#Audio loopback free windows windows#

There is also a 'Global Hotkeys' tab where you can assign hotkeys for starting, stopping, pausing, and resuming recording when either the main window does not have focus or is otherwise hidden. If you select the 'Options' button, you can configure some settings such as whether the program runs at startup, minimized to the tray, or completely hidden by disabling the tray icon. Other formats could easily be added, but I figured these are the four most commonly used. You can record to the lossless flac/compressed, mp3, ogg, or lossless wav/uncompressed audio formats. The current date/time will always be appended to file names so if you leave the 'File name prefix' field blank, a name will still be automatically generated which consists of only the date and time. You can type a prefix which will be used in the file names of recordings.

#Audio loopback free windows windows#

It relies on the WASAPI loopback feature which is only available in versions of Windows starting with Vista. The virtual capture device will not work on XP. It may require some experimentation to achieve desirable results. Use Virtual Recorder's 'Record Volume' to compensate for this. Note that when recording from both the virtual capture device and your sound card at the same time, you may have overall lower levels in the resulting file. Select the microphone you are using in the 'Device' combo box.Make sure that in Virtual Recorder, the 'Both' option is selected in the 'Recording source' combo box.You can access the default audio devices in Control Panel quickly by pressing Windows key R to open the 'Run' dialog, and then typing msys.cpl followed by Enter. It is not enough to select the device in the Skype audio settings. Make sure that the speakers or headset you are using in Skype are configured as the default playback device in Control Panel.So if you wanted to record both sides of a Skype session, you would have to take a few steps first. Keep in mind that the virtual capture device only records from which ever sound card is configured as the default system playback device in Control Panel. If you select the 'Sound Card' or 'Both' options, you should also choose the appropriate input from the 'Device' combo box. You can select what is recorded using the 'Recording source' combo box. Finally, you can record from both theirtual capture device and your sound card's line-in/microphone at the same time which might be useful for recording podcasts, Skype sessions, and so on. You can also record from your sound card's line-in and microphone. You should take steps when making such recordings to avoid this issue by not running such applications and possibly even disabling system sounds in Control Panel. Of course this means that if you are recording an internet stream for example, system sounds, sounds produced by other applications, and anything else you might play will also be recorded. For example, System sounds, audio from other applications including your browser, and so on. You can record from the virtual capture device which will only record what is playing through your speakers. It is a simple audio recorder, that is all. Virtual Recorder is not an attempt to compete with such applications.

Virtual Recorder is free, and probably much easier to use than programs like Total Recorder, GoldWave, and Audacity if all you want is a basic audio recorder which can record what you hear, your sound card's input, or both at the same time. All of the above reasons prompted me to start working on Virtual Recorder. FFmpeg is capable of accessing DirectShow audio devices for capturing/recording, but it is a command line utility with many confusing parameters for the average user. However, Total Recorder and GoldWave are not free, and with the WASAPI loopback feature in Audacity, I kept receiving errors. In the case of GoldWave and Audacity using the WASAPI loopback feature which is native to versions of Windows starting with Vista. In the case of Total Recorder using it's own virtual audio drivers. Some other applications like Total Recorder, GoldWave, and Audacity can also record what is being played through your speakers. It is also possible to record what is being played through your speakers if your sound card has a loopback feature usually called 'Stereo Mix'/'What You Hear' Unfortunately, not all sound cards support this feature, especially on laptops. Virtual Audio Capture Device is a DirectShow audio device which can be used to capture/record what is playing through your speakers. Virtual Recorder is a GUI/frontend for Virtual Audio Capture Device and the command line media converter FFmpeg.