When you need to record audio from one application to another, loopback is the solution. But what if your interface doesn’t have a loopback feature? We show you how to get there without the clutter.

Why Do We Need Loopback Products Like Source-Nexus?

Whether you’re recording a Zoom or Skype call into your DAW, or streaming audio from DAW to DAW, having a way to pipe sound around your computer while staying in the box is invaluable. Whatever the reason, the need to record audio between applications is something that many of us will have come up against before now, which often used to mean patching physically between source and destination audio interfaces. Not only was this unwieldy, but it also involved a trip through the convertors and back, which is less than ideal.

Loopback products like Source-Nexus allow us to ditch the clutter by providing virtual I/O. This comes from an audio driver, be that your interface’s one or a standalone solution such as Jack, Rogue Amoeba Loopback, Ground Control or (the now unsupported) Soundflower.

Source-Nexus

Up until now, using a standalone driver could be a rather hit-and-miss experience, despite some very usable freeware coming and going, with a large gulf between solutions for those moving between Mac and Windows systems.

Slotting in alongside Source Elements’ other collaboration tools, Source-Nexus is a new solution that has been developed to neatly circumvent these problems by providing a paid, properly supported Windows and Mac solution to plug the gap and plays nicely with your system.

Users can connect up pretty much any application with Source-Nexus, including NLE’s, web browsers or software metering for example.

The thing that differentiates Source-Nexus from other solutions is having up to 64 channels of virtual I/O available, which means it has pretty much any scenario covered. Users who want to use aggregate devices with Source-Nexus can set them up in Mac OS’s Audio MIDI setup. When it comes to Windows, Windows 10 does not have a native tool to group audio devices, but Source Elements tell us that ASIO4ALL doesn’t work too well with Source-Nexus and they recommend FlexASIO instead.

For Pro Tools HDX users Source-Nexus is the only loopback product that will work on HDX systems or other proprietary DAW audio hardware that are not visible to other loopback applications.

Once installed, Source-Nexus comes in the shape of a plugin that is instantiated on bus or aux channels fed from sources playing into the Nexus virtual driver. Watch the video where I show you how to use Source-Nexus to capture audio from a web browser into a DAW while adding voiceover as well.

Final Thoughts

Source-Nexus brings a useful problem solver to Windows or Mac systems for creators and podcasters who might otherwise have to dust down an unwelcome tangle of TRS leads, USB leads, or worse, minijack cables... If you want a professional loopback solution on your side head over Source Elements to check out Source-Nexus for yourself.