What's new
Castalong is now in public beta. Here's what's changed in each update.
July 2026 · Beta
Recording is live for everyone, faster home for the service
- Per-guest recording is on for every account: one click captures each guest to their own clean MP4, stored for 24 hours to download (per-file, zip bundle, or per-guest WAV). Cloud export to your own bucket works as before.
- Plugin downloads: the v0.2.23 Windows and Linux packages are published on the dashboard, and existing installs self-update from inside OBS (cryptographically signed, as always).
- Under the hood: Castalong now runs end to end on European cloud infrastructure with zero-downtime deploys and recordings in object storage — pages load faster and recording no longer needs to be scheduled around.
June 2026 · Beta
Audio polish, submixes, cloud & webhooks (v0.2.23)
- Broadcast audio polish: a one-click compressor + limiter on the Castalong Audio source, plus a per-output submix option (mix only the guest on a chosen output).
- Recording: separate WAV export per guest, chapter markers (＋ Marker), and automatic cloud export to your own S3-compatible bucket. Guests can also keep a local backup on their device.
- Automation: signed outbound webhooks (guest join, recording started/finished/exported) and a downloadable Stream Deck profile per room.
June 2026 · Beta
Production audio + a lot of polish (v0.2.22)
- Per-guest gain: a level slider on each guest in the control panel, applied live to your mix — ride a quiet guest up or a loud one down.
- Cleaner capture: guests can toggle noise suppression, echo cancellation and auto-gain in the green room.
- Also new across the product: a guest connection check (browser + upload test), a recording consent badge + "download all" zip, room lock & kick, show templates on room creation, a status page, a first-show walkthrough and a full API reference. See the docs' new Audio production section.
June 2026 · Beta
One output per guest, enforced by the switcher (v0.2.21)
- Hardened the previous fix: the plugin itself now guarantees a guest holds a single output. Whenever a guest is taken to an output, every other source rendering that guest releases them automatically — so no sequence of clicks (or anything else) can leave someone live on two outputs at once. Turn on multi-output in Settings if you want a guest on several.
June 2026 · Beta
Reliable one-output switching (v0.2.20)
- Fixed a race where rapidly clicking a guest's output buttons (program / facecam / game) could leave them live on two outputs at once. The dock now tracks routing as you click, so a guest reliably holds a single output (unless you've turned on multi-output).
June 2026 · Beta
Update signing gains a backup key (v0.2.19)
- The plugin now trusts a primary and a backup signing key, and can retire a key if one is ever compromised. Practically: signed updates keep working even if a signing key has to be rotated, with no break for you.
June 2026 · Beta
Updates are now cryptographically signed (v0.2.18)
- Every plugin update is signed with a key that never leaves our hands, and the plugin verifies that signature (and the file's checksum) before installing anything. If a download were ever tampered with in transit or a server were compromised, the update simply won't install — your OBS only ever runs code we actually published.
June 2026 · Beta
More reliable in-OBS updates (v0.2.17)
- Fixed an "Access is denied" error that could stop the in-OBS updater when you'd already updated once without restarting. Updates now always make room for the new version. (If you hit the old error: restart OBS once, then click Update.)
June 2026 · Beta
Guests bring their own branding frame (v0.2.16)
- Upload on the join page: a guest can now attach their branding-frame PNG right where they join, instead of emailing it to you. It frames their camera automatically when they're on air — no setup on your end.
- You still control whether the frame shows per source with the existing "branding frame" checkbox; the guest just provides the artwork. Set a frame URL in the dock yourself and that still wins.
June 2026 · Beta
A smoother ticker, now in either direction (v0.2.15)
- Smooth scrolling: the ticker now rides the video's own clock instead of wall-clock time, so it glides steadily instead of stuttering when a guest's connection jitters.
- Pick a direction: a new setting in the dock's Graphics panel lets the ticker scroll left or right.
June 2026 · Beta
One output per guest by default, plus a tidier dock (v0.2.14)
- A guest holds one output at a time: taking a guest to a bus now removes them from any other bus, so you don't leave someone live on several at once by accident. Want a guest on more than one output (say, camera and screen separately)? Turn on Allow a guest on multiple outputs in the dock's Settings.
- Tidier dock: Settings, Record and Talkback are now compact icons, so their labels stop getting cut off in a narrow dock.
June 2026 · Beta
Your sources set themselves up from the dock (v0.2.13)
- Connecting the Castalong dock to your Config URL now auto-creates your room's sources in OBS — Program, Game, facecam, whatever you've set up — each named and on its bus, so there's nothing to add by hand. Add a source on the dashboard and it appears in OBS the next time the dock connects.
June 2026 · Beta
Grab the guest link without leaving OBS (v0.2.12)
- The Castalong dock now shows your room's guest link with a one-click Copy, so you can send a guest their invite straight from OBS — no trip to the dashboard.
June 2026 · Beta
Per-location graphics: choose what shows on each source (v0.2.11)
- Pick graphics per source: every Castalong Guest source now has its own checkboxes for the name lower-third, branding frame and ticker. Show the ticker only on a fullscreen game, just the name on a facecam, and the full set on a second facecam — mix and match per location.
