A menu-bar recorder for macOS
Record anything your Mac plays.
PrintBus records whatever your Mac is playing, from your music player, your browser or any other app, into named, trimmed audio files you can drag anywhere. No Loopback, no BlackHole, no routing.
- Free for 14 days, no card
- macOS 14.4 or later
- Apple silicon or Intel
- US$39 once, no subscription
Records from
- Music players
- Browsers
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Radio streams
- Webinars
- Practice apps
- Language lessons
- Sound libraries
- Video players
- any app on your Mac
01The workaround
Skip the routing.
Recording what your Mac plays usually means a virtual audio device, a trip to Audio MIDI Setup, a DAW session and a real-time pass, then trimming and renaming by hand. Miss one setting and you’ve recorded four minutes of silence.
The old way
- Install a virtual audio device
- Build an aggregate device
- Route the player into it
- Set it as an input in your DAW
- Record the whole thing in real time
- Trim the silence, rename the file
With PrintBus
Nothing to patch.
Your Mac keeps playing as normal. PrintBus siphons off a copy, named, trimmed and waiting in your menu bar.
02How it works
Press play. It’s already recording.
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1
Press record
Once. The button flashes while PrintBus waits in the menu bar, listening. There’s no audio device to set up and nothing to route.
-
2
Play anything
A take starts on the first sound and saves itself when the audio stops. Your audio setup doesn’t change, so you hear everything as normal.
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3
Get a file
Every take is already a named, trimmed WAV or AIFF file in your folder, ready to drag into a project or anywhere else.
03Who it’s for
For anyone stuck without a download button.
Producers & engineers
Pull a reference into the session, grab the rough mix a client sent as a streaming link, or capture a sample you’re cleared to use.
Podcasters & creators
Keep an episode, a live stream or the sound from a video as a file, ready to edit, clip or play offline.
Teachers & students
Get an example into the lesson in seconds, or keep lecture and tutorial audio to study later, in any app or DAW.
Families
The backing track the music teacher shared as a link, the school concert you watched online, Grandma’s video message: press play and it’s a file.
Listeners
Radio shows, webinars and talks that only stream: save them, and play them later on the train or in the car.
Apps with no export
Practice apps, language lessons, sound libraries: if it plays on your Mac, PrintBus saves it, export button or not.
Use it responsibly. Record what you have the right to keep: your own work and your family’s, references and study material, and anything you’re cleared to use.
04Auto-record
Every song lands as its own file. Already named.
PrintBus reads what supported music players are playing, so each track is saved as “Artist - Title”. When the track changes, the take is saved and a new one starts. Anything else, from a browser tab to a plugin demo, gets the date and time.
A song playing on another device, like a speaker your Mac controls, is ignored, so nothing gets recorded by mistake.
Clean edges
Silence, trimmed. Quiet passages, kept.
Nothing is recorded until audio arrives, and a soft intro, a breakdown or a long fade doesn’t cut the take: only real silence counts. After four seconds of it, the take is saved and trimmed to a half-second handle of silence at each end, so it never starts or stops right on the music.
05Drag anywhere
Drag them anywhere. They’re already files.
Shift- or ⌘-click a batch of takes and drag them into your DAW, a folder or onto the desktop. There’s no export and no bounce: every take is already an audio file.
Hear it before you drag it.
Press play on any take to preview it in PrintBus, with a progress bar you can click to jump and live metering. Previews are never recorded, so checking a take never makes a new one.
06For the studio
Know how loud it is before it hits your session.
Check the level before a take goes into your session. Every take is metered in true peak and LUFS, the numbers mastering engineers work to, and the clip lights stay lit until you click them.
- True peak the afterglow, dBTP
- Momentary loudness the solid bar, LUFS
- Peak hold holds 1.5 s, then drops
- Clip light 0 dBTP, latches
- File type
- WAVor AIFF
- Bit depth
- 24-bitor 16, or 32 float
- Sample rate
- Matchyour Mac, or 44.1–96 kHz
Out of the box, takes are 24-bit WAV at your Mac’s output rate. Change it from the gear menu, and match your session so there’s no conversion on import.
07Reliability
Built not to lose a take.
- The lid closes mid-takeSaved before the Mac sleeps, then capture resumes on wake
- The audio stream drops outPrintBus reconnects on its own
- You quit mid-takeEverything recorded so far is saved
- A force quit or a power cutRecovered the next time PrintBus opens
- The sample rate changes mid-takeSaved, and a new take starts at the new rate
- A take reaches the 4 GB file limitIt carries straight on in “Name 2.wav”
- The disk is nearly fullRecording pauses before it fills up
Your recordings never leave your Mac. Takes are plain audio files in a folder you choose, and no audio is ever uploaded. Privacy policy
08Pricing
One price. No subscription.
