AudioRoute
System audio onto a DAW track · macOS & Windows

Capture your audio, exactly where
you need it.

Getting what your computer plays onto a track in your DAW normally means building a virtual device, rerouting your output, and remembering to undo it afterwards. AudioRoute skips all of that. Drop the plugin on a track, hit record, and the audio lands in the session, in sync. Or into OBS, Zoom or Audacity as a virtual input device. Or straight to a WAV. Your speakers, your interface and your monitoring never change.

MACOS 14.2+
WINDOWS 10+
NO SETUP
WORKS IN ANY APP
Download free trial See all three ways

14 days · full version · no card · €29 one-time after that

Onto a track in your DAW · VST3, AU or AAX, recorded in the session

Ableton or Logic, and equally Zoom, OBS, Audacity or Premiere. Same install.

Rated
5.0 across reviews on KVR, Gearspace, Audiofanzine and AlternativeTo  ·  Read them →
Covered by
Sound on Sound Production Expert MusicRadar Sound & Recording Mixmag MENA KVR Audio All coverage →
Works with
ABLETON LIVELOGIC PROPRO TOOLSCUBASE FL STUDIOREAPERBITWIGSTUDIO ONE PREMIERE PROFINAL CUTRESOLVEDESCRIPT OBSAUDACITYZOOMQUICKTIME AND MORE →
Discussed on
GEARSPACE VI-CONTROL KVR FORUM
Who uses it
PodcastersYour mic on one track, the guest's call on another, recorded in one pass.PATH 01 →
Producers samplingPull a phrase off a video straight onto a track. No export, no re-import.PATH 01 →
Tutorial makersNarration and app audio kept separate, so you can fix one without touching the other. Also into Descript, OBS or QuickTime.PATH 01 · 02 →
Broadcast and commsSystem audio into playout or conferencing software that only sees input devices.PATH 02 →
Video creatorsReference audio off the web as a WAV, in the folder Premiere, Final Cut or Resolve already points at.PATH 03 →

Nothing in your studio gets rewired.

The tap runs beside your output, not inside it. Your speakers, your interface and your monitoring stay exactly as they were before you installed anything.

01

One install. Three places to land.

PATH 01 · 02 · 03

The paths are not three products. They are the same capture engine, delivered wherever the work happens: in the session, in another app, or in a file.

PATH 01

Onto a DAW track

Drop AudioRoute Capture on a track in Ableton, Logic, Cubase, FL Studio, Reaper or Pro Tools. The DAW sees the system output as an input and records it in the session, in sync. Nothing to export, nothing to re-import.

LIVE TO TRACK · IN THE SESSION
  • VST3 and AU on macOS, VST3 on Windows, AAX for Pro Tools
  • Record in place, or stream live onto the track
  • Your mic stays free on a second track, recorded in parallel

Walkthrough for Logic Pro →·Ableton Live →

PATH 02

Into any app that records

AudioRoute Input registers as a real recording device, the same way an audio interface does: effectively a virtual mic that carries your system audio. Audacity, OBS, Zoom, QuickTime, GarageBand, Discord, Voice Memos: anything that can record a microphone can now record system audio. Pick it from the list and hit record.

AUDACITY · DEVICE: AUDIOROUTE INPUT
  • A real driver on both platforms: Core Audio HAL on macOS, a signed kernel driver on Windows
  • Up to 192 kHz, 32-bit float, feedback protection built in
  • Ships on macOS and Windows, the same device on both

Set it up on macOS →·Windows →

PATH 03

Straight to a file

One click in the menu bar or the system tray, or one keyboard shortcut. You get a clean WAV at the source's own sample rate, written while you keep working. No DAW, no session, no export step.

MENU BAR · RECORD TO FILE · 44100 Hz
  • Bit-perfect by default: no resampler anywhere in the path
  • Auto rate follows your output device, 44.1 to 192 kHz
  • Drops finished takes into the folder you choose

How bit-perfect works →

AudioRoute Capture open on a track in Ableton Live, shown on a studio monitor: the plug-in is streaming live to the track and a captured take is already on the timeline.
AUDIOROUTE CAPTURE · LIVE TO TRACK ABLETON LIVE · 44.1 kHz · 32-BIT FLOAT
02

Nothing to set up. Nothing to undo afterwards.

