Guides

Step-by-step walkthroughs for recording system audio with AudioRoute in popular DAWs and recording apps. More on the way — if there's a workflow you'd like covered, let us know.

How to Easily Record System Audio on Mac (No DAW Required)

The fastest way to capture whatever your Mac is playing — YouTube, Zoom, Spotify, anything — straight to a WAV file. Five clicks, or one click with the floating overlay enabled. No DAW required.

macOS 14.4+ · ~3 minutes

How to Easily Record System Audio on Windows (No DAW Required)

The fastest way to capture whatever your PC is playing — YouTube, Zoom, Spotify, anything — straight to a WAV file. Five clicks, or one click with the floating overlay enabled. No DAW, no Stereo Mix, no virtual cables.

Windows 10 & 11 · ~3 minutes

Stereo Mix Not Working on Windows 11 — Why and What to Use Instead

Why Stereo Mix is missing or recording silence on Windows 10/11, how to check if you have it, how to enable it when present, and the modern alternatives (WASAPI loopback, VoiceMeeter, AudioRoute) that just work.

Windows 10 & 11 · ~8 minutes

How to Record System Audio in Logic Pro

A six-step walkthrough for capturing whatever your Mac is playing into a Logic Pro session. No aggregate device, no Audio MIDI Setup, no output rerouting.

macOS · Logic Pro 10.6+ · ~5 minutes

How to Record System Audio in Ableton Live

A seven-step walkthrough for capturing system audio into a Live Set using a feedback-safe two-track Sends Only routing. Mac and Windows.

macOS & Windows · Live 11+ · ~5 minutes

How to Record System Audio in Reaper

A six-step walkthrough for capturing whatever your system is playing into a Reaper project. AudioRoute Capture as a VST3i, no aggregate device, no driver wiring.

macOS & Windows · Reaper 6.x+ · ~5 minutes

How to Record System Audio in Acoustica

A six-step walkthrough for capturing system audio (YouTube, Zoom, Spotify, anything playing on your Mac) into Acoustica using the AudioRoute Input virtual device. Includes the mic-permission fix that catches almost everyone.

macOS · Acoustica 7+ · ~5 minutes

AudioRoute vs BlackHole

An honest side-by-side: where AudioRoute is better, where BlackHole still wins, and how to migrate from one to the other in five minutes.

macOS & Windows · ~6 minutes

VoiceMeeter Alternative for Windows — AudioRoute Compared

VoiceMeeter is free and powerful but famously hard to learn. Honest side-by-side with AudioRoute: where each one wins, when to pick which, and a 5-minute migration walkthrough if you're switching.

Windows 10 & 11 · ~7 minutes

Bit-perfect system audio capture on Mac

Capture macOS system audio with no AudioRoute-added resampling and no bit-depth conversion. Three settings get you a native-rate WAV. Includes an honest section on Apple's process-tap ingestion-side filtering — what it does, what we measured, and what we're doing about it.

macOS 14.4+ · AudioRoute 0.1.14+ · ~7 minutes

Bit-perfect system audio capture on Windows

Capture Windows system audio with zero conversion through WASAPI process loopback at the device's native mix rate. Verified bit-identical: max |c − s| = 0 across 48 kHz / 96 kHz device rates and a range of source materials. Includes the null-test methodology and the investigation arc behind the result.

Windows 10 1903+ · AudioRoute 0.1.15+ · ~7 minutes

On-Demand Mode — When and How to Use It

A full explanation of AudioRoute's On-Demand daemon mode: what it changes, the silent-recording trade-off, how to switch in either direction, and who should actually use it. Always-on stays the recommendation for most users.

macOS & Windows · ~4 minutes