AudioRoute 0.2.2 — smarter upgrade flow + robustness pass
What's new in 0.2.2:
• Smart upgrade signal — when AudioRoute updates while you've got a DAW open with the plug-in already loaded, the plug-in window now shows a banner ("AudioRoute 0.2.2 is installed — restart your DAW") and the tray names which host needs restarting. Replaces the previous post-install dialog that occasionally false-positived on Steinberg helper processes (the "Cubase running" prompt some saw on Macs without Cubase — apologies, that's fixed).
• Cubase 15 added to recognized hosts (12 and 11 too).
• Windows installer politely warns before replacing the plug-in while a DAW is open, instead of silently scheduling a reboot.
• Improved logging and diagnostics
• Defensive error handling across daemon, tray, and plug-in.
If you have a DAW open when you update, restart it once to load the new plug-in. After 0.2.2 the new version will signal that itself.
AudioRoute — capture system audio in any DAW or recorder (Mac/Win)
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
AudioRoute 0.2.3 just shipped (Mac + Windows).
What's in it:
- Fixed: garbled audio when capturing from the AudioRoute Input device while an AR Capture plug-in is loaded on a mono track. Symptoms: 2× speed-up, choppy audio, gaps in the waveform. Affected Audacity, OBS, Acoustica — anything reading the virtual device — plus the built-in menubar/tray recorder. The plug-in itself was unaffected.
- macOS 14.2+ support (was 14.5+). Sonoma 14.2 is the actual minimum the Core Audio process-tap API requires; the previous 14.5 was just over-conservative. Installer now refuses sub-14.2 cleanly so nobody ends up with a half-installed product on Ventura.
- Fixed: Windows first-launch crash. Clicking Skip or Get Started on the welcome window could trigger a use-after-free.
- Better error messages for failed recordings. When the menubar recorder can't open the WAV file (folder permissions, iCloud offload, disk full, etc.), you now get a real reason in a dialog instead of a silent failure.
What's in it:
- Fixed: garbled audio when capturing from the AudioRoute Input device while an AR Capture plug-in is loaded on a mono track. Symptoms: 2× speed-up, choppy audio, gaps in the waveform. Affected Audacity, OBS, Acoustica — anything reading the virtual device — plus the built-in menubar/tray recorder. The plug-in itself was unaffected.
- macOS 14.2+ support (was 14.5+). Sonoma 14.2 is the actual minimum the Core Audio process-tap API requires; the previous 14.5 was just over-conservative. Installer now refuses sub-14.2 cleanly so nobody ends up with a half-installed product on Ventura.
- Fixed: Windows first-launch crash. Clicking Skip or Get Started on the welcome window could trigger a use-after-free.
- Better error messages for failed recordings. When the menubar recorder can't open the WAV file (folder permissions, iCloud offload, disk full, etc.), you now get a real reason in a dialog instead of a silent failure.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
Quick 3-min walkthrough of AudioRoute in Ableton — two-track Sends Only setup, with a live record + playback demo:
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
Made a quick video showing how to record your screen with system audio using the built-in Mac screen recorder and AudioRoute:
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
Small 0.2.4 update just went out for AudioRoute (Mac + Windows).
What changed:
• The plug-in editor now shows trial/license state directly in the DAW — previously that info only lived in the menu-bar tray, which could get hidden behind the DAW window
• Cleaner license-activation flow — dialog dismisses reliably, doesn't re-fire when the DAW triggers plug-in events
• Ableton-specific stability fixes on macOS 15.7
• CPU efficiency — no more background spin on long-running sessions
What changed:
• The plug-in editor now shows trial/license state directly in the DAW — previously that info only lived in the menu-bar tray, which could get hidden behind the DAW window
• Cleaner license-activation flow — dialog dismisses reliably, doesn't re-fire when the DAW triggers plug-in events
• Ableton-specific stability fixes on macOS 15.7
• CPU efficiency — no more background spin on long-running sessions
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
Small 0.2.5 update just went out — polish + Windows parity:
- Menu bar icon now Retina-quality (was noticeably softer than the SF Symbols alongside it on high-DPI displays)
- Floating overlay gets a hover-revealed close button in the top-right corner — hidden while recording so it can't be accidentally clicked mid-capture
- Menu bar icon now Retina-quality (was noticeably softer than the SF Symbols alongside it on high-DPI displays)
- Floating overlay gets a hover-revealed close button in the top-right corner — hidden while recording so it can't be accidentally clicked mid-capture
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- Beware the Quoth
- 35517 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
There's no way to get AudioRoute to initiate an update while running, is there? It only seems to be an option when it starts up.
