Audio Routing on Windows & Mac

Windows and Mac don't have anything like Linux's PipeWire — instead you compose virtual audio devices (BlackHole, VoiceMeeter, etc.) to wire app outputs into other apps' inputs. Useful for: streaming music into OBS, podcast multi-track to Audacity, routing system audio to a recording app. For the Linux side see audio-routing-linux-pipewire. For DAWs see daws-overview. For pairing with design-screen-recording / realtime-video.

Windows

Low-latency audio drivers

• ★ ASIO4ALL — free closed-source generic ASIO driver; lets non-ASIO interfaces hit DAW-class latency. The default if your interface lacks a vendor ASIO driver.
• ★ FlexASIO — GPL alternative ASIO wrapper; supports multiple devices (ASIO4ALL is one-device-only).
• Vendor ASIO drivers — Focusrite, MOTU, RME, Audient ship their own; preferred when available.
• WASAPI Exclusive Mode — Win10/11 native low-latency path; supported by Reaper, Studio One, Cakewalk.

Virtual audio devices / routing

• ★ VoiceMeeter Banana / Potato (VB-Audio) — donationware; cross-app virtual mixer + virtual cables. Banana = mid tier, Potato = pro 8-input. The default streamer / podcaster routing tool on Windows.
• ★ VB-Cable — donationware; simple virtual audio cable. Pair multiple VB-Cables for additional routes (HiFi Cable / Cable A / Cable B).
• Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) — paid alternative; high quality.
• Synchronous Audio Router (SAR) — GPL; advanced multi-app routing on top of an ASIO device. Niche but powerful.

Multi-DAW / inter-app

• rearoute — bundled with Reaper; ASIO virtual driver to send audio from any DAW into Reaper.
• Dante Via (Audinate) — paid; route audio between Win machines / apps over network.

Mac

Native low-latency

• CoreAudio — built-in; sub-10 ms latency without a third-party driver. The Mac advantage.
• Aggregate Devices — Audio MIDI Setup app combines multiple interfaces into one virtual device. Free, built in.
• Multi-Output Devices — same panel; route system audio to multiple outputs.

Virtual audio devices

• ★ BlackHole (Existential Audio) — GPL3; modern Soundflower replacement. 2-ch, 16-ch, 64-ch variants. The default free virtual audio driver on Mac in 2026.
• Soundflower — legacy GPL; works but unmaintained; use BlackHole instead.
• Loopback (Rogue Amoeba) — paid (~$120); polished GUI for combining apps + interfaces into virtual devices. Audio-pro favorite.
• Audio Hijack (Rogue Amoeba) — paid (~$60); record from any app + apply effects + save to file. The Mac podcaster's secret weapon.
• SoundSource (Rogue Amoeba) — paid (~$50); per-app volume + per-app effects + audio device routing menu.
• Background Music — GPL; per-app volume control + auto-pause music while you talk.

Bridges to recording

• OBS Mac audio capture — built into OBS 28+; per-app capture via screen-recording API.
• Audio Hijack — most flexible app-by-app capture.

Cross-platform routing approaches

• JACK on Mac / Win — installable but largely deprecated in favor of platform-native virtual devices.
• NDI (NewTek) — closed; ships audio + video over LAN; pairs with OBS, Resolume, vMix.
• Dante / AVB / AES67 — pro audio over IP; pairs with hardware (Focusrite RedNet, MOTU AVB).

Streaming / podcasting topology

• Podcast remote recording: separate tracks per guest — see podcast-voice-tools; Riverside / SquadCast handle this in the cloud, or use Loopback + Audio Hijack on Mac, VoiceMeeter on Win.
• Stream music into OBS: route Spotify → BlackHole 2ch → OBS audio source (Mac), or Spotify → VB-Cable A → OBS source (Win).
• Mute Discord without muting game audio: SoundSource (Mac) or VoiceMeeter app routing (Win).

Pick this if…

• Win virtual audio router: VoiceMeeter Banana (or Potato for 8-channel).
• Win virtual cable: VB-Cable.
• Win generic ASIO driver: ASIO4ALL.
• Mac virtual audio driver, free: BlackHole.
• Mac per-app routing GUI: Loopback (paid) or Background Music (free).
• Mac record any app: Audio Hijack.
• Studio multi-machine: Dante Via or NDI.