Guides
A streaming deck from a gamepad or MIDI pad
A dedicated button box for streaming is a nice thing and an expensive one. A second controller, an old MIDI pad, or a spare numpad does the same job through InputConfig: one press switches the OBS scene, mutes the mic, fires a Siri Shortcut that changes the room lights, and says out loud what it just did so you never have to look. This guide builds one, using function keys that nothing else on the Mac uses.
The idea: F13 to F19
macOS has function keys past F12 that no Mac keyboard has and no app uses by default. InputConfig can send F13 through F24 as ordinary keys. Assign them as hotkeys inside OBS, Streamlabs, Discord, or anything else with a hotkey field, and they can never collide with a real keyboard shortcut. The deck below uses F13 to F19 for the seven most common stream actions.
Set the hotkeys in OBS
- Open OBS, Settings, Hotkeys.
- Click in the hotkey field for Switch to scene: Starting and press the controller button bound to F13. OBS records F13.
- Repeat: F14 for the main scene, F15 for the break scene, F16 for Mute microphone, F17 for Start / Stop streaming, F18 for Start / Stop recording, F19 for the ending scene.
- Apply.
Because the controller sends a real key, OBS captures it exactly as if a keyboard had one.
The deck
| Control | Sends | Speaks |
|---|---|---|
| A / Cross | F14 | Main scene |
| B / Circle | F15 | Break |
| X / Square | F13 | Starting |
| Y / Triangle | F19 | Ending |
| LB / L1 | F16 (toggle mute) | Mic |
| RB / R1, held one second | F17 | Stream |
| Back / Share, held one second | F18 | Recording |
| D-pad up / down | System Volume Up / Down | |
| D-pad left | Siri Shortcut: Lights on | Lights |
| D-pad right | Siri Shortcut: Do Not Disturb | Focus |
| Start / Options | Open App: OBS | |
| Home / PS, held two seconds | Emergency Stop (built in) |
The two destructive actions, starting and stopping the stream and the recording, are on holds, so a bump cannot end a stream. Speech is on for every scene row, routed to the Mac; with a DualSense, route it to the controller speaker so the announcement stays out of the stream audio.
Siri Shortcuts for everything else
Anything the Shortcuts app can do is one output: HomeKit scenes for the lights, a Focus mode, a timer, a message to a moderator, a Music playlist. Build the shortcut, then pick it by name in the row's Run Siri Shortcut list. Shortcuts run in the background without stealing focus from the game.
Keep the game controller separate
If the streaming deck is a second gamepad, it has its own slot in the preset, so the game controller stays a game controller. If the deck is a MIDI pad, it is a MIDI slot. A spare numpad works too: its keys are Keyboard Key inputs captured per device, so pressing 7 on the numpad switches scenes while 7 on the main keyboard still types 7; the numpad guide covers that.
Auto-switch and the game preset
Give the game its own preset with the game listed in its auto-switch apps, and put the streaming deck rows in that preset's second slot as well. When the game is in front the game preset runs and the deck works; when OBS is in front, a desktop preset with the same deck rows takes over. Copy the deck slot between presets with the slot's duplicate button.
Download
- Streamer Deck presetThe table above on a standard controller, with spoken confirmations and hold-protected stream and record toggles. Assign F13 to F19 in OBS. 6 KB
Open a downloaded preset with InputConfig, or drag it onto the app icon. It lands in the sidebar, ready to activate or edit. Any launch target inside a preset file is cleared on import; add one yourself in the editor if you want it.
Questions
Does it work with Streamlabs, Twitch Studio, or Ecamm?
Anything with hotkey fields. Ecamm Live and Streamlabs both accept F13 to F19.
Can I see which scene is live from the controller?
Speech announces the scene on switch. There is no two-way link from OBS back to the controller.
Will the controller's own inputs reach the game?
Only what you bind. Unbound buttons send nothing, and the game does not see the controller's raw input unless it reads gamepads itself.
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