(Its not a big deal if its not, I can obviously close and restart; I just want to check Ive not missed anything)
(Its not a big deal if its not, I can obviously close and restart; I just want to check Ive not missed anything)
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
In fact it checks for update on startup and once in 24h. In order to manually update or check for updates - right click (or Ctrl+ click) the tray/menubar icon -> Check for updates. It will show an update prompt if update is available.whyterabbyt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 1:56 pm There's no way to get AudioRoute to initiate an update while running, is there? It only seems to be an option when it starts up.
(Its not a big deal if its not, I can obviously close and restart; I just want to check Ive not missed anything)
Please let me know if you have any issues with it
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- Beware the Quoth
- 35517 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
Doh! I think I previously knew that, and forgot how. Sigh. Cheers again, and sorry for wasting your time.vyunikov86 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:43 pmIn fact it checks for update on startup and once in 24h. In order to manually update or check for updates - right click (or Ctrl+ click) the tray/menubar icon -> Check for updates. It will show an update prompt if update is available.whyterabbyt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 1:56 pm There's no way to get AudioRoute to initiate an update while running, is there? It only seems to be an option when it starts up.
(Its not a big deal if its not, I can obviously close and restart; I just want to check Ive not missed anything)
Please let me know if you have any issues with it
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
No problem at all! Don't hesitate to ask if anything comes up! Always happy to answer any questionswhyterabbyt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:51 pmDoh! I think I previously knew that, and forgot how. Sigh. Cheers again, and sorry for wasting your time.vyunikov86 wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 5:43 pmIn fact it checks for update on startup and once in 24h. In order to manually update or check for updates - right click (or Ctrl+ click) the tray/menubar icon -> Check for updates. It will show an update prompt if update is available.whyterabbyt wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2026 1:56 pm There's no way to get AudioRoute to initiate an update while running, is there? It only seems to be an option when it starts up.
(Its not a big deal if its not, I can obviously close and restart; I just want to check Ive not missed anything)
Please let me know if you have any issues with it
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
New guide: recording system audio in GarageBand
After my Reddit post last week, I got a handful of emails asking specifically about GarageBand - turns out a lot of Mac users want to use what's already installed.
Wrote up the workflow with screenshots: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... garageband
After my Reddit post last week, I got a handful of emails asking specifically about GarageBand - turns out a lot of Mac users want to use what's already installed.
Wrote up the workflow with screenshots: https://audio-route.com/guides/record-s ... garageband
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
AudioRoute 0.3.0 is out.
Small release, but the headline fix is one users have quietly been asking about:
- Stop-capture tail drop — fixed on both Mac and Windows. Hitting Stop used to drop roughly one Core Audio (Mac) / WASAPI (Windows) buffer period of tail audio — anywhere from ~10 ms up to a second on a busy system with a big driver buffer.
Stability:
- Fixed a class of plug-in crashes on macOS in Ableton and Logic — some hosts were sending repaint / property events that tripped an unhandled Objective-C exception up through the plug-in's JUCE entry points and took the DAW down with it.
- Windows 11 24H2 crash defence — a DXGI cleanup crash correlated with the floating overlay repainting far more than it needed to; shrinking that surface (see Performance below) removes the trigger
Performance:
- Floating overlay idle repaints reduced by roughly two orders of magnitude — the overlay was firing a big number of unnecessary paint calls per day even when nothing on-screen had changed. Now it short-circuits when its rendered state matches the previous frame, and its hover-poll timer only runs while the overlay is actually on the desktop. Net: noticeably less CPU / GPU work at idle, better battery life on laptops, and (bonus) it removed the Windows crash trigger above
- Level meter in the overlay: dB-based change threshold instead of a linear one, so movement at higher signal levels reads more smoothly
Download: https://audio-route.com — Sparkle auto-updates on Mac; Windows will pick it up on next launch.
Known issue (fix coming in the next build): on Macs with a multi-channel USB interface as the default output device (16-out RME / Audient / MOTU / UA units — anything with more than one stereo pair), recording level is attenuated 12-18 dB below source. This is a bug in Apple's Core Audio tap API — not something AudioRoute can fix inside the current pipeline. The next release will detect and auto-compensate. Interim workaround: set macOS output to a 2-channel device (built-in speakers, AirPods, or a stereo-configured device) for the duration of the capture.
