Home / Guides / Record system audio in Logic Pro

How to Record System Audio in Logic Pro

Logic Pro on macOS doesn't ship with a built-in way to record system audio — the sound coming out of Spotify, YouTube, Zoom, your browser, or any other app — into a project. This guide walks through a clean six-step workflow using AudioRoute Capture: no aggregate device, no Audio MIDI Setup, no output rerouting.

Updated May 2026 macOS 14.5+ · Logic Pro 10.6+ ~5 minutes

Why this is hard in Logic by default

Logic Pro can record audio from any input device — an audio interface, a USB microphone, a built-in mic. But "system audio" isn't a single device. macOS routes whatever you're playing through whatever output you've selected (built-in speakers, headphones, an audio interface, AirPlay), and there's no built-in "system output as input" device to pick.

The conventional workarounds all treat system audio as a routing problem:

• BlackHole installs a virtual audio device. You then create an aggregate or multi-output device in Audio MIDI Setup that combines BlackHole with your real speakers, so you can still hear what's being routed. It works, but it hijacks your output routing and breaks the moment you change devices.
• Loopback wraps the same idea in a friendlier UI, for a higher price. Same underlying model.

AudioRoute takes a different approach. Instead of rerouting your output through a virtual device, it quietly observes whatever your Mac is already playing. Your speakers, headphones, or audio interface keep working exactly as they did, and AudioRoute simply gets a parallel copy of the audio to deliver into Logic. No aggregate device, no rerouting, no Audio MIDI Setup — nothing to wire up or tear down. More on how it works under the hood if you're curious.

That observation copy is delivered into Logic as a plugin you instantiate on a track — specifically, a Software Instrument track. Logic categorizes AudioRoute Capture as an AU Generator (a plugin that produces audio without taking audio input), and Logic's UI groups Generators under the Instrument slot rather than the Audio FX slot. That's the one quirk worth knowing upfront. Everything else is standard Logic routing.

What you'll need

• macOS 14.5 (Sonoma) or later — AudioRoute requires the CoreAudio process tap APIs that Apple shipped in macOS 14.
• Logic Pro 10.6 or later — this guide was written using Logic Pro 12.2, but the workflow is the same on any recent version.
• AudioRoute — the free 14-day trial is enough to try the whole workflow. €29 lifetime license once you're sold.

Once AudioRoute is installed (drop in the signed .pkg, enter your admin password once, done), Logic will see AudioRoute Capture as an available AU plugin the next time it scans. No restart needed in most cases — just quit and reopen Logic.

Step 1
Create a Software Instrument track

Open your Logic project, or start a new one. In the track list, add a Software Instrument track via Track menu → New Track → Software Instrument, or the shortcut Cmd+Option+S. It'll appear with a small green keyboard icon next to the track number.

Logic loads a default instrument (usually "Deluxe Classic" electric piano) — that's fine, we'll replace it in the next step. The track name will stay "Deluxe Classic" unless you rename it; either works.

Step 2
Load AudioRoute Capture as the instrument

Click the Instrument slot at the top of the Software Instrument track's channel strip (it'll display the current instrument name, e.g. "Deluxe Classic"). A popup menu appears.

Navigate to:

AU Generators → AudioRoute → AudioRoute Capture

Two things to know:

• It's under AU Generators, not AU Instruments. Logic groups AU plugins by AU type code, and "generator" is the type Apple defined for "plugin that outputs audio without taking audio input." Same plugin, just where Logic files it.
• If you don't see AudioRoute in the menu at all, open Logic Pro → Settings → Plug-In Manager and search for AudioRoute. It should be listed with a checkmark under "Compatibility." If it's missing entirely, the AudioRoute installer didn't complete — reinstall and retry.

Step 3
Enable output and verify audio is flowing

The AudioRoute Capture plugin window opens. The first time you load it, you'll see an "Output to DAW is muted" warning with a big blue Enable Output to DAW button. This is intentional — the plugin starts in a safe state on first launch so that it can't accidentally create a feedback loop before you've finished setting up your routing.

Click Enable Output to DAW to start sending captured audio into the Audio track.

You'll also see a checkbox labeled "Always enable (I'll use Sends Only)". Leave it unticked for now — tick it later, after you've set up Sends Only routing (covered in Common gotchas below). Sends Only is the feedback-safe routing pattern this warning is there to remind you about; if you skip the warning without the routing in place, you'll get howl on first record.

