Mac & BUTT? Can it work?

Krell Karu · Mac & BUTT? Can it work?

I am in the process if weaning myself from my trusty laptop companion of 7 years, which was a Windows affair. In its place, I am transitioning to a brand spankin' new 17" MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.

All my streaming so far has been with Reaper & its captive shoutcast plugin. As I have a lot of work already embodied in Reaper projects, I'd like to stick with that as my backtrax/effects/mixer, etc. Fortunately, the Mac version of Reaper is enough like the Win version of reaper that I scarcely notice the difference.

However, the Windows Reaper shoutcast plugin does not work on the mac (duh?). Hence, I need a different source client to perform the streaming itself.

I want to use BUTT for this purpose. However, I can't seem to get it configured so it sees the output of Reaper.

I understand others (bong?) have gotten BUTT on a mac to see software audio devices - be they Reaper, iTunes, Garage Band, or whatever.

Can anyone confirm or deny that BUTT on a mac (Snow Leopard) can take an Audio Device that is actually the output of some other software? Do I need some sort of utility to present the internal audio as a hardware device to BUTT?

Krell Karu · Streaming on mac with Reaper and BUTT solved

OK, I got it all to work. One of bong's posts did indeed have the answer, though I was too ignorant to recognize it as such. I post here to help others who may tread the same ground in the future.

So it appears that BUTT will not directly take an input from another program. The only sources it recognizes are those that follow a hardware API.

Similarly, Reaper will not send directly to a program. It will however, send output to whatever appears to it to be a hardware audio output.

Because of this mismatch, Reaper will not send directly to BUTT, as that would be a case of software send to software input.

The key is to have a program running on your computer, that *appears* to be a sound card. By adhering to the necessary API's, this software will be indistinguishable from a soundcard, from the perspective of either Reaper or BUTT.

Soundflower is such a program. To Reaper (or other SW), it appears to be a sound card output, and to BUTT (or other SW) it appears as a sound card input stage.

Once Soundflower is installed and running, in Reaper, where you are selecting your output, you just select "Soundflower (2 ch)". In BUTT, In Settings>Main>AudioDevice, you also select "Soundflower (2ch)". In this manner, Soundflower is a 'virtual patch cable' that routes your DAW to your source client.

Soundflower is a free program from Cycling 74, a company with a rich heritage in computer music.

There are other offerings that would likely be suitable as well. Jack is a port to Mac from the FOSS community which would likely be another great choice. I tried Soundflower first, it worked, I don't feel I need any additional functionality, so I've not compared Jack as another alternative. If Soundflower gets buggy, I'll look into Jack.

http://cycling74.com/products/soundflower/

Tishe

Thanks Krell!! I hope it's okay with you (and everyone else) if I put a cross post in the "Need Some Advice" section pointing to this post. I'm sure lots of folks will find it helpful.

richdesoto

This is a very helpful post. I'm transitioning (BACK!) to the Mac after several years away. When I come (BACK!) to SL to start playing again, I want to be able to use the tracks from my album project in some performances.

I wondered how to include them using BUTT on the Mac. Sounds like a great solution!

Mac & BUTT? Can it work?

Streaming on mac with Reaper and BUTT solved