Small release, but the headline fix is one users have quietly been asking about:
- Stop-capture tail drop — fixed on both Mac and Windows. Hitting Stop used to drop roughly one Core Audio (Mac) / WASAPI (Windows) buffer period of tail audio — anywhere from ~10 ms up to a second on a busy system with a big driver buffer.
Stability:
- Fixed a class of plug-in crashes on macOS in Ableton and Logic — some hosts were sending repaint / property events that tripped an unhandled Objective-C exception up through the plug-in's JUCE entry points and took the DAW down with it.
- Windows 11 24H2 crash defence — a DXGI cleanup crash correlated with the floating overlay repainting far more than it needed to; shrinking that surface (see Performance below) removes the trigger
Performance:
- Floating overlay idle repaints reduced by roughly two orders of magnitude — the overlay was firing a big number of unnecessary paint calls per day even when nothing on-screen had changed. Now it short-circuits when its rendered state matches the previous frame, and its hover-poll timer only runs while the overlay is actually on the desktop. Net: noticeably less CPU / GPU work at idle, better battery life on laptops, and (bonus) it removed the Windows crash trigger above
- Level meter in the overlay: dB-based change threshold instead of a linear one, so movement at higher signal levels reads more smoothly
Download: https://audio-route.com — Sparkle auto-updates on Mac; Windows will pick it up on next launch.
Known issue (fix coming in the next build): on Macs with a multi-channel USB interface as the default output device (16-out RME / Audient / MOTU / UA units — anything with more than one stereo pair), recording level is attenuated 12-18 dB below source. This is a bug in Apple's Core Audio tap API — not something AudioRoute can fix inside the current pipeline. The next release will detect and auto-compensate. Interim workaround: set macOS output to a 2-channel device (built-in speakers, AirPods, or a stereo-configured device) for the duration of the capture.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 50 posts since 13 May, 2026
AudioRoute 0.3.1 — fix for quiet recordings on multi-channel interfaces
Hey everyone,
A few of you (especially those on audio interfaces like the Audient EVO16, or devices like the Ableton Push 3) reported that recordings came out much quieter than the original sound — the meter barely moved even when the source was loud.
What was going on: when your Mac's output device has more than the usual two channels, macOS hands the audio to capture apps at a reduced level. The more output channels your interface exposes, the quieter the capture — which is why it hit multi-output interfaces hard but not built-in speakers or headphones.
What we did in 0.3.1: AudioRoute now detects when this is happening and automatically boosts the capture back up to match the original loudness. There's also a new Level Compensation toggle in the menu (on by default) so you're always in control. For the vast majority of setups you don't need to touch anything — recordings will just sound right again.
Why there's more coming: 0.3.1 corrects the level after the fact, which fixes the symptom cleanly for normal stereo playback. In the next release we're switching to a better approach that takes the audio at full level from the start, so there's no correction step at all — more robust, and it handles unusual routing setups too. We wanted to get the fix into your hands now rather than make you wait for the deeper rework.
Update via the app (Check for Updates) or grab the latest from the site. Thanks to everyone who reported it with details — it made this quick to pin down. As always, let us know if anything still looks off.
Hey everyone,
A few of you (especially those on audio interfaces like the Audient EVO16, or devices like the Ableton Push 3) reported that recordings came out much quieter than the original sound — the meter barely moved even when the source was loud.
What was going on: when your Mac's output device has more than the usual two channels, macOS hands the audio to capture apps at a reduced level. The more output channels your interface exposes, the quieter the capture — which is why it hit multi-output interfaces hard but not built-in speakers or headphones.
What we did in 0.3.1: AudioRoute now detects when this is happening and automatically boosts the capture back up to match the original loudness. There's also a new Level Compensation toggle in the menu (on by default) so you're always in control. For the vast majority of setups you don't need to touch anything — recordings will just sound right again.
Why there's more coming: 0.3.1 corrects the level after the fact, which fixes the symptom cleanly for normal stereo playback. In the next release we're switching to a better approach that takes the audio at full level from the start, so there's no correction step at all — more robust, and it handles unusual routing setups too. We wanted to get the fix into your hands now rather than make you wait for the deeper rework.
Update via the app (Check for Updates) or grab the latest from the site. Thanks to everyone who reported it with details — it made this quick to pin down. As always, let us know if anything still looks off.
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