- Toggle live: turn elements on or off mid-stream with no reconnect and no dropped video.
- Graphics are now fully built into the plugin: they render onto each guest's video and travel with them, so there's no separate graphics browser source to add or align any more.
- Set them right in the dock: the Graphics panel on the Castalong dock sets the name accent and corner, a branding frame and a ticker; the name fills in automatically when you take a guest.
- Also fixed: the plugin reported its version incorrectly, which showed a spurious "update available" prompt. Grab plugin v0.2.11 (Windows or Linux).
June 2026 · Beta
On-screen graphics that travel with the guest (v0.2.7)
- Per-guest overlays, rendered in the plugin: a name lower-third, a branding frame (a transparent-centre PNG that surrounds the webcam, Twitch-style), and a scrolling ticker — all drawn straight onto the guest's video on your PC, so they follow the guest wherever you switch them.
- Driven over the live connection: the control panel sends them over the data channel, so there's no separate browser overlay to add and nothing polling our server.
- Set them in the control panel's Graphics & titles row; grab plugin v0.2.7 (Windows or Linux).
June 2026 · Beta
Now on Linux too, and the plugin updates itself (v0.2.6)
- Linux support: the Castalong plugin — guest & publisher sources, the native control dock, talkback, all of it — now runs on OBS Studio for Linux, not just Windows.
- One-click updates, inside OBS: from the Castalong dock, Settings → Check for updates downloads and stages the new build; restart OBS to apply. No more re-downloading and copying files. Works on Windows and Linux.
- Tidier source dialogs: when a Config URL is set, the manual server/room fields hide themselves — one field instead of three.
- Grab plugin v0.2.6 (Windows or Linux) from your dashboard.
June 2026 · Beta
A real control dock, right inside OBS (plugin v0.2.0)
- Native control dock: the plugin now adds its own Castalong dock to OBS, no browser dock to set up. It feels like a real part of OBS: a tile per guest with a live thumbnail, take with cut or fade, on-screen titles, per-guest mute, lobby admit, and talkback to your guests.
- Remembers your room: paste your Config URL once and the dock reconnects every time you open OBS.
- Grab plugin v0.2.0 from your dashboard. The old browser-dock setup still works as a fallback.
June 2026 · Beta
Run your show from a Stream Deck
- Control API: a small HTTP API drives the switcher, so an Elgato Stream Deck (or any script) can take a guest to program, cut or fade, clear a bus, roll a recording, or read the roster. One button press is one live switch.
- Room-scoped tokens: point a button at your room's producer token. It controls that one room and nothing else, and you can rotate it in a click if it ever leaks.
- Setup is copy-paste. See Stream Deck & API in the docs.
June 2026 · Beta
Record every guest to their own file
- Per-guest recording: hit Record in the control panel and Castalong captures each guest to their own clean MP4, server-side, with no extra load on your stream. Perfect ISO files for editing a podcast or interview afterwards.
- Download from your dashboard: finished recordings appear under Recordings with a download link per guest. Files are kept for 24 hours.
- On the free tier, a session records for up to an hour. See recording in the docs.
June 2026 · Beta
Guests know when they're live, and a seat for your producer
- On-air tally: guests now see a clear ON AIR / Standby bar that follows the actual switcher, so they know the moment they're being shown, not just that they're connected.
- Green room: an optional camera & mic check before joining, with a live mic meter and device pickers. Sort out the wrong webcam or a dead mic before you're on, not after.
- Producer link: hand someone a single link to run one room's show (switch, admit, titles) without your account or OBS. Revoke or rotate it anytime from the dashboard.
June 2026 · Beta
Co-stream sync delay
- Per-source delay: every Castalong Guest source can now hold its incoming feed back by up to 30 seconds, video and audio together. Made for co-streaming: line a relayed program feed up with your own platform delay while your camera and game stay live. OBS itself can't do this (its render delay caps at half a second and Stream Delay shifts everything).
- The docs gained real product screenshots and a guide to delaying a feed.
June 2026 · Beta
A smarter switcher and easier setup
- Accounts: sign up, reset your password by email, and delete your account whenever you want.
- Smarter switcher: each guest source holds one placement at a time (facecam or fullscreen, not both), a per-source mute, a compact two-up panel that auto-connects, and a live bitrate readout per guest.
- Graphics that don't drift: the plugin auto-creates the titles/overlay browser source, sized to the canvas and locked, straight from your Config URL.
- Friendlier setup: sources & placements is now a simple row editor instead of pipe-delimited text.
Earlier · Beta
The foundation
- Guests join in a browser: a webcam, screen, window or a game with audio, each becoming its own OBS source over WebRTC, no install or port-forwarding.
- vMix-style live switching with cut/fade, mix-minus guest audio, and auto-naming lower-thirds, branding frames and tickers.
- The control panel runs as an OBS dock and the graphics as a browser source. Run the whole show without leaving OBS.
Castalong