Show HN: Session Recorder – an always-on system audio tape for macOS

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Session Recorder — your studio's memory

Always-on session tape · macOS

Your studio's memory.

Session Recorder quietly captures everything coming out of your<br>speakers — the warm-up jam, the talk about the bridge, the accident that<br>becomes the hook. When an idea flies by before anyone hits record, you can<br>scrub back, mark it, and cut it for real.

Download Free →<br>Get Pro

Free keeps the latest 30 minutes · Pro saves the entire session

Whole-system capture ◈<br>No drivers, no routing ◈<br>~2% of one CPU core ◈<br>Zero dropped samples ◈<br>No account · one-time purchase

Like the session DAT, reborn

The tape that was always rolling.

Three things every take deserves: a machine that never forgets to record,<br>a way to mark the moment, and the same capture inside your DAW.

Whole-system capture

A native macOS audio tap records the mix of everything you hear — DAW,<br>reference tracks, calls — with no drivers and no routing. Play back inside<br>Session Recorder while still recording; its own audio is excluded at the OS<br>level, so there's never feedback.

Mark that

One click — or ⌃⌥⌘M from any app — stamps the moment with real wall-clock time. Add a<br>note when you get a second. Each one lands as a marker on the session waveform, so<br>you jump straight back to the idea.

In your DAW too

Pro includes AU and VST3 plugins that sit on the master bus and record<br>the mix sample-accurately — Logic, Live, Reaper, Cubase, Studio One. The<br>same always-on tape, right where you work.

The rolling 30-minute loop

It's always been recording.

Free doesn't stop after 30 minutes — it records forever, keeping<br>only the most recent half hour on disk, like a loop of tape. The moment<br>something great happens, open Review and it's right there.

Go Pro and the loop lifts: the very same session keeps everything from<br>that moment on. Nothing interrupted, nothing lost — sample-exact.

See what Pro unlocks →

REC

Free vs Pro

Buy once. Yours forever.

No subscription, no account. A signed license key delivered by email,<br>good on one Mac at a time — move it to a new one whenever you like.

Free

$0

The always-on safety net

Latest 30 minutes, always kept

AAC 256 kbps

Marks with notes

Review & play the current session

Full session history

Lossless WAV & clip export

AU & VST3 plugins

Download Free

One-time<br>Pro

$49 once

Introductory price

Keep every session, in full

Entire sessions, unlimited

Lossless WAV (32-bit float · 24 · 16) or AAC

Full session history & playback

Select & export clips — WAV · AIFF · AAC

Silence-stripped session master

AU & VST3 master-bus plugins

Free updates · no account · one Mac, transferable

Get Session Recorder Pro →

Download

Put a tape deck on your desk.

Requires macOS 14.4 or later. Start free, upgrade any time — even<br>mid-session.

Download for macOS ↓<br>Install guide

Questions

The honest deal.

Can it recover a take I forgot to record in my DAW?<br>Not as a track you can drop into your project — Session Recorder captures the<br>stereo mix of everything you heard, not isolated stems. What it saves is the<br>idea: how the part went, the arrangement, the words, the feel. Hear it<br>again, then record it properly. That's the honest deal, and it's saved more<br>songs than it sounds like.

Does the free version stop recording after 30 minutes?<br>No — it records forever. It just keeps only the most recent 30 minutes on disk,<br>like a loop of tape. The moment something great happens, open Review and it's there.

What happens when I upgrade mid-session?<br>Activation applies instantly: the rolling window lifts and the very same session<br>keeps everything from that moment on. Nothing is interrupted, nothing is lost.

Do I need an account or an internet connection?<br>No account, ever. Activating Pro checks in online once to register your Mac<br>(one per license); after that it runs offline. Buy once, paste the key, done.

What happens to my recordings if I deactivate?<br>Nothing. Your files are ordinary WAV/M4A files in your Music folder and are never<br>touched, hidden, or re-encoded by licensing changes.

Can a dedicated Mac record an all-analog session?<br>Yes — switch the source in Settings to Interface Input, pick your<br>interface and the input pair fed by the console's two-track out, and hit record.<br>Nothing needs to play through the Mac: it's the modern session DAT, sitting<br>quietly at the end of the desk.

Will it slow down my DAW?<br>The whole engine was built for real-time discipline: measured at roughly 2% of one<br>CPU core sustained while recording, with a lock-free path between the audio thread<br>and disk. Four-hour endurance runs ship with zero dropped samples.

Never lose the moment again

Roll the tape.

Download free and keep the last 30 minutes rolling today. Go Pro when you're<br>ready to keep it all — $49 introductory price, one time.

Download Free →<br>Get Pro — $49

© 2026 Session Recorder. All rights reserved.<br>Privacy · Terms<br>Made for people who hit record too late.

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