?This tutorial is about installation and usage of SoundFlower app to capture sound on your Mac. As with many free applications it sometimes hard to understan. Soundflower is a macOS kernel extension that creates virtual audio input and output devices which can be used to transfer a sound signal between various applications. It comes with an easy-to-use menu bar app that allows you to configure the settings and send the audio signal to specific devices. Download: Soundflower 1.6.6 Installer (includes SoundflowerBed) - Use this for OS 10.6 - OS 10.8 - 179.75KB Soundflower-1.6.6b.dmg The first step involves finding a way to grab audio playing in one application—a Web browser, for example—and route it to an application that can capture that audio. Free Alternatives to Soundflower for Mac? All I want is a simple, fairly user-friendly system audio recorder. Since Soundflower is no longer supported the way it was (and also since I don't have the know-how to even try to get it working on my computer), there seems to be no other option for recording my system audio.
Wheather you want to record your favorite radio station or the video game music playing on your Mac, Soundflower is the most popular option out there. For the unknown, Soundflower is a software that helps you route sounds to any Mac app instead of the default speakers. I’ve been using Soundflower for the past 3 years and never had any problem. However, after the latest macOS updates, the recent version of Soundflower has stopped working on Seria and High Seria. If you download Soundflower setup from Google, you are most likely to get Soundflower installation failed error.
Read: Automatically Transcribe YouTube Video/Audio using Soundflower on Mac
So, why do we get Soundflower Installation Failed error?
After a bit of research, I found the answer on StackExchange, according to the author alecail, this is due to System Integrity Protection. El Capitan and higher versions require kext to be signed in order to load them. This one gets its kext installed in /Library/Extensions/ and not in /System/Library/Extensions as previous versions were
However, his solution didn’t work for me. Thankfully after a bit of research, I was able to dig in the kext signed version from the developer. Follow the steps.
Fixing Soundflower Installation Failed
1. Download the signed version of Soundflower using this link. Download the file that says “Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg” and install the dmg on your Mac like you install any other app. Simply, run the Soundflower package installer by double-clicking on the pkg file. Depending on your macOS setting, you might see an error from GateKeeper.
2. To bypass it, you need to temporarily disable GateKeeper. Go to System Preferences choose Security & Privacy and then click the General, next, to make any changes you have to click the Padlock icon in the bottom left corner to unlock the settings. Next, click on Open Anyway, next to Soundflower.pkg was blocked.
3. Accept the security warning and go back and click on the Soundflower package, once done, you’ll be able to install the signed version with no problem
4. Now, open System Preferences on your Mac, select Sounds, switch to the Output tab and set Soundflower (2ch) as the device for sound output. A quick way to test if Soundflower is working or not is by start playing any audio file, while Soundflower is ch2 is select for output. You shouldn’t be able to hear anything.
5. Now, open Quicktime or any audio recording software. QuickTime allows the Mac user to play movie files, but it can also be used to record screencast and audio. Since it’s free and built-in, we’ll use it for this instance. However, if you want more control, you can use a free app like Simple Recorder. We use it and it works fine.
6. Go to File and choose Audio Recording, a new window will pop-up. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the recording icon and set the audio source select Soundflower ch2 and start audio recording. you won’t hear anything but your Mac’s internal audio will record in the background.
The only downside is, you can’t hear want’s being recorded, so make sure you place close attention to the timestamps of the audio you want to record. Once you are done, simply click on the stop icon on QuickTime icon to stop the recording. It’ll show you a preview your recorded file.
Again, remember, you won’t be able to hear anything since you have set the output source to Soundflower in the Sound setting of your Mac. So, you need to reverse the changes you did there (set the Sound output to speaker or headphones) and listen to your recording. If you are satisfied with your recording, save it on your desktop or something. And that’s it.
How to Uninstall Soundflower
Unlike other Mac’s app, you won’t find Soundflower in your Application folder. Instead, to uninstall Soundflower, just run the Uninstall Soundflower.scpt present in Soundflower folder. if you don’t have it, you can download it from the link above.
Also Read: How to Connect USB Mic to Smartphone for Video Recording
Welcome to our Soundflower installation guide. Installing Soundflower on modern macOS versions can be a little complicated as kernel extensions need now to be given permissions before being loaded for the first time. So the Soundflower installer will error out on macOS High Sierra and Mojave. But this is easy to fix.
macOS 10.13 High Sierra and macOS 10.14 Mojave Soundflower Install
- Download the installer: soundflower_2.0b2.zip.
- Run it and perform the install
- The installer will tell you that it failed. This is completely normal.
- Open the System Preferences and go to the “Security & Privacy” settings.
- Click on the “Allow” button next to “MATT INGALS”.(This has to be a physical hardware click. Remote desktop connections or even local software tools like “Better Touch Tool” won’t work!)
- Run the installer again. This time it will run through without any problems.
Click 'Open Security Preferences'
Click on the Allow button and run the installer again.
![Free Free](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126494262/962848254.png)
IMPORTANT: If you can’t record from Soundflower under Mojave (the device is there but only silence is being recorded) make sure that you have given microphone access permissions to your recording app! macOS treats Soundflower like a microphone in this regard. Go to system preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Privacy -> Microphone -> [check mark next to your recording app]
See our blog post about this issue: https://www.fluxforge.com/blog/recording-problems-on-mojave/
macOS 10.10 - 10.12 Soundflower Install
Because we’re getting this asked a lot: Here’s how you get Soundflower to work with macOS 10.12 Sierra and OS X 10.10 and 10.11…
As you know, since 10.10, OS X requires kernel extensions to be signed. Sadly the officially available version of Soundflower isn’t signed because it’s an open source project and - as far as we know - no one has volunteered to do the work and pay the $99 fee to obtain a signing certificate.
Install Soundflower On Mac
That’s why we have built a signed version of Soundflower which will work on OS X 10.10, 10.11 and the new macOS 10.12 Sierra.
Here is the direct download link: soundflower_2.0b2.zip.
![Soundflower Free Download Mac Soundflower Free Download Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126494262/185381399.png)
Download the zip and run the contained installer. Even though not required you probably should restart your Mac to make sure everything got installed properly.
Enjoy!
Please note that we can’t offer direct support for Soundflower. We just built a version you can install on macOS 10.11 and 10.12. If you encounter any problems please contact Soundflower’s developer! You can find their project page here: https://github.com/Soundflower-Original
Download Soundflower For Mac Free
Shameless self promotion: Have you tried Vector yet? Vector is an audio editor for OS X that is designed to fit into the space between simple audio apps and full blown studio production tools. (Kinda like Cool Edit Pro for the Mac - if you are that old school).