PrintBus
Version 1.1.4
US$39once
- 14-day free trial, with everything included and no card
- Use it on up to 3 of your Macs
- Free updates for all of version 1
- Your recordings stay yours, trial or not
Secure checkout through Stripe. Not for you? A full refund within 30 days, no questions asked. Terms of sale
Teaching audio?
At Collarts? Sign in to PrintBus with your @mycollarts.edu.au or @collarts.edu.au email and enter the sign-in code we email you. Your free licence unlocks automatically.
Teaching elsewhere? Students get PrintBus free with a code from their teacher. Email [email protected] to set one up for your class.
“I teach audio, and grabbing a reference track always started with a routing lesson: a virtual audio device, an aggregate device, a real-time pass, then trimming and renaming. PrintBus is the tool I wanted instead. Press play, get a file.”
Dan MurtaghMix engineer, audio educator and the maker of PrintBus?Questions
Good questions.
What can it record?
Whatever your Mac is playing: your music player, videos and lessons in your browser, podcasts and other apps. DAWs and call apps are left out unless you turn on Record DAWs or Record calls in the gear menu, so playing your session or taking a call in a call app never starts a take by surprise. A call in a web browser is recorded like any other audio, so turn the record button off before joining one. Record what you have the right to use, and never record people without their consent.
Do I need Loopback, BlackHole or another virtual audio device?
No. PrintBus uses the system audio recording built into macOS 14.4 and later, so there’s nothing to install or route. Your output device stays the same, and you keep hearing everything as normal.
How is it different from other Mac audio recorders?
Most recorders are toolkits: you pick a source, set up a recording and start it yourself, and some can do far more than PrintBus. PrintBus does one job with nothing to set up. Press record once, and every track that plays becomes its own file, named, trimmed at both ends and ready to drag into a session.
Does it work with Pro Tools?
Yes. Drag takes from the PrintBus panel onto a Pro Tools track or into the clip list, like any audio file. There’s no plugin to install, so it works the same way with Logic, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper and every other DAW.
Can I keep the panel on screen while I work?
Yes. Press the pin key or ⌃⌥⌘P from any app, or drag the PRINTBUS name off the menu bar, and PrintBus floats over your other apps in its own window, without pulling you out of your player. Collapse it to just the display and meter when you need the room.
How are takes named?
Tracks playing in the Music app and other supported music players are saved as “Artist - Title”, and a new file starts when the track changes. Everything else is named with the date and time, like “System Audio 2026-10-03 at 14.22.10”.
What do I need to run it?
Any Mac running macOS 14.4 or later, with Apple silicon or Intel. PrintBus lives in the menu bar, with no Dock icon.
How do I install it and start the trial?
Download PrintBus, open the disk image, drag PrintBus into Applications and open it. It appears in the menu bar. Click its icon, press record and sign in with your email address: there’s no password, we email you a 6-digit sign-in code, and your 14-day trial starts. No card needed.
Someone gave me a code. How do I use it?
Download PrintBus and open it, click its icon and press record. Type your email address, click Have a code? and type in the code you were given, then press Send Sign-In Code. We email you a 6-digit sign-in code: type that in, and PrintBus is yours, with no trial and no card. Already signed in? Click the gear, then Enter a Code.
Does my audio go anywhere?
No. Takes are written only to the folder you choose and never leave your Mac. PrintBus checks in with printbus.app now and then to keep your licence current, and recording never waits on it: a licence keeps working for 60 days without a connection.
What happens when the free trial ends?
New takes stop until you buy, and everything you recorded stays yours. If the trial ends in the middle of a take, that take finishes and is kept.
How many Macs can I use it on?
Up to 3 of your own Macs with one licence.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. If PrintBus isn’t right for you, email [email protected] within 30 days of buying for a full refund, no questions asked. See the terms of sale.
RECFree trial
Press play. Free for 14 days.
Download PrintBus, sign in with your email and your trial starts. No card, and everything you record is yours to keep.
Open the disk image, drag PrintBus into Applications and open it: it lives in the menu bar. macOS 14.4 or later.
- System
- macOS 14.4 or later
- Version
- 1.1.4
- Chip
- Apple silicon or Intel
- Lives in
- The menu bar
- Files
- WAV or AIFF
- Bit depth
- 16-bit dithered, 24-bit, 32-bit float
- Sample rate
- Match the Mac, or 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz
- Metering
- True peak per channel to ITU-R BS.1770-4; momentary, short-term and integrated LUFS
- Trim
- Up to 12 dB down before metering and saving, for loud tracks that would clip a 16- or 24-bit file
- Works with
- Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton and every other DAW
- Price
- US$39 once, with a 14-day free trial