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!

[vyunikov86]

Heads up — turns out the Mac download button on the homepage has been silently serving an HTML file instead of the actual PKG since 0.2.0 went live. The installer moved to a separate host (file got too big for the regular hosting) and a redirect function I'd missed kept pointing at the old path.

Just pushed and verified the fix. Hard-refresh the download page and the Mac button works again — real 37 MB PKG, signed + notarized.
If you grabbed something earlier this week that wouldn't open, that was the problem. Direct link if you want to skip the homepage:

https://pub-ee5d9eb8d65945d1ba1716bc9ca ... signed.pkg

Cheers,
Vitaliy

[vyunikov86]

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!

Thank you!

[nusound mind]

For sampling, what advantages does this have over Audacity, which is what I currently use.

Aside from that, the ability to record an entire mix right in the daw itself w/out need for rendering would be worth if it's sample accurate and there's no delay compensation etc. issues.

[vyunikov86]

For sampling, what advantages does this have over Audacity, which is what I currently use.

Aside from that, the ability to record an entire mix right in the daw itself w/out need for rendering would be worth if it's sample accurate and there's no delay compensation etc. issues.

vs Audacity for sampling
The capture step is faster — global hotkey to WAV, VST/AU plugin allows you to capture directly into a DAW track, auto sample-rate match. Drop the file into sampler or onto a DAW track directly.

vs DAW bounce/render (your in-DAW mix question)
Two parts to be precise about:
Data fidelity — on Windows, AR's capture is bit-perfect at matched sample rates (WASAPI Process Loopback, no resampling). Mac path is similar in principle but with more edge cases. So the captured SAMPLES match what was at the output.

Timing / PDC — this part AR can't deliver. The audio path goes DAW → OS → process tap → daemon → IPC → plug-in → DAW track. That round-trip adds ~10-30 ms of latency that crosses the OS audio boundary, which the DAW's PDC system can't see. So the captured audio is offset from where it "would be" in your timeline by that much. You can manually nudge a track back by the measured amount per session, but it's not automatic.

For YOUR OWN DAW's mix where you want render-equivalent alignment, stick with the DAW's bounce/render — those are deterministic AND time-aligned. AR's capture-while-playing path is more useful when the audio source is OUTSIDE the DAW (YouTube reference, Zoom call, etc.).

Cheers,
Vitaliy

[nusound mind]

Interesting. I may buy it anyways to do some experiments and comparisons myself so your answers have proven helpful. Honestly 10-30ms doesn't sound awful if it's the entire mix, but I understand and respect that you don't recommend it for replacing a proper render. I sometimes do not trust Studio One's render entirely however so I like to approach it in different ways. There *is* a way you can set it up so it records as you play in S1 itself, but I digress.

Come to think of it, if at all possible I would suggest that as a feature request, but idk if it's doable and understand that's probably not what you had in mind. It would be a great feature though.

[vyunikov86]

Made a short Windows follow-up to the Mac shortcut video I posted a few days back — recording system audio to a WAV file with a single keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Alt + R).



Feedback welcome!

[vyunikov86]

Interesting. I may buy it anyways to do some experiments and comparisons myself so your answers have proven helpful. Honestly 10-30ms doesn't sound awful if it's the entire mix, but I understand and respect that you don't recommend it for replacing a proper render. I sometimes do not trust Studio One's render entirely however so I like to approach it in different ways. There *is* a way you can set it up so it records as you play in S1 itself, but I digress.

Come to think of it, if at all possible I would suggest that as a feature request, but idk if it's doable and understand that's probably not what you had in mind. It would be a great feature though.

Sorry for the late reply, your comment slipped past me.
That's actually the path that solves the 10-30 ms latency problem, and it's definitely on the short-term roadmap. Thanks a lot for pointing it out!

The mechanical reason it works: when AR runs as a VST/AU plug-in on a track in your DAW, audio buffers flow through the plug-in's process callback before the OS ever sees them. If the plug-in just writes those buffers to a WAV file from inside the callback — instead of the current path where it triggers a system-audio tap via the background daemon — you get:
• Sample-accurate (no OS resampling)
• Aligned with the DAW timeline (PDC sees it because it's just another plug-in in the chain)
• Render-equivalent (because it IS the same data the DAW would bounce, just streamed live)
• Works the same in Studio One, Logic, Cubase, Reaper, Ableton — it's the DAW's responsibility to feed the plug-in, not AR's

The current AR Capture plug-in passes audio through but doesn't record it locally — it just triggers the system-audio daemon. The change you're asking for is wiring a WAV writer inside the plug-in and adding a Record button on the plug-in UI.
I will drop a message here once it is ready.

Thanks for the suggestion — and for the level of detail in your questions. You're the second person in one week to land on the same idea independently, which is a strong signal.

[vyunikov86]

AudioRoute 0.2.1 is out. Feedback Protection got a meaningful pass:
• FP now identifies the running host by name and version. Instead of a generic "DAW detected" you get "Excluding Cubase 15", "Excluding Logic Pro", "Excluding Ableton Live 12" — surfaced in both the menu-bar tray and inside the AudioRoute Capture plug-in window (screenshots attached).
• Detection itself got smarter. In sandboxed AU hosts (Logic 11+, Cubase 12+, etc.) the plug-in's parent process is Apple's sandbox helper, not the DAW — earlier versions hit launchd and gave up. AR now walks the process tree and cross-references running apps via NSWorkspace, so those hosts are correctly identified.
• The FP toggle is global now: one switch covers plug-in, virtual audio device, and direct-to-WAV recorder.
• Turning FP off shows a confirmation explaining the feedback-loop risk, with a "Don't show this again" once you've made an informed choice.

Also in 0.2.1:
• Fix for AudioRoute showing up as a false positive in corporate endpoint-security tools (Jamf, Crowdstrike, SentinelOne). The LaunchAgent plist now writes directly to its final name — earlier versions used a temp-rename pattern that those tools flagged as "Hidden Launch Plist Created" (MITRE T1564.001).
If your IT flagged AudioRoute on a managed Mac, this clears it up.
• Improved diagnostics under the hood — helps me ship fixes faster when something goes wrong.
• Fix for a crash that could happen when toggling FP off in 0.2.0.