Once Output to DAW is enabled, play any audio in another app — a YouTube tab, Spotify, an open Zoom call, anything. You should immediately see the L/R meters in the plugin window move, showing dB values like -7.8 dB.

Step 4
Route the track's output to a Bus

So far, the captured audio is being sent to your Stereo Out — that's why you can hear it through your speakers or headphones. But Logic doesn't record audio from a Software Instrument track; it records MIDI. To get the audio onto disk, we need to route it to an Audio track.

On the same channel strip, find the Output slot near the bottom (default value: Stereo Out). Click it. Navigate into the Bus → submenu and pick an option labeled like Bus 1 + Aux 1, Audio 1. This is Logic's one-click smart routing: it creates a new Audio track wired to the same Bus, plus the Aux strip in between, in a single action.

Step 5
Set the new Audio track's input to that Bus

Logic just created an Audio track but it does not automatically set the Input — you have to do this step explicitly.

Click the new Audio track to select it, then click its Input slot (top of the channel strip). Pick the Bus you just routed to. Logic labels it with a left arrow pointing to the source track, e.g. Bus 2 ← Deluxe Classic. The arrow confirms you've wired the right end.

Step 6
Arm the Audio track and record

Click the red R (Record Enable) button on the Audio track. You only need to arm the Audio track — the Software Instrument track doesn't need to be armed.

Press the global Record button (or hit R). The captured audio is recorded onto the Audio track as a real audio region — the same kind of region you'd get from recording a microphone or an audio interface. Edit it, bounce it, export it, drop it into Flex Time, whatever you'd normally do with audio.

That's the whole setup. The first time it feels like a lot of steps; every project after that is two clicks (pick the SI track, pick its Audio FX output bus) because the AudioRoute plugin and routing persist in template projects.

Common gotchas

"The plugin's not in Audio FX — why?"

Logic's Audio FX slot on an audio track filters to AU effect types (aufx, aumf). Generator AUs like AudioRoute Capture don't appear there. The Instrument slot on a Software Instrument track, specifically under the AU Generators submenu, is where you'll find it. This is a Logic-specific filtering decision — other DAWs (Ableton, Reaper) show all AU types in their plugin lists regardless.

Feedback loops during recording

If you hear a feedback howl or runaway oscillation while recording, here's what's happening: the captured audio is being played back through your output (speakers or headphones), AudioRoute picks it up again, and the signal loops.

The cleanest fix is to stop sending the captured signal to your output at all. Change the Software Instrument track's Output from Bus to No Output, and add a Send to Bus 1 instead — Logic's equivalent of Ableton's "Sends Only" mode. The Audio track still receives the signal on Bus 1 and records normally, but the captured audio never reaches your speakers or headphones a second time, so there's nothing for AudioRoute to re-pick-up. Belt-and-suspenders: set the auto-created Aux strip's Output to No Output too.

As an alternative, if the routing tweak feels fiddly, you can wear headphones during recording instead. Less surgical but often quick enough to get a clean take.

What does the "Mute Output" button in the plugin do?

The Mute Output toggle inside the AudioRoute Capture plugin window stops the plugin from sending audio to the DAW entirely. It exists for scenarios where you only want to use AudioRoute's standalone tray recorder (or its virtual input device) and don't need the DAW path active.

My recording sounds quiet (or too loud)

The plugin passes audio through at unity gain by default. Check the Gain slider in the plugin window — it should be at 0.0 dB unless you've adjusted it. The L/R meter levels you see in the plugin are exactly what'll be written to disk on the Audio track. If you need to attenuate or boost, do it with the Gain slider in the plugin (before recording) or as a fader move on the Audio track during playback.

Shortcut: skip Logic, capture straight to WAV

If your goal is just "I need a WAV file of what's playing on my Mac" and you don't need DAW editing, AudioRoute can do that directly from the menu bar app. No Logic project, no Software Instrument track, no Bus routing.

Click the AudioRoute icon in your menu bar → Start Recording. It captures to ~/Documents/AudioRoute Recordings/ (configurable in preferences) at your chosen sample rate and bit depth. Click Stop Recording when done. The file is ready to drop into anything that opens a WAV.

Same plugin under the hood, zero DAW setup. Useful for quick one-offs — capturing a snippet of a lecture, grabbing a sample from YouTube, recording a Zoom call without setting up a session.