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gwene
gwene
Inspiring
June 30, 2015
Question

Recording System Audio - Need Expert Adobe Assistance per Communication with Soundflower Device

  • June 30, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 1204 views

Hello,

Please help clarify exactly how Adobe Captivate communicates with Soundflower in order to capture system audio, because many of us cannot get it to work.

I have tried multiple permutations of audio configurations. Following these instructions does not work for me:

System audio disabled | Subscription and ASA customers

I have exactly the same issue as this post:   can't record system audio on mac for software demo using sound flower

Also note that I have communicated with another support group regarding their use of Soundflower (for a non-Adobe application called Screenflick). They thought it odd that Captivate requires a new version of Soundflower (as their product does not).

And I have come to the conclusion that it is not the version of Soundflower (I've tried a couple, including the latest).

It is something to do with my configuration somewhere, somehow. But I strongly doubt it is any Mac Audio Preferences, Captivate Preferences, nor Soundflowerbed preferences as I have tried virtually all combinations.

Another interesting thing is that this other (non-Adobe app) recommends *not* launching the Soundflowerbed app at all. In fact when I followed the Adobe instructions here: System audio disabled | Subscription and ASA customers

then launched this other (non-Adobe) app called Screenflick I got this prompt:

Inline image 1 <-- Information from a non-Adobe App called Screenflick

I shut down Soundflowerbed at that point.

Screenflick then successfully records both system audio and/or my microphone (simultaneously if I want-- I simply turn the volume of the system audio way down to prevent reverberation, and Screenflick records it at a perfect volume).

I apologize for continually talking about a non-Adobe application. However, if Screenflick can record system audio by simply making use of the Soundflower system extension, why can't Captivate?

Perhaps it has to do with interoperability of Adobe apps? In which case, I'd be happy not to "interoperate", just to get Captivate to record system audio 

I'd appreciate any and all insight into this issue.

--Gwen

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

gwene
gweneAuthor
Inspiring
July 1, 2015

I have since contacted Adobe Support via phone, and the nice woman easily gave me the correct settings to record system audio within Captivate!

I was amazed, as I had tried many combinations of settings but not these:  See can't record system audio on mac for software demo using sound flower <-- I'll post the solution I was given on this page.

Meanwhile, I am leaving this particular post as an unanswered question:  Basically, how & why does Adobe Captivate use Soundflower in such a fashion? ( per this page's post, note that I describe how Screenflick app. successfully records both system audio and narration in a *much* simpler fashion making use of Soundflower.)

That is not the only reason it would be good to prod Adobe a bit about the soundflower usage technique. Even with the ability to record system audio now in Captivate--at least with the method described on can't record system audio on mac for software demo using sound flower -- it has the following shortcomings:

  • Captivate records the system audio at your computer system's Volume setting. This means, if you wish to have both system audio *and* narration via a microphone you must take steps to prevent echo coming from your system in your microphone. If this involves turning down the volume on one or the other, that can mean potentially a reduced quality of recording, plus necessity of adjusting the audio volume after the fact. (This audio editing is nicely described in this Adobe eLearning Video: Recording System Audio with Adobe Captivate - YouTube )
  • Sometimes, at least on my system, I get pops and clicks resulting (I assume) from the way that Soundflower is being used.

Hopefully I'm missing something, and there is a much more robust way of recording system audio within Captivate. I'd love it to be dumb user error on my part 

So if anyone knows a better way ( better than the solution here: can't record system audio on mac for software demo using sound flower )  I'd greatly appreciate hearing it.

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