Capture a Single App
Sometimes you want just one program on its own fader — Spotify separate from your browser, your game separate from Discord — without routing your whole system through virtual cables. That's exactly what an APP channel does: it captures one application's audio directly, and nothing else.
App capture uses a Windows feature that needs Windows 10 build 20348+ or Windows 11. On older builds, use a LOOP (whole-device) channel instead — see the note at the bottom.
1. Add the channel
Menu → Channels → INPUTS tab → + Add a 🎯 APP channel. Name it after the app (Spotify, Chrome, Game).
2. Pick the program
SELECT the channel → SETUP tab → under Application Process, choose the program from the list. Don't see it? Make sure the app is running and playing sound, then click ↺ to refresh.
Browsers and many games play audio from a helper process, not the main window. With this enabled the channel follows all of them, so you don't lose sound when the app spawns a tab or sub-process.
3. Confirm and route
Play something in the app and watch the INPUT meter on the HOME tab — it should move. Then route the channel wherever you like in the Routing matrix (your ears, your stream, a recording bus — its own independent path).
APP vs LOOP — which capture?
| 🎯 APP | 🔄 LOOP | |
|---|---|---|
| Captures | one chosen application | everything on a playback device |
| Virtual cables needed | none | none |
| Best for | isolating Spotify, a browser, a game | "give me all system sound on one fader" |
| Requires | Windows 10 20348+ / Win 11 | any Windows 10 |
Good to know
- Buffer size. Loopback and app capture are happiest with a buffer of 256 samples or higher (Settings → Audio). If a freshly captured app crackles, bump the buffer up.
- Spotify and other DRM apps. Some protected players (Spotify is the famous one) refuse to play when they detect their audio is being captured, especially in WASAPI Exclusive mode — it's an anti-piracy measure, not a bug in Aura Mixer. Work around it by capturing that music with a LOOP channel on your output device, or by playing it through a browser instead.