System audio sampler for macOS
Never miss a
moment of audio.
Always holding the last few minutes of your Mac's audio. Rewind, select, drag it into your DAW.
macOS 14.2+
No Virtual Cables. Just works.
It's already recording.
A rolling buffer keeps the last 30 seconds to 10 minutes of system audio at all times. The take you almost lost is still sitting there, waiting for you to reach back and grab it.
Grab anything that makes a sound.
A browser tab, a video call, a stream, a soft-synth — if your Mac can play it, you can sample it. No routing, no virtual cables, no setup. Pull from your computer whenever you want.
Drag straight into your DAW or the Finder.
Select a slice of the waveform and drag it into your DAW or the Finder, copy and paste it, or save it anywhere on your Mac.
Practically invisible CPU
Built on a native Core Audio tap. Tucked behind your DAW it idles at effectively zero — the render timer literally stops while the window is hidden.
Nothing touches your disk
Audio lives only in a rolling memory window you control — 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Everything older simply vanishes. Nothing is written to disk until you deliberately export it.
Sample what you're already hearing
Grab a clip from YouTube, pull a riff out of a jam, rescue a line from a podcast, or capture a sound from any app on your Mac.
Themes
Matinee, Dusk, Midnight, and Witching Hour — tap one to preview it on this page.
It listens for you — and forgets just as fast.
backsample holds nothing but a short, rolling memory of recent sound. Quit the app and it's gone. The only audio that ever survives is the audio you choose to drag out. No files, no cloud, no account — the capture even excludes its own process, so it never records itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it recording everything, all the time? +
It continuously captures your Mac's audio output into a rolling buffer that only ever holds the most recent slice of time — anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, your choice. Older audio is constantly overwritten and discarded. It's less a recorder and more a short-term memory you can reach back into.
Where does the audio go? Is anything saved? +
While you're listening, everything lives in a rolling memory buffer — nothing is written to disk. When you drag a selection out, save it, or paste after copying, the clip is written to your Clips folder (default: ~/Music/backsample/). Copy with ⌘C doesn't create a file until you actually paste; the WAV appears in the Clips folder at that moment. You can change the folder location in Settings, and reveal it anytime from the menu.
Will it slow down my Mac or my DAW? +
It's deliberately featherweight. Capture runs on an efficient Core Audio tap, and when the window is hidden behind your DAW the waveform stops redrawing entirely — CPU use drops to effectively zero in the background.
What exactly can it capture? +
Everything your Mac sends to its output — any app, browser tab, call, or game — mixed together as system audio. It intelligently excludes its own sound so it never captures itself. It follows your default output device, including external interfaces and Bluetooth headphones.
Why does capture level change when I switch audio interfaces? +
The same source can land ~10–15 dB quieter or louder depending on your output device — built-in speakers vs a USB interface, for example. At Capture Gain 0 dB, backsample isn't changing the level; Core Audio delivers a different reference level per output path. Use Settings → Capture Gain to trim each device — values are remembered per interface (often 0 dB built-in, +10–12 dB on external gear). It's a fixed offset, not auto-normalization.
What permissions does it need? +
A single macOS System Audio Recording permission, granted once on first launch. A friendly onboarding screen walks you through it and deep-links straight to the right System Settings pane if you ever need to change it.
What do I get when I export? +
A clean 32-bit, 48 kHz stereo WAV of exactly the region you selected — ready to drop into any DAW or editor. You can drag it straight out, copy it, or save it wherever you like.
The meter shows above 0 dB — is my audio clipped? +
Probably not. Capture and exports are 32-bit float — 0 dB on the meter is a reference, not a ceiling, so peaks can read above 0 dB without being squashed in the file. If it sounded clean, the WAV matches. Your DAW may show over 0 dBFS on import; that's normal for float. In-app preview may turn down hot audio for your speakers; exports are not limited.
How far back can I rewind? +
As far as you set it. The retained window is adjustable from 30 seconds up to 10 minutes (it defaults to 2). A longer window holds more history in memory; a shorter one keeps the footprint tiny.
Stop losing the
sound you wanted.
Download backsample and let it keep watch. The next time you think "I wish I'd recorded that," you already did.
Universal binary · v1.0