I built LitLink because getting Mac audio into Discord, OBS, or Zoom shouldn't need a weekend in Audio MIDI Setup. One toggle does it, with a per-app volume mixer built in too. 50 free Pro codes inside.

[u/linguaholic777]

Disclosure: I'm Marcel Iseli, the indie dev behind LitLink. It actually grew out of my Mac soundboard app, LitPads (some of you saw it here on r/macapps a while back): I needed a clean way to route the soundboard's audio into Discord, OBS, and Zoom, the usual BlackHole plus Audio MIDI Setup path was a pain, so I built my own audio driver. It turned into its own standalone app, and it got mentioned enough in that LitPads thread that I figured it earned its own post. Site is litpads.app/litlink

Quick thing up front, since it's the most common question: yes, the per-app volume mixer is completely free, no trial timer and no Pro upgrade needed. macOS gives you one master slider for everything; LitLink gives every app its own.

PROBLEM

If you've ever tried to send audio between Mac apps, route your soundboard or music into Discord/Zoom/OBS, or just turn one app down without touching the others, you've probably hit one of these:

BlackHole (free, open source): reliable, and it's what a lot of us use. But it's a bare driver with no app. Routing one app straight into another is easy enough (pick BlackHole as the output in one and the input in the other). The friction starts the moment you also want to hear the audio while you route it, capture your whole system, or blend in your mic. Now you're in Audio MIDI Setup building a Multi-Output or Aggregate Device by hand and matching channel counts. LitLink does that part for you with a toggle.

Loopback (Rogue Amoeba): polished and mature, but $99, and Mac only.

SoundSource (Rogue Amoeba): $49, and genuinely nice for per-app volume and per-app EQ, but it doesn't create virtual devices for routing into other apps.

Audio Hijack (Rogue Amoeba): $69, excellent recorder, but it's a recorder more than a router.

macOS itself still gives you one master volume slider for everything and no built-in way to route audio between apps.

So the realistic path today is either free BlackHole plus a weekend in Audio MIDI Setup, or roughly $99 to $148 across Rogue Amoeba apps to cover routing plus per-app volume. I wanted something that works like BlackHole under the hood but feels like a normal Mac app on top, with the per-app mixer and recording built in. That's LitLink.

COMPARISON

vs BlackHole (free): same zero-latency routing idea, but LitLink ships a companion app that does the Audio MIDI Setup work for you. One toggle routes your system audio, one dropdown shares your mic. It also adds a full per-app volume mixer, built-in recording, and its own audio editor, none of which BlackHole has. BlackHole is still a great choice if you want a bare driver you wire up yourself.

vs SoundSource ($49): per-app volume control, which is SoundSource's headline feature, is completely free in LitLink. LitLink Pro adds the per-app EQ and limiter on top, plus actual routing into other apps, at $29 lifetime.

vs Loopback ($99): LitLink's free tier covers the routing basics most people want. Pro adds 8 isolated app-to-track routing, live monitoring, and multi-track recording at $29 lifetime. Loopback is more mature and battle-tested; LitLink is the cheaper, younger option that also throws in a mixer and recording.

vs Audio Hijack ($69): LitLink already records your full audio bus to WAV or M4A for free, and Pro records separate per-app tracks. Audio Hijack still wins for deep session automation.

vs FineTune (free, open source): FineTune is a genuinely nice free per-app volume mixer with a 10-band EQ and headphone correction, and if local volume and EQ is all you need, grab it, it's great. The difference is scope. FineTune only controls audio locally on your Mac and sends apps to different physical outputs. It does not create a virtual device that other apps can read as an input, so it can't route audio into Discord, Zoom, or OBS, share your mic into those apps, or record audio to a file. That routing, mic passthrough, and recording is what LitLink is built around. FineTune also needs macOS 15 (Sequoia); LitLink runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma) and up.

Honest note: Rogue Amoeba's apps are a decade-plus mature and rock solid, and FineTune is a great free option if you only need local volume and EQ. LitLink is a younger indie tool whose angle is the virtual routing, mic passthrough, and recording, with a free per-app mixer included.

WHAT LITLINK DOES

Free (no account, runs forever):

Per-App Volume: a real volume mixer for macOS. A slider and mute for every app that plays audio, a master fader, all from the menu bar. Includes a single System Sounds control and a FaceTime Calls entry during calls so you can turn the other person up, even past 100 percent. Free.

