Free loopback solution for MacOS

To send the audio signal of a DAW like Logic, Cubase, Ableton Live, ProTools etc. to doozzoo, you need a dedicated solution. We show you here how you can do this for free.

(By the way, this solution works for all programs where you can send the output signal independently from the system sound).

Preparation

1. download and install BlackHole

BlackHole provides you with a virtual sound card with 16 inputs and outputs. We will use it to send the audio signals of the DAW inside the computer.

If you don't have BlackHole installed yet, you can download it here:

Download BlackHole

Open the downloaded .pkg file and follow the instructions.

2. download and install LadioCast

LadioCast is a neat and easy-to-use virtual mixer. We need this to mix the audio from the DAW with your microphone signal.

Download LadioCast from the Mac App Store: LadioCast in the App Store

Routing

1. select audio output in DAW

Open your DAW. Select "BlackHole 16ch" as the output device. Select channels 3 and 4 as channels for your stereo mix. (Channels 1 and 2 are probably selected by default).

Since different applications differ in their settings, please refer to the user manual or help of your software to find out where you can adjust these settings.

2. LadioCast - audio inputs

Open LadioCast.
On the left side you can select the different audio sources. We want to add our microphone and the DAW signal sent via BlackHole there.

For Input 1, click on the drop-down menu that says "N/A" and select the input that your microphone is going through. This could be your Mac's internal microphone or an interface. This will depend on your personal setup.
In Input 2 youwant to insert the signal from the DAW. To do this, select "BlackHole 16ch" from the Input 2 drop-down menu.

To the left of the level meter you will see that channels 1 and 2 are selected for BlackHole 16. Set these two numbers to 3 and 4.

This is necessary because we have previously selected in the DAW to send the signal through channels 3 and 4 of BlackHole rather than channels 1 and 2.

Make sure that Input 1 and 2 have the "Main" option selected. If this button is disabled, the corresponding audio signal will not be sent to the output of the mixer and consequently will not be audible to others.

In this example you can see the configuration for the audio inputs when using the built-in microphone of the MacBook:

3. LadioCast - audio outputs

On the right side you have the option to determine where your merged signals from DAW and microphone are sent. We use these audio outputs to send the mix to doozzoo and to your headphones.

Click on the dropdown menu in Main Output and select BlackHole 16ch.
Click on the dropdown menu in Aux Output 1 and select your headphones. In the Inputs on the left, click on Aux 1 to choose which signals you want to hear on your headphones. So be sure to activate the Aux 1 button in Input 2 (your DAW). Now, when you play something in your DAW, you should be able to hear what is playing and see a deflection in LadioCast.

Use in doozzoo

Go to doozzoo.com and log in. Go to the settings and select "Blackhole 16ch" as audio input. Your setup is now ready to use.

Explanation: Where you cannot select specific channels for BlackHole, channels 1 and 2 are automatically used. So you send your mix from the mixer to doozzoo via channels 1 and 2 of BlackHole. To avoid interference, we have previously sent the signal from the DAW explicitly via channels 3 and 4.