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haralds

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 3, 2014
2,989
1,252
Silicon Valley, CA
Rogue Amoeba's tools are a "must-have" for sound lovers. They all rely on the same backend intercepting Apple's audio system architecture. Fundamentally this allows redirecting all device or application sounds to a different output via Menu app with SoundSource or creating virtual device audio streams using LoopBack. AirFoil allows you to capture audio and direct it to AirPlay 1 & 2 devices.

SoundSource also allows some sound manipulation in its path. Apart from controlling individual volumes, you can boost levels and insert Audio Unit processing.

I did run into a caveat that is not well documented. Although in SoundSource you can select LoopBack as an input app, it actually does not process the audio. This is because both apps use the backend in parallel.

I will investigate putting Audio Hijack into the chain, which principally allows sound capture to a file but also allows dynamic insertion of processing and defining the output device.

Since I want to use this to play around with music devices/synths, the real solution is Mainstage. Have to crack those books on it, it's a bit more complicated and less intuitive for simple streams.

If you are not familiar with Rogue Amoeba's tools, you do not know what you have been missing!

Follow on: should have looked more at the section Library of Audio Hijack. It has a lot of the functionality of LoopBack and SoundSource combined and is not just for Audio capture from apps or sources. You can chain capabilities to your heart's delight - combine, process, output. Then you can use it as an input for LoopBack, which can pose as a device.
 
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harriska2

macrumors 68000
Mar 16, 2011
1,947
1,073
Oregon
I couldn’t get Blackhole to work when I installed. I installed Soundflower and rebooted at which point Soundflower didn’t work but BlackHole did ??‍♀️
 

haralds

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 3, 2014
2,989
1,252
Silicon Valley, CA
so you can. Maybe you like to change the title then? ? Btw. another option is to use Blackhole.
Actually, you cannot. Loopback can be an input device but will not work with SoundSource. Normally, you would not need SoundSource to steer your input streams to an output device or app, but you cannot use Audio Units in the stream the way you can with SoundSource or Audio Hijack.
 
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