AudioRoute — capture system audio in any DAW or recorder (Mac/Win)

[vyunikov86]

Windows 0.1.15 is live — Windows now catches up to the Mac release.

Highlights:
- Bit-perfect capture on Windows, verified. WASAPI process-loopback at the device's native mix rate, no internal resampler engaged. We wrote a verification harness that renders a known signal through shared-mode WASAPI, captures it back via the loopback path, then null-tests against the source. Across 48 kHz / 96 kHz and various source types (synthesised, decorrelated stereo, real .wav files), the result is max |c − s| = 0 — literally bit-identical samples, recovered gain 1.000000, residual SNR effectively infinite. Happy to share the test source with anyone who wants to reproduce it.
- Auto-rate now follows your default device (used to silently fall back to 48 kHz). Set Windows Sound → Format to your source rate; AudioRoute follows.

Honest caveat (Windows): bit-perfect here is relative to the audio engine's mix at the device rate. If an app plays 44.1 into a 48 kHz device, the engine resamples upstream of any capture tool — outside our reach. Match the rates and AudioRoute adds nothing.

[vyunikov86]

A guide for Cubase 15 Pro is now live:
https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... -in-cubase

[vyunikov86]

AudioRoute 0.1.16 — UX refresh on Mac and Windows
Shipped 0.1.16 today. Mostly improvements around getting started and managing your license:

• New onboarding walkthrough on first launch
• License status is now a clickable chip in the tray popup — trial countdown, Activate, Buy, Enter Key all live there.
Previously license entry was buried in the right-click menu and some users couldn't find it.
• "DAW guides" link in the tray popup footer so setup docs are one click from the app, not just on the website.

[vyunikov86]

Just pushed 0.2.0 for Mac and Windows. The headline change: AudioRoute now ships as both an Audio Effect and an Instrument plug-in, instead of Instrument only.

A few of you asked some version of "why is this under Instruments? I was looking under Effects" — fair point. The plug-in replaces its input with system audio from our daemon, which is what an audio Effect does. The original Instrument classification was a historical decision we kept too long.

What's in the release:
- AudioRoute Capture FX (Audio Effect) — new. Insert on any audio / aux / FX track. Lands in Logic's Audio FX, Cubase's Tools, Live's Audio Effects, REAPER's standard FX list. This is the recommended way going forward.
- AudioRoute Capture (Instrument) — preserved exactly. Existing sessions keep loading the same plug-in by ID, nothing breaks.
Simple rule: Effect goes on an audio track, Instrument goes on a MIDI / Software Instrument track. Same daemon, same capture, same meters underneath — pick whichever matches your track type.

Updated DAW guides for the Effect flow are landing in the next day or two. If you're already running the existing 2-track setup with the Instrument on a MIDI / Software Instrument track, that workflow keeps working exactly as before — no migration needed. The Effect variant is purely an additional option for people who'd rather drop AR straight onto an audio or aux track.

[vyunikov86]

Quick follow-up on the 0.2.0 announcement — the per-DAW guides for the new Effect-flow workflow are now up. Each updated guide leads with the Effect variant (AudioRoute Capture FX) for new sessions and keeps the original Instrument workflow as a second section for sessions already loading it. Pick the one that matches your starting point and follow that section linearly; the two flows don't interleave.
- Logic Pro: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... -logic-pro
- Cubase: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... -in-cubase
- REAPER: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... -in-reaper
- Ableton Live: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... leton-live

[vyunikov86]

Made a quick walkthrough video showing how to record system audio on Mac with AudioRoute - using the menu bar app and a keyboard shortcut:


Feedback welcome.

[audiojunkie]

Hi all,

I've been building a small Mac and Windows utility called AudioRoute and the KVR listing just went live, so figured I'd introduce it properly here.

Short version: it lets you record system audio in any DAW or recorder without the usual aggregate-device dance. Drop a VST3 plugin on a track in your DAW and you get whatever the OS is playing as the input. Or pick "AudioRoute Input" as a recording source in something like Audacity. Or just hit record from the menu bar / tray icon and capture straight to a WAV file.

If you've used BlackHole or Loopback before it's in a similar space, but the goal was to avoid having to repoint your Mac's output anywhere or build an aggregate device just to grab a few seconds of system audio. Same on Windows: no rerouting your default output, no Stereo Mix tricks.

Under the hood it's CoreAudio process taps on Mac (the API Apple shipped in macOS 14), WASAPI process loopback on Windows. Both user-mode, no kernel extension. The plugin and the input device read from a shared-memory ring the capture daemon fills, so latency is the usual DAW level rather than virtual-device level.

One honest caveat for Windows users. The virtual input device (the part that shows up as a recording source in Audacity, OBS, Zoom etc.) is built and signed but waiting on Microsoft's driver attestation review.
So right now the Windows build ships the plugin and the direct-to-file capture, and the input device will arrive as a free update once Microsoft signs off. License carries over either way.

Price is €19 lifetime (early-bird until June 1), 14-day trial, no card. macOS 14.5+ / Windows 10+, VST3 on both, AU on Mac.

Site: https://audio-route.com

Happy to answer anything. And if you've tried it I'd genuinely like to know what fell short. Specifically which DAWs you'd want me to verify against next, since I've mostly tested in Ableton and Audacity so far.

Nice! When I was on Windows, I remember being desperate for this functionality. As a Linux user, this is built right in (Pipewire/JACK). I'm sure the Windows/MacOS users will appreciate this functionality--it's really useful!