DawlessCapture Manual

1. FREE and PRO

• FREE — play, shape (IR and limiter), record audio (wav). Free of charge.
• PRO — everything in FREE, plus video recording from a USB camera (audio taken straight from the instrument's line, baked in from the start), 10 LUT slots applied while recording, camera mirroring, and a large pop-out monitor window.
• Both editions have the same layout. In FREE, the "VIDEO" option under REC is locked and opens this store.

2. Plug in and play

• Plug the USB instrument into the Mac, open the app and press SOUND ON (or Space). The instrument now plays through the Mac's speakers, or whatever output the Mac is currently using.
• IN starts on Auto. Auto picks a device that is connected over USB and has both inputs and outputs, i.e. something shaped like an instrument or an audio interface. Display and built-in microphones, virtual devices and Bluetooth are never picked. This is deliberate: grabbing a microphone would feed back into the speakers.
• If Auto doesn't pick the device you want, choose it from the IN menu. The choice is remembered.
• OUT is whatever the Mac is using for output. It can't be changed inside the app; use the menu bar volume control or System Settings → Sound. The app follows the change without stopping.
• The first time you play, macOS asks whether the app may use the microphone (input). If you declined, turn DawlessCapture on under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone. PRO also asks for the camera the first time you show video.
• While live, the top line shows route · buffer · round-trip latency (ms). The route is chosen automatically (DIRECT when input and output are the same device, AGGREGATE or SYNCED otherwise).
• If you quit with sound on, it starts playing the next time you open the app. If the device isn't connected yet, it waits and starts when you plug it in.

3. Reducing latency

• BUF (buffer) is 32 / 64 / 128 / 256 / 512. Smaller means less delay; too small and the sound breaks up. If it does, go one step up. The default is 64.
• RATE (sample rate) is Auto or any rate both the input and the output support. Choosing one also changes the Mac's output rate (same as doing it in Audio MIDI Setup). The number on the right is the rate actually running. If only 44.1k is offered, the connected device is fixed at 44.1 kHz (common on small Roland units).
• Latency is decided mostly by the output device. Typical round-trip figures at buffer 64:

  USB audio interface / the instrument's own output

  7–8 ms

  MacBook speakers

  about 24 ms

  Studio Display speakers

  about 29 ms

  AirPods and other Bluetooth

  about 160 ms (not usable for playing)

4. Shaping the sound

The signal path is input → GAIN → IR → LIM → (recording) → MON → speakers. GAIN, IR and LIM are recorded; MON only changes what you hear.

GAIN

Input level, -12 to +24 dB. This sets how loud the recording is. Double-click the knob to reset to 0 dB.

MON

Monitoring level. Never affects the recording — turn it down at night and the file is still full level.

Meter

Peak of the recorded signal (before MON). The right edge is 0 dBFS; the vertical line is the limiter ceiling (-1 dB). The bar turns red above it.

IR

Impulse response: puts the "colour" of a piece of gear on the sound. 28 are built in (samplers, tape, consoles, tube, spring reverb, synth filters, FX). None are recordings of real units; they are modelled after their character. You can also load your own .wav / .aiff (the first second is used). Switch with ON / OFF.

LIM

Lookahead limiter (5 ms) with a fixed -1 dB ceiling. Push with GAIN, catch with LIM.

5. Recording audio

• Choose AUDIO on the REC row and press REC. The same button stops (it shows STOP and the elapsed time).
• If sound is off, REC turns it on first. Turning sound off while recording closes the recording.
• What gets recorded is the sound after GAIN → IR → LIM (exactly what you hear), as a 24-bit wav at the running sample rate.
• When you stop, the file is shown in Finder. The file name under the button opens it too. Recordings at the bottom right opens the folder.
• If the Mac is too busy and audio is dropped, silence of the same length is written so the file stays in real time.

6.8. Settings

The gear at the top right. Only things you don't touch every time live here.

Sound off when REC stops

Turns SOUND off once a recording has stopped and been saved.

Mirror camera

Flips the camera left-right. Applies to the preview and the recording.

Skin

Seven colour schemes (the same ones as WAVETRIM).

Everything on screen is remembered between launches: input, BUF, RATE, GAIN, MON, whether sound was on, IR and its ON / OFF, LIM, the REC type, LUT slots and intensity, camera, quality, preview and monitor window, and the settings.

7.9. Where recordings go

Audio (wav)

DAWless Capture inside your Music folder (~/Music/DAWless Capture/). Files are named by date and time, e.g. DAWless 2026-10-03 16.15.34.wav.

Video (mov)

DAWless Capture inside your Movies folder (~/Movies/DAWless Capture/).

Recordings at the bottom right opens the folder for the type currently selected.

8.10. Keyboard shortcuts

Space

SOUND ON / OFF

⌘1–⌘9 ⌘0

Switch LUT slot

⌘R

REC / STOP in the monitor window

⌘?

Open this manual

9.11. Troubleshooting

• No sound, IN is red (Not Connected) — Auto found nothing it is allowed to pick. Choose the device from the IN menu. Some devices aren't visible through a USB hub.
• "Selected input not connected" — the device you chose last time isn't plugged in. Plug it in, or choose another device or Auto.
• Howling / feedback — IN is a microphone and the speakers are feeding back into it. Set IN to the instrument, or use headphones.
• Crackles and dropouts — raise BUF one step. Bluetooth output is both slow and prone to dropouts.
• Only 44.1k in RATE — the connected device is fixed at 44.1 kHz. The app can't change that.
• REC can't be pressed — a file is being saved. Wait a few seconds.
• 4K can't be pressed — that camera doesn't output 4K over USB. The maximum shown is what you get.
• No picture (camera in use by another app) — quit the other app using the camera (Zoom, OBS and so on).
• If that doesn't fix it, or you've found a bug, contact us. Include your Mac model, macOS version, app version (FREE / PRO), the connected gear, and what you did and what happened.