Introducing aCapture — Multi-Source Audio Recording for macOS

I've been procrastinating on building something like this myself, but for the audio routing only, because I personally think it's best to make multiple tools that only do one thing well over making a bloated single tool that hardly integrates with anything else. I do have the lower level components of a Swift abstraction library over CoreAudio already written, but have been really busy with real life lately so have been postponing writing the high level components and publishing the library for quite some time now, and my final goal was to make the routed output available as a virtual audio driver that any application could record from thus seamlessly integrating it with people's existing workflows.

In my case I'm only interested in recording from multiple audio sources including tapping into the full system audio output to the default output device, so this is overkill for me, but if it ends up implementing the functionality that I expect properly, I'll be happy to pay for the standard tier.

Two questions that popped in my head while browsing the product page and are not in the FAQ are:

1. Why isn't this on the App Store?
2. What's the payment method?

Thank you for taking the time to develop this app. I have really enjoyed exploring what it can do so far.
I do have a few possible feature requests. One would be the ability to use the camera as a video source alongside whatever audio is being played. Another would be built in support for streaming directly to YouTube, including the ability to interact with the live chat.
I understand that streaming can be configured through RTMP, but since programs like OBS allow you to sign directly into your YouTube account and set up a stream that way, I wondered if something similar might be possible here.
I also have one question. Is audio ducking supported?
In a lot of ways, I would love to see something like this become an accessible alternative to OBS on the Mac. It would also be great if there were a way to integrate built in macOS audio tools or plug ins so effects could be added to music or overall sound, similar to what apps like Audio Hijack already do.
I would also like to note something about the transcript feature. When I tried using it to transcribe a couple of files, the app completely crashed. I do recognize that this may have been my fault, since one of the files included music, so it may not have been able to handle that while attempting the transcription. The dynamics option in the mixer what does this do?
Thanks for reading.

If I'm already using Audio Hijack, does this do something better in your opinion that that program can't already do?

Hello!

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your excellent work developing your applications. They seem very interesting and useful.

I would like to make a request: would it be possible to make your applications available in Brazilian Portuguese? I believe this would greatly expand your reach in the Brazilian market, making the app more accessible to many people.

In my specific case, I would be very interested in purchasing your applications as soon as they are available in Brazilian Portuguese, as this would make daily use much easier for me.

I look forward to your response and hope this implementation will be possible.

Thank you for your attention!

Hi, this app sounds good. I may give it a try. however, I have a few questions:
1. You said that there is a free 14 day trial available so what happens after the trial ends? Can you still use the recording and capturing functionalities for free? I know that with apps such as reaper which is available for macOS after the 60 day evaluation ends, you are still able to use it, but it will constantly ask you to purchase a license to support the developer. Can you make it so that when the 14 day evaluation ends you are still able to make the basic features such as recording with system audio and microphone free, while locking the other features such as streaming and sound effects disabled until purchase? for me, I'm only into basic recording, not so much into streaming and/or sound effects.
and 2. What format or formats does the recording output to?

Can you please add flac support?

Hi,

I have more questions. first, thanks for adding support for video recording and flack. I live in the US and the prices that shown it comes out in EU. Most apps require you to sign in with an account in order to continue purchase. Other sites like Rogue Amoeba allows you to purchase a license directly without signing in. Is that the same on your end? Can I purchase a license directly from the app or directly from the website? And will it accept US currencies?

OK thanks! I'll see if I can give the app a try before I make my purchase. I'll probably go with standard, since I don't do streaming. also, this app is like the windows version of virtual recorder.

Simple app like this is exactly what I need.
Thanks!

I've created many devices in loopback so I can record output of various devices to Amadeus Pro. I also use these Loopback devices to stream to discord, teamtalk, etc.
Can I set up devices in your app that Discord and Teamtalk can use as audio devices? I could just record with your app instead of Amadeus, and that might be easier in some ways.

Hi,

that's cool! when I pressed vo space on the start free tryal, it ask for email address. why is this needed? and is this optional. there is also a restore purchase button that does restore the lisence purchase if you have already purchased one. I may end up trying it and scip using rogue amoebas products as well, as loopback is expensive. while there is another free option called blackhole, that, too, requires additional setup. this one, not so much.

