If the Audio Devices window doesn’t appear automatically, open it from the Window menu or press cmd ⌘+ 1.

On the Launchpad it’s in the Utilities folder, or search for it in Spotlight ( cmd ⌘+ space).

Open the application Audio MIDI Setup.

a livestream without sounds of incoming emails or calendar alerts, this can be useful. If you only want to record one or the other, e.g. MacOS can distinguish between a device for general sound output and a device for system sound effects and alerts. Next, select the same virtual device as the input on (a track of) your DAW.

Most browsers don’t have a setting for audio output, so you’d have to change the system audio output. Set your virtual device as the output device on the application that you want to record, e.g. Open Audio MIDI Setup (in the Utilities folder on the Launchpad, or search for it in Spotlight by pressing cmd ⌘+ space) and make sure the virtual device uses your preferred sample rate - likely 44,100 Hz or 48,000 Hz. Ultraschall Hub installs four 2-channel (stereo) devices, while BlackHole installs one device with 16 channels that can be used by different sources. However, new free and open-source solutions have also emerged, that are very similar to Soundflower: Ultraschall Hub and BlackHole. They provide similar functionality and more, and are loved for their ease of use. Meanwhile, commercial tools like Rogue Amoeba’s Loopback or Audio Hijack have become popular. Soundflower used to be the tool to achieve this, but it’s unclear if it’s still maintained and might not work with the latest macOS versions. You can also use it the other way around: if you want to set up a livestream, route the audio from your DAW to the livestream or webinar app using a virtual audio device.

A virtual audio device allows you to route the audio from your browser to your DAW. Say, you want to record a livestream of a press conference. Virtual sound devices make it possible to route audio from one app to another.

Virtual audio driver