Get Back to School With Roccat Peripherals – You Need Them for “Homework”

Software and Performance

There’s a benefit to sticking with one brand, and it’s the software problem. I have a lot of mixed peripherals, and to control them all I have Razer software, NZXT, Roccat, Logitech, and Turtle Beach. It’s a mess and means a lot of software loads when I start my PC. This isn’t what we all want, even I don’t want that problem. However, by sticking to a Roccat keyboard, mouse, and headset, I only need one piece of software. Roccat Swarm can control all three (and more).

Updates

It’ll keep all your hardware updated with the latest firmware in one place.

Customisation

The settings are pretty extensive but laid out in a way that’s not intimidating. You can customise the surround options, which includes an easy to use demo test mode too.

For when you’re done being sensible, you can even turn on Magic Voice. This turns what you say into a crazy voice, which is both hilarious and irritating, depending on who’s doing it and who’s listening.

For the mouse, you simply select it on the tab at the top. Here you can tweak your DPI levels, button assignments and much more.

The level of customisation is crazy. However, for work and gaming, taking the time to configure these can be a real time saver. With Easy-Shift you can add even more commands. However, since you have a matching keyboard and headset, you can actually have each one trigger commands and profiles on the others too. They work in harmony and compliment each other. You don’t get that when mixing other brands.

RGB

Each peripheral has their own RGB lighting settings too. You can use AIMO to give smart reaction effects based on on-screen information and the games you use. However, you can set a wider range of effects, colours and transitions too. Again, with all three peripherals matching to some degree, the software can sync the lighting so they all match.

Finally, profiles. As you can see, I’ve gone through and made a few of my own. One for homework that has a fixed colour lighting profile to not be distracting. It enables more multimedia controls, some copy and paste macros etc. For gaming, I can set custom key lighting, disable certain keys, etc. For playing Elite, I need a more advanced set of macros at my fingertips, and so on. Take the time, set them up. By doing this, my mouse, headset, and keyboard all lock into the perfect profile when I need them to. Point Swarm at the programs you use, and auto switching will do that profile change for you!

Real World Performance

The mechanical keyboard is a joy to use, both for work, gaming, at home or in the office. It’s got a nice low profile design and slim chassis too. Of course, this means it doesn’t need a big desk to accommodate it. If you’re tight on space, this is a “big” advantage. the RGB lighting is properly fantastic on all these peripherals too, giving you lots of customisation; if you’re bothered about aesthetics that is.

There’s some AIMO RGB lighting on the headset too, but don’t worry, there’s a built-in button to turn that off whenever you desire to.

The mouse, that’s got multi-zone lighting too, giving you even further lighting effects. Personally, I set a fixed colour and leave it. However, setting a unique colour per profile, say red for gaming, blue for work, can be advantageous.

For ergonomics, the slim keyboard chassis is great. It helps free up precious desktop space for the mouse too. The mouse has great ergonomics, at least for right-handed users. It’s quite a large mouse that works great for those with longer fingers like myself. You can use it palm rest, or with fingertip and clawgrip playstyles; this makes it adept for lazy web browsing to competitive FPS gaming.

Together, the three work well and harmoniously. Software clutter is a big issue for me. However, I can’t sing enough praise for the advancements Roccat has made with their Swarm software. The configuration of any settings, lighting, macros, profiles, and hardware firmware updates are all in a single program. Since they all have built-in memory, once you’ve got things configured, you can often disable the software entirely and still have all your custom settings available to you.

The keyboard is ultra-responsive and those Cherry MX switches are a joy to work on. The phenomenal sensor on the mouse is as accurate in Adobe software as it is in MOBA games. However, it’s the headset that really completes the deal for me. It’s one of my all-time favourite headsets anyway, with tremendous sound quality, and a very accurate sound. If you’re gaming, that’s great. However, if your work relies on video editing, music mixing and more, it’ll get the professional stuff done too.