🎵 BlackHole Audio Recorder

A simple yet powerful command-line tool to record system audio on macOS using BlackHole virtual audio driver.

🌟 Features

• 📥 Auto-installation of BlackHole (2ch or 16ch) if not already installed
• 🔄 Automatic audio device switching - sets BlackHole as output and restores original when done
• 📁 Organized recordings in a dedicated folder
• 🎚️ High-quality audio capture using SoX
• 🔌 Zero configuration - works out of the box
• 🎮 Simple controls - just press Ctrl+C to stop recording

📋 Requirements

• macOS 10.10 or later
• Homebrew package manager

🚀 Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/blackhole-recorder.git
   cd blackhole-recorder

2. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x record.sh

That's it! The script will automatically install any missing dependencies when you run it.

📝 Usage

Basic Usage

./record.sh

This will:

1. Install BlackHole 2ch if not already installed
2. Switch your audio output to BlackHole
3. Start recording to ./recordings/recording_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.wav
4. When you press Ctrl+C, it will stop recording and restore your original audio output

Custom Filename

./record.sh myrecording.wav

Records to ./recordings/myrecording.wav

Specify BlackHole Channel Count

./record.sh myrecording.wav 16

Uses BlackHole 16ch instead of the default 2ch version.

🔍 How It Works

The recording process follows these simple steps:

1. The script sets BlackHole as your system audio output
2. Any audio played on your Mac is routed through BlackHole
3. SoX captures the audio from BlackHole and saves it to a file
4. When you stop recording, your original audio output is restored

🛠️ Dependencies

The script automatically installs these dependencies if needed:

• BlackHole - Virtual audio driver
• SoX - Sound processing tool
• SwitchAudioSource - Command-line audio device control

📊 Use Cases

• 🎮 Record gameplay audio
• 🎵 Capture streaming music
• 🎙️ Save audio from video calls
• 🎬 Record audio for screencasts
• 🔊 Capture system sounds

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• ExistentialAudio for creating BlackHole
• SoX team for their excellent audio tool
• deweller for SwitchAudioSource