WHY IT'S DIFFERENT

The usual advice is to build a virtual output device and make it your output, then undo it when you are done. Aggregate devices on a Mac, virtual cables on Windows, and the same chore on both: every session, every setup change. AudioRoute taps the mix the operating system is already playing, in parallel, so your output device never changes and your monitoring latency stays exactly what it was.

Compare with the alternatives
  AudioRoute Virtual cable + aggregate device Screen or app recorder
Records onto a DAW track Yes · plugin in the session No No
Works as a system input device Yes Yes No
Your output routing Untouched Rerouted through the aggregate Untouched
Setup before a session None Device setup, every time Pick a window
Mic and system audio on separate tracks Yes · one pass Only if you build a multi-device setup No
Bit-perfect WAV, no resampling Yes Depends on the chain Re-encoded
Price €29 once, updates for life Free driver, your time Included with the OS

Longer side by side: AudioRoute vs BlackHole · vs Loopback · all the tools compared

03

What actually happens to the signal.

ARCHITECTURE
SOURCES DESTINATIONS BROWSER TAB ZOOM CALL SPOTIFY ANY APP AUDIOROUTE L R 48 kHz · 32-BIT FLOAT L −11.3 R −11.5 dB REC 01:38 DAW TRACK VST3 · AU · AAX · IN SESSION ANY APP AUDIOROUTE INPUT DEVICE WAV FILE BIT-PERFECT · UP TO 192 kHz
DAEMON ONLINE TAP: PARALLEL OUTPUT ROUTING: UNCHANGED LATENCY ADDED: 0.0 ms SIGNAL PATH
Technical detail
SYSTEM MIX→ PROCESS TAP→ AUDIOROUTE→ LOCK-FREE RING→ TRACK · APP · WAV

A daemon reads the mix the OS already produced and hands it over a lock-free ring buffer to whichever destination you picked. Nothing is resampled, converted or processed on the way unless you explicitly ask for it: no resampler, no DSP, no format conversion. Between the system mix and your file there is a memcpy, and nothing else.

Read the full architecture →

Specifications
PLUGIN FORMATSVST3 · AU · AAX
SAMPLE RATES44.1 / 48 / 96 / 192 kHz
BIT DEPTH16 · 24 · 32-bit float
CHANNELSStereo pair from any device
OUTPUT FILEWAV, written live
PLATFORMSmacOS 14.2+ · Windows 10+
  • MonitoringThe tap runs in parallel, not in your output path. Live monitoring keeps the latency it had before you installed anything.
  • Quality44.1 / 48 / 96 / 192 kHz · 16 / 24-bit · 32-bit float. Auto follows your output device, so the file matches the source, and the file header will tell you so.
  • IsolationYour interface and mic stay available as normal DAW inputs. Arm one track for system audio, one for the mic, record once.
  • PrivacyCapture happens locally and works offline. No account needed to record, no audio leaves the machine.
  • FootprintNative on Apple Silicon and Intel, and on Windows x64 and ARM64. Idle costs nothing and it stays out of the system audio path.
03b

Watch it happen, in a real session.

SCREEN RECORDING · NO EDITS
58 SECONDS · SOUND ON · ABLETON LIVE, MENU BAR, AUDACITY

Signal in. Signal out. Nothing in between.

DAEMON → LOCK-FREE RING → DESTINATION · NO RESAMPLER · NO DSP
04

What people using it say.

