Top Soundflower Alternatives for Seamless Audio Routing
Soundflower is a well-known Mac OS X system extension that revolutionized how applications pass audio to one another. By presenting itself as an audio device, it offered a free, open-source solution for sending and receiving audio with remarkable ease on both Intel and PPC Macs. However, with evolving operating systems and user needs, many are seeking robust Soundflower alternative options that offer enhanced features, broader platform support, or more active development. This article explores some of the best alternatives available today.
Top Soundflower Alternatives
Whether you're looking for advanced routing, cross-platform compatibility, or simply a modern take on virtual audio cables, these Soundflower alternatives offer compelling solutions for your audio needs.
JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK Audio Connection Kit is a sophisticated, real-time, low-latency solution for routing audio and MIDI data between applications. As a free and open-source Soundflower alternative, it excels on Mac, Windows, and Linux. Its features include support for MIDI, an API, sound drivers, connecting audio streams, creating macros, low latency, multi-channel capabilities, and being a native application for real-time virtual audio cabling.
Loopback
Loopback is a macOS-specific commercial software that provides an intuitive way to take sound from applications and audio input devices and use them as inputs for anything else. This makes it a powerful Soundflower alternative for Mac users, offering features like audio recording, connecting audio streams, customizable interfaces, music mixing, and out-of-the-box virtual audio cable functionality, along with voiceover support.
VB-Audio VoiceMeeter
VB-Audio VoiceMeeter is a free Windows-only Soundflower alternative capable of mixing audio sources from both audio devices and applications. It's an excellent choice for Windows users, featuring audio recording, autostart, multi-channel support, and robust music mixing capabilities, functioning as a virtual mixer.
VB-Audio Virtual Cable
VB-Audio CABLE is a Freemium Windows Audio Driver that functions as a Virtual Audio Cable, similar to Soundflower's core purpose. Available for Mac and Windows, it installs a new playback device, allowing for virtual audio cable functionality and audio recording, making it a straightforward Soundflower alternative for simple routing tasks.
Virtual Audio Cable
Virtual Audio Cable is a commercial Windows-centric audio routing tool that allows redirection of audio streams between applications and devices. This robust Soundflower alternative for Windows provides essential features like audio recording and connecting audio streams, making it a definitive solution for complex audio setups.
Sound Siphon
Sound Siphon is a commercial software package for Mac that makes your Mac's audio output available as an audio input device, allowing audio to be sent from one application to another. As a dedicated Soundflower alternative for macOS, it supports audio recording and virtual audio cable functionality.
BlackHole
BlackHole is a modern, free, and open-source macOS virtual audio driver that allows applications to pass audio to other applications with zero additional latency. This makes it an excellent and up-to-date Soundflower alternative for Mac users, offering sound drivers, audio recording, and virtual audio cable capabilities.
AudioBus
AudioBus is a revolutionary commercial inter-app audio routing system designed specifically for iPhone and iPad, allowing you to connect Audiobus-compatible music apps together like virtual cables. While not a direct desktop Soundflower alternative, it offers similar app-to-app audio routing for mobile music creators through its API.
Synchronous Audio Router
Synchronous Audio Router is a free and open-source Soundflower alternative for Windows that routes Windows application audio to and from your digital audio workstation software. It features audio recording, low latency, and virtual audio cable functionality, making it ideal for producers and streamers on Windows.
Dante Via
Dante Via is an easy-to-use commercial software that routes audio, allowing applications and devices to be networked and interconnected using the Dante audio over IP solution. Available for Mac and Windows, it serves as a powerful Soundflower alternative for professional audio networking, featuring stream audio and virtual audio cable capabilities.
With a variety of excellent Soundflower alternatives available across different platforms and price points, you're sure to find a solution that fits your specific audio routing needs. Explore these options to find the best fit for your workflow and take your audio setup to the next level.