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Working with audio from special and hidden sources

In addition to capturing audio from traditional applications, Loopback can capture audio from certain special sources, as well as hidden background processes which do not appear on your Mac like traditional applications. This includes system services, as well as the occasional command-line tool.

Choosing special sources

Loopback's Add Source menu makes it easy to choose several popular sources which would otherwise be very difficult to find. This is done through the Special Sources section of the menu, where you can choose:

Background Sounds (MacOS 13 and higher)
Finder
Siri
Sound Effects
System AirPlay Receiver (MacOS 12 and higher)
Text to Speech (MacOS 14 and higher, MacOS 12 and lower)
VoiceOver

Background Sounds

(MacOS 13 and higher)

The Background Sounds special source handles background audio played via the Audio section of the Accessibility options of the System Settings app.

Captured Source

com.apple.accessibility.heard

Finder

The Finder special source handles any audio played by the Finder, as well as audio produced using the Mac's “Quick Look” functionality.

Captured Sources

com.apple.finder
com.apple.quicklook.QuickLookUIService

Siri

The Siri special source handles all the audio from Siri, including both its sound effects and its spoken word audio.

Captured Sources on MacOS 14 and Higher

com.apple.CoreSpeech
com.apple.sirittsd

Captured Sources on MacOS 13

com.apple.Siri

Captured Sources on MacOS 12 and lower

com.apple.CoreSpeech
com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd

Sound Effects

The Sound Effects special source captures audio played to MacOS's systemsoundserv process. This process produces audio such as alerts in the Messages app or the Trash being emptied.

It’s worth noting that some applications on the Mac do not properly play sound effects through this process. If an application’s beeps and alerts aren’t picked up by the Sound Effects special source, try capturing the application itself instead.

Captured Source on MacOS 14 and higher

systemsoundserv

Captured Source on MacOS 13 and lower

systemsoundserverd

System AirPlay Receiver

(MacOS 12 and higher)

The System AirPlay Receiver special source handles audio played directly to MacOS via AirPlay, using the system's AirPlay receiving capabilities.

Captured Source

com.apple.controlcenter

Text to Speech

(MacOS 14 and higher, MacOS 12 and lower)

The Text to Speech special source captures audio played by the system's text reading (triggered by the Start Speaking command in the Speech menu). This functionality has changed repeatedly across MacOS versions.

MacOS 14 and higher

On MacOS 14 and higher, some applications produce audio from their own processes, while others send it to the system process. Unfortunately, this means you may need to experiment to capture text-to-speech audio. If capturing from the Text to Speech special source does not work as expected, trying capturing from the application in which the text is being read itself.

MacOS 13

On MacOS 13, all spoken text originates from the app itself. For example, to capture text-to-speech audio in TextEdit (heard via the Start Speaking command in the Speech menu), you would target TextEdit itself.

MacOS 12 and lower

On MacOS 12 and lower, all text-to-speech audio is played by a system process. The Text to Speech special source captures this audio. Note that the system’s process provides audio for several additional parts of MacOS, including the spoken dialog from Siri and the accessibility hints spoken by VoiceOver. The Text to Speech source does not include the sound effects created by Siri or VoiceOver. To capture those sound effects, the Siri or VoiceOver special source should be selected specifically.

Captured Source on MacOS 14 and Higher

com.apple.accessibility.AXVisualSupportAgent

Captured Sources on MacOS 12 and lower

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd

VoiceOver

The VoiceOver special source makes it possible to capture all the audio from the VoiceOver experience, including its sound effects.

Captured Sources on MacOS 14 and Higher

com.apple.VoiceOver
com.apple.VoiceOverQuickstart

Captured Sources on MacOS 13

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd
com.apple.VoiceOver
com.apple.VoiceOverQuickstart

Captured Sources on MacOS 12 and lower

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd
com.apple.VoiceOver

Accessing other hidden sources

By default, other hidden sources are not shown by Loopback's Add Source menu. However, if you hold down the Option key when clicking on the selector, a new Running Processes sub-menu will be shown. Within the Running Processes sub-menu, you'll see a list of processes from which Loopback may be able to capture audio. All available processes are listed, though not all are likely to produce audio.

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