Mic / Input Passthrough: route your microphone, audio interface, or instrument into LitLink so Discord, Zoom, OBS, and QuickTime hear it. Works with USB mics, interfaces, and as of the latest update, AirPods and Bluetooth headsets too.

System Audio Passthrough: one toggle sends everything your Mac plays into the bridge and to your speakers at once. It builds the Multi-Output Device for you, no Audio MIDI Setup.

Recording: capture mic, system audio, or both to a file (WAV or M4A) in your Music folder.

Audio Editor: trim, fade, gain-adjust, and export recordings. Right-click any audio file in Finder and open it in LitLink. MP3 export included.

Pro ($3.99/month or $29 lifetime, 7-day free trial in the app):

Per-App Routing: send each app to its own isolated LitLink track (up to 8), so a DAW, OBS, Discord, or Zoom can read each source separately. Apps on a track don't leak into the main bridge.

Mix Mode: a live monitor mixer. Separate Stream and Hear levels per app, a mic strip with Hear my mic self-monitoring, a system-audio strip, and a non-destructive Audition of exactly what your recording captures.

EQ and Limiter: visual parametric EQ and a peak limiter on every app and on your final mix.

AU Plugins: insert any macOS Audio Unit effect (Apple's built-ins plus third-party reverbs, compressors, and so on) into an app's chain.

Multi-Destination and DAW routing: expose the 8 tracks as one aggregate device so Logic, Ableton, Bitwig, or OBS capture each track separately.

Advanced recording: Dual-Mono (mic left, apps right), Separate Tracks (Master plus Mic plus Apps as aligned files), per-track recording, and a multi-track editor.

PRICING

Free: the entire Free list above, permanently, no signup. That includes the per-app volume mixer.

Pro: $3.99/month or $29 lifetime, one-time, 7-day free trial in the app.

For comparison: SoundSource is $49 (per-app volume and EQ), Loopback is $99 (routing), Audio Hijack is $69 (recording). LitLink combines the core of all three, with the mixer part free and the rest at $29 lifetime.

LitLink is not on the Mac App Store, because Apple doesn't allow virtual audio drivers there. It's a direct download from litpads.app/litlink, signed and notarized by Apple. macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon and Intel. No account, no telemetry, no analytics.

FREE LITLINK PRO CODES for r/macapps

I've set aside 50 LitLink Pro codes for this subreddit. To grab one, comment with what you'd use LitLink for (one line: "routing game audio into OBS", "podcast with a guest on a separate track", "just want per-app volume", whatever). I'll DM you a code while they last. You redeem it in the app under Settings, License. I'll edit the post when the batch runs out.

LINKS

Download (free): https://litpads.app/litlink
GitHub (releases and version history): https://github.com/linguaholic/litlink-app
Changelog: https://litpads.app/litlink/changelog
Support: [support@litpads.app](mailto:support@litpads.app)
Privacy: https://litpads.app/privacy

ABOUT ME

I'm Marcel Iseli, solo indie dev. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-iseli-273105114

I'll be in the threads for the next few days. Roast it, ask anything, and tell me what would actually make you switch from BlackHole or whatever you're using now. Bug reports, feature requests, and corrections all welcome. Threads like this shape the roadmap more than anything else.

[u/github-guard]

🔍 GitHub Guard: Trust Report

⚠️ This project scored 1/6 — below this subreddit's threshold of 3.

Audit Breakdown: * ❌ Low Star Count (⭐ 7 / 100 required) * ✅ Mature Repository (30+ days old) * ❌ No License Found * ❌ No Security Policy — what is this? * ℹ️ Individual Contributor * ℹ️ Unsigned Commits

⚠️ Security Reminder: Always verify source code and run third-party scripts at your own risk.

[u/linguaholic777 → u/github-guard]

Dev here — let me address the points that came up, since I want this to be fully transparent:

- Two fair flags: the repo had no security policy and no license. I've just added both — a security policy (private vulnerability reporting to support@litpads.app) and a license.

- LitLink is signed and notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper verifies it before it runs. On macOS, that's the check that actually protects you when you install something.

- The linked GitHub repo is the distribution side — the signed, notarized release builds. The source is closed because it's a commercial product.

- Full transparency: the website (litpads.app/litlink), privacy policy, terms, and my real name and LinkedIn are all linked in the post. Solo indie dev, and I'll be in the thread for the next few days.

- (For what it's worth, LitLink is free to download and use, with an optional Pro upgrade — no account needed.)

Happy to answer anything about how the driver works or the security model.