NAMED · BY DAW

More reviews →  ·  Read or leave a review →

AudioRoute is the best web sampler available with simple and easy to understand UI. The small digital footprint and integration makes it feel like it is a part of your computers stock toolkit.
Along comes AudioRoute as a remedy! Simple to use, works great, looks great and makes recording system audio a breeze.
Andy · Developer, Living Memory Software · KVR
Really clean and logical design and a workflow I liked instantly. The best solution for me.
Peter Lemberg · Logic Pro user
This will be my default app for audio capture going forward, and I have tried them all.
Andy Pink · Composer & sound designer · VI-Control
The attention to detail is amazing, and the improvements have already made this the most comprehensive app I know of for this purpose.
Much easier than setting up BlackHole for quickly getting system audio into the DAW.
Geoffrey Woytt · Ableton user
I've previously captured system audio using Windows audio drivers in Reaper but it was a hassle. The workflow for AudioRoute is straightforward and quick to set up.
05

One price. One install. Yours.

€ 29 one-time
+ tax

Pay once and keep it. Updates are free for life, there is no subscription, and the licence follows your account rather than a machine. Tax is set by your country and collected by Paddle.

Download free trial Buy now

14-day trial, full version, no card. 14-day money-back guarantee.

5.0 across reviews on KVR, Gearspace, Audiofanzine and AlternativeTo

Included
  • Menu bar app with one-click and shortcut capture
  • AudioRoute Capture plugin: VST3, AU, AAX
  • AudioRoute Input virtual device, macOS and Windows
  • Bit-perfect WAV up to 192 kHz, 32-bit float
  • Feedback protection and an optional floating recorder overlay
  • Background updates, free for life
  • Use it on every Mac and PC you own
06

The questions people actually ask.

How is this different from BlackHole, Loopback or VB-Cable?

Three things. You get a virtual input device and a DAW plugin from one install, where most tools give you one or the other. You pay once. And AudioRoute does not reroute your output, on either platform, so your monitoring keeps working: no Audio MIDI Setup on a Mac, no virtual cable on Windows, and no ritual to repeat every time your rig changes.

Can I not do this with what I already have?

Some setups get part of the way. On Windows, some applications can record the system mix by switching their own audio device into a loopback mode. That works inside that one application, on that one platform, and it repoints your entire audio device while you use it, so your interface and your monitoring change along with it. It also connects outputs back to inputs, which is easy to get wrong and loud when you do.

macOS has no built-in equivalent today. The next major release adds system audio to screen recordings, which gives you a video file, not a track in your session and not an input device that Zoom or OBS can select.

AudioRoute is about where the audio lands. One install puts it on a track in any DAW, exposes it as a recording device any application can choose, or writes a WAV on a keystroke, on macOS and Windows alike. And it taps the signal in parallel, so your output device, your interface and your monitoring latency are exactly what they were before you installed it.

What does the trial include?

Everything: the menu bar app on macOS or the tray app on Windows, the VST3 / AU / AAX plugin, the virtual input device, every format. After 14 days you need a licence to keep recording. No card to start.

Which platforms are supported?

macOS 14.2 or newer on Apple Silicon and Intel, and Windows 10 or newer, 64-bit. Everything ships on both: the plugin, the tray app, and the AudioRoute Input virtual device, which landed on Windows in version 1.0.

Will it change my audio output or add latency to monitoring?

No. The tap sits in parallel with the mix the OS is already playing, so your output device, your interface and your monitoring latency stay as they were. That is the difference from tools that insert themselves into the output path.

Can I record my mic and system audio separately?

Yes, in one pass. Arm one track with the AudioRoute plugin for system audio and another with your mic, then hit record once. Two clean tracks you can edit independently, which is the usual setup for podcasts and tutorials.

How do I remove it?

Open Settings and choose Uninstall, which removes the app, the background helper and the audio device together. On macOS you can also run sudo /usr/local/bin/audioroute-uninstall.sh in Terminal. Use one of those rather than dragging the app to the Trash: that would leave the audio device installed without the app that feeds it, which produces silent recordings.

Is my licence tied to one machine?

No. It is tied to your account, so you can use it on any Mac or PC you own. Refunds within 14 days, no questions, at support@audio-route.com.

Ready when you are

Install it, open your DAW,
hit record.

One signed installer. Nothing to wire up afterwards.

Download free trial Ask a question

macOS 14.2+ · Windows 10+ · notarized .pkg and signed .exe

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