade to more inexpensive consoles. If you've got a nice console already, this isn't going to bring you much you don't already have. For me, this is a total upgrade. I'm still experimenting with different microphones, but the console itself is well worth it.

This amazing MAONO bundle is an in one solution for budding podcasters, the microphone quality deliver clear and professional -grade audio, great price, and its perfect for voice recording.

It works, but it was not great. The sound was not consistent and I thought it was the equipment. Turns out it was my computer. When I got a better computer, it worked so much better. So the effects and all of the bells and whistles work fine.

We bought the Maonocaster Lite as a way to introduce our kids to podcasting and basic audio recording, and it’s been really great. The device is very approachable and intuitive, even for beginners, with clearly labeled controls and instructions that make learning audio production doable for everyone. Setup was straightforward, and it works well for simple podcast-style recordings, voiceovers, and experimenting with microphones and headphones. It feels solid for the price point, and I appreciate that it doesn't take up a ton of space. I also want to call out Maono’s customer support. They were extremely responsive, friendly, and genuinely helpful when we reached out with questions. It’s refreshing to see a company stand behind its product and take the time to make sure customers have a good experience and can get up and running quickly. Overall, this is an excellent value for anyone looking to get started with podcasting or home audio recording. Highly recommended.

We purchased the Maono AM200-S1 in 2023, and even two years later, the Maono team continues to impress us with their exceptional post-sales support. Their customer service goes above and beyond — responsive, knowledgeable, and genuinely dedicated to helping their users. The AM200-S1 itself has been an amazing product that’s served us reliably since day one. Thanks to the great experience and support we’ve had, we’re now upgrading to the Maono PS22 audio interface so we can record multiple tracks simultaneously. Huge thanks to the entire Maono team for standing by their products and customers. Highly recommended!

This is $59 worth of equipment wrapped up in a box with flashy lights for $180. Save your money, and your frustration. If you need a $50 mic then buy a $50 mic. Otherwise spend a few extra bucks and get something better. Why is this my conclusion? I am on a podcast where we remotely connect and record, I figured this would be a good quality set up that would do the job. First off, set up was straight forward but the instructions are garbage. If you don't have experience with mics and XLRs be prepared it's probably going to be a challenge. The boom this kit comes with is garbage, it's cheap and very flimsy. I have to wrench on the knobs to the point I think they will break and it still falls down randomly. The shock mount is okay, but has more of the knobs don't really hold issues. The pop filter is a bit awkward but works, I actually have less issues keeping that in place than I do with the boom and shock mount. The XLR has a ton of cool buttons like laughter and cheering auto programed into it. Which I can hear fine, but the people I'm on with can't. They don't appear in the recordings either. So why even have them. Echo slider works half the time. The mic is a very low end mic. It does sound okay but I have to keep my mouth like 3 inches from it to get it to be okay. Pairing that with the fact that I can't touch it because the boom and shock mount will fall apart makes it a challenge. My team is constantly frustrated with it as well. It adds about an hour of post production time for the audio guy that has to clean it up a bit to make it usable. He is a good spirit about it but I know it's frustrating. I wanted to like this product, it just fell short. The longer I use it the more regret I have on my purchase. For $180 I expected more. Return time is up so I am probably going to have to suck it up and take the loss. I hope this helps someone avoid being in this situation.

Very low audio after I recorded singing on TikTok. But all the settings are on High🤷🏼‍♀️. Also the microphone is so sensitive. I can barely touch it, it “hits” my ears 🙉. I don’t like this.

Not able to use at this time.