Hi,

I have just downloaded the app,and I have began the free 14 day trial, and I have some thoughts. first, recording is awesome! you can select various sources, even capture both system audio, voiceover, and your microphone at the same time. however, when connected over bluetooth, when starting a recording, the recording pitches up and then goes back to normal pitch. Why is that? Also, when I select MP3 as a file format, it saves the file as.CAF instead of.MP3. What happened there? The other formats such as flack, WAV, and M4 a save just fine. Overall, awesome app. What I would like to see in the next update is a hot key to enable/disable input monitoring as when you start recording if you're not using headphones you're able to hear feedback while you are recording. This can be very useful, as disabling it will prevent feedback overload when using either sources..

Hi,

thanks for answering my questions. After playing with the app some more, I found out that when you record without Bluetooth connected, it seems to be working normally. however, when you record with Bluetooth connected, there is a small delay when you record and that's when the pitch goes up and back down when you playback the recording. When Bluetooth is not connected it works normally. Also, I live in the US, so the money I'm paying for a standard license in US is $22.00? correct me if I'm wrong. Also, on the purchase screen, when you hit continue, what happens next. are you ask to select a payment option? as I have said before, I live in the US, and the price is shown in EU currency, rather than US currency.

Hi,

I have some more thoughts. I enjoyed the tones that are used to toggle voiceover audio on/off, as well as recording start/stop. what I would like to see is a toggle to enable/disable transcription. I know the transcription is on by default, but let's say if I'm doing an audio only podcast without transcription. I mean yes transcription is great, but I would love to have a toggle in the main interface where pressing it will disable transcript and then pressing it again will enable it. The same goes for input monitoring. I know you said that input monitoring is on by default, but let's say you are doing a podcast for instance and you are using headphones and or the internal speaker. Pressing one keystroke will disable input monitoring, while pressing it again will toggle it back on or if you quit the app and open it up it should be enabled again. The keystroke for that could be in this case command plus control plus shift plus I, while the transcript toggle could be control plus command plus shift plus T..

Hi,

I just did a test recording using the internal microphone and system audio and voiceover captured but when I speak into the microphone while input monitoring is active there is a bit of a small latency when you use standard wired earphones. Is this normal? In other apps like Logic Pro, the latency is improved and you get the audio captured right away with no lag. same gos for other audio recording apps such as Amadeus Pro and Reaper.

THanks for your great work.
now, need to ask, if it will record just the video from external camera? or it can take screen share also?
i mean can i make a video with both my camera and a screen share?

Nice! I'm looking forward in playing with the update whenever it becomes availble. question: how can I hide a feature in the latest update if I don't want to use it for example video recording in either full screen, app, or image gallery? And what audio improvements have you made?

Awesome update! question: the video and the scenes you mentioned, is it availabel for all users, or only for pro users. also, after I play back an audio recording captured, the recording is buffered, and the audio is played in a higher pitch. before, it played in normal pitch.

Just grabbed the update.
I've noticed, that when I use reaper, or Logic pro, and I try to monitor them, no sound can be heard.
As soon as I quit aCapture, the sound of reaper, or logic comes back.

It appears that in classic mode its not recording at least one source. Also sources are not being recorded to their matching file names. Case in point the file named for Logic has VoiceOver on it, the File named for VoiceOver will be blank and Logic won't be captured. I have tried this. a few times and with 3 apps as well and was still missing one source of audio in the individual files and in the Video recording as well.
The mixer key commands doesn't seem to work other than the one to duck. The only way i can reliably navigate the mixer is via VO left/Right other wise If i go to a source like my microphone and down arrow it adjust the gain, if I VO Down it moves to the last source. I can only see the other sources if i VO left/Right until I get to another source.
Input button next to the microphone doesn't seem to change its state like mute, noise gate, dynamics and Duck does.
Could it be possible in the future to allow it to duck when VoiceOver is speaking as well and not just the microphone sources.
Any documentation on how to use the scenes available? I am familiar with OBS so I'll have a play and see if i can work it out but figured I'd ask regarding documentation..

Hi,

Same here. it use to capture both system audio and mic, but not anymore. now it only captures mic. also, VoiceOver volume goes low when it's enabled, and goes to normal volume when it's disabled. mixer commands still work fine on my end.