Skip to content
New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Jump to bottom

FaceTime is blocking BlackHole. #702

Open
4 of 7 tasks
drgrib opened this issue Jan 29, 2023 · 14 comments
Open
4 of 7 tasks

FaceTime is blocking BlackHole. #702

drgrib opened this issue Jan 29, 2023 · 14 comments
Labels
Blame Apple wontfix This will not be worked on

Comments

@drgrib
Copy link

drgrib commented Jan 29, 2023

Please Confirm

  • I have read the FAQ and Wiki where most common issues can be resolved
  • I have searched Discussions to see if the same question has already been asked
  • This is a bug and not a question about audio routing or configuration, which should be posted in Discussions

macOS Version

macOS 13 Ventura

BlackHole Build(s) Affected

  • 2 channel
  • 16 channel
  • 64 channel
  • other/custom build

Describe the bug

I have a Multi-Output Device set up in Audio MIDI Setup with BlackHole 2ch and MacBook Pro Speakers. Recording audio through Quicktime with BlackHole 2ch as the audio source works fine for Chrome with YouTube videos. My microphone is also at full volume.

This whole configuration also works fine with the FaceTime app open on MacOS. However, the moment I join a call (with 2 other people in my test case), my microphone and speaker volume plummet to barely audible. To confirm, the people on the call told me they could barely hear me. I have checked the recorded audio that QuickTime got from the call and it is at the same low volume.

Changing back to Use This Device For Sound Output on the MacBook Pro Speakers restores all volume but obviously negates my ability to record system audio directly.

Reproduction Steps

  1. Use This Device For Sound Output on Multi-Output Device with BlackHole 2ch
  2. Join FaceTime Call

Expected Behavior

Normal volume for microphone and speaker during FaceTime call with BlackHole 2ch available as recording device for QuickTime.

Screenshots

MultiOutputDevice
@drgrib drgrib added the bug Something isn't working label Jan 29, 2023
@devinroth
Copy link
Member

devinroth commented Jan 29, 2023 via email

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

First test I did was change kAudioDeviceTransportTypeVirtual to kAudioDeviceTransportTypeUSB and that allowed the microphone to work. But I still couldn't hear the other participants. Then I changed kDriver_Name to something other than BlackHole and it works. That means that Apple is not only blocking virtual audio devices, but they are also specifically blocking BlackHole. I'm flattered that I've made such a big impact that Apple has taken the time to hard code BlackHole into FaceTime so they can block it from functioning.

@drgrib
Copy link
Author

drgrib commented Jan 29, 2023

Wow. That is crazy. So that means if you try to find a way around this, you are basically taking on Apple directly to unblock something they specifically tried to block. Thanks for the speedy investigation. Do you have thoughts on what you will do? Try to find a workaround or just accept that they want BlackHole blocked? I could switch to using web based video chat.

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

devinroth commented Jan 30, 2023 via email

@drgrib
Copy link
Author

drgrib commented Jan 30, 2023

That's awesome. I don't think I'll have the extra time to commit to beta testing, unfortunately, but I will likely be a customer of the product. It would definitely be nice to not have to fiddle with my Audio Midi Setup to activate this feature.

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

devinroth commented Jan 30, 2023 via email

@gooru2u
Copy link

gooru2u commented Feb 4, 2023

I also have been dabbling with this setup. I'm using MacOS 12.6.3 and managed to get my calls to work using Blackhole. The unfortunate thing though it won't work using a Multi Output device. I have to put the app outputting the audio to only use Blackhole. In my case, this doesn't allow me to hear my feedback of my own voice with what I'm trying to accomplish. However, I am able to hear the person on the other side of the call just fine. So it works sort of for my situation.... like others have said, Multi Output works with other apps no problem from my testing. In case anyone is wondering, I'm using GarageBand to send my vocal to FT, and also a regular phone call using Blackhole and it worked as described above.

BTW....I would be willing to Beta test, I'm always interested in audio related stuff.

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

Cool. Well I'm not quite at a point where I have something ready for beta but I just setup a discord channel for it when it's ready. So come on over and I'll message the channel when I have it ready. https://discord.gg/pmWKPcxhgt

@devinroth devinroth added wontfix This will not be worked on and removed bug Something isn't working labels Feb 6, 2023
@devinroth
Copy link
Member

I just posted an alpha build on discord for anyone interested.

@FelikZ
Copy link

FelikZ commented Mar 17, 2023

@devinroth does this mean that blackhole is abandoned in favour of a potentially new paid software or you are not affilicated with ExistentialAudio?

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

devinroth commented Mar 17, 2023 via email

@devinroth devinroth changed the title Blackhole Volume Plummets in Microphone and Speakers when Accepting FaceTime Call on MacOS FaceTime is blocking BlackHole. Mar 25, 2023
@Therianulf
Copy link

Just wanted to stop by and say that FaceTime isn't the only app effected, Voice Memos is also affected. Pretty big middle finger from apple.

@devinroth
Copy link
Member

devinroth commented Apr 2, 2023 via email

@sgbotsford
Copy link

You’re absolutely right. I just tested and got the same result. Although this isn’t a BlackHole bug but rather a FaceTime bug.

I know that apple prevents any app from directly recording phone calls. The rumour was that it was to keep the phone from being used in "both parties must agree to record" jurisdictions.

With Voice Memo and FaceTime affected, see if they use a common audio library. I'm not a programmer other than a touch of perl hacking. Can you determine what libraries an app is linked against in a way that will help?

If other sound apps are not affected see if FT uses a library that the unaffected ones doesn't.

Might also be interesting to see if this happens with earlier OS builds, see if you can find out a specific time when this change happened.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Assignees
No one assigned
Labels
Blame Apple wontfix This will not be worked on
Projects
None yet
Milestone
No milestone
Development

No branches or pull requests
6 participants
@FelikZ @drgrib @Therianulf @sgbotsford @devinroth @gooru2u