Punchlight Recording Lamp USB RGB

Pros:
- Nice shape and form
- Does the job very well
- The ability to fine-tune colors and brightness is great
- The included software is easy to use and does the job
- Easy integration with DAWs (I use it with Reaper)
Cons:
- Price. It's a piece of plastic and simple electronics that studio DIY fans have been building on a shoestring budget for years. It should cost a quarter of what it does.
- Flexibility. It can change color to signal pre-roll to the band if using ProTools, but not in general HUE or Mackie, like used in Reaper. The third color (Cue) is pretty much useless in Reaper, can't be easily assigned to anything.

I've been using this product for just over a year now. It's very useful in an audio recording situation, and much more reasonably priced than some competing products. Its ability to display a metronome track is a very good and useful feature, as well as changing colour in a pre- or post-roll state. the two slight drawbacks are that to use it with a cable long enough to stretch from Control Room to Studio (i.e. more than about 3m, it needs a USB booster cable. Without it it's unreliable over a longer cable run. Also, if you are using MIDI tracks in your project, do not attempt to edit events with the Punchlight connected. If you do the events re-assign themselves to MIDI note 1 and cannot be moved. Disconnecting the punchlight (or removing its output assignment) stops this. If you want a useful studio light on a budget, and can accept these workarounds, its a good piece of kit.