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For the purpose of recording video tutorials, I want to take the output of my DAW (Ableton), and mix the audio signal with the mic input from my Sound Card.

This seems fairly straight forward. Here's how I would expect it to work. My audio card is a Saffire USB 6. I also have Sound Flower installed for this purpose.

  • Open Ableton Live
  • Turn audio inputs off
  • Switch audio output to Sound Flower (2 ch)
  • Plug mic in to audio interface and ensure signal is coming in
  • Go to MacOS "Audio Midi Setup"
  • Click the "+", "Add Aggregate Device" (which should mix two audio streams together)
  • Check the two audio interfaces (SoundFlower + Saffire USB 6) -(sampling rate 48,000 - clock = Saffire USB 6)
  • Right click on "Aggregate Device", and click "Use this device for sound output" (This is the same as going in to "Sound" under system settings and changing the output to "Aggregate Device")

The above should theoretically route the mic input to "Aggregate Device", and the DAW input from Sound Flower to the "Aggregate Device", and then I should be able to record the two signals in my screen capture software "ScreenFlow". However, I'm not getting output at all.

Basically, I can't make sense of the MacOS Core Audio routing system. If I mix two signals by creating an "Aggregate Device", how do I tell MacOS that I want to output that signal to the Saffire USB 6? There is no way to do that. I'm very confused.

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Comments

kmetal Sun, 10/20/2013 - 00:00

why not just make a new track and record enable it, and hit play? or if you have to record the input signal so you can hear it.

I'm very confused.

so am i man, what is the purpose of this complicated routing? it just seems unessesary to me, when combining audio signals is what DAWS/interfaces are made to do. i'm just unclear as to what you are trying to accomplish, or demonstrate.

i guess i could see this useful for karaoke typ things, but again the DAW can do that easily, ditto for 'adding things on final mixdown' like when you run out of tracks/sends on a tape machine and want to add more stuff live as it;s going to the mixdown deck.

i wanna help ya man, i just dunno what you want the end result to be, so i'm kinda at a loss of thought as to what the process should be. is it to make tutorials on video about video things like editing, and you want to narrate live to the final cut? if so just use a DAW that allows video tracks, or a video one the records audio. My first understanding was that you wanted to make video tutorials about audio things. i'm scratching my head, it'd be cool if you could clear this up. thanks

Kruddler Sun, 10/20/2013 - 15:18

That's what I already do. The point of what I am trying to achieve is so that I don't have to set up a channel inside Ableton. I am recording tutorials, so if I have an extra channel inside Ableton, the user sees that and it is confusing for them. This is especially the case when you are trying to explain basic routing and channels inside Ableton.

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