Double audio during screen recording

[Andrewzhang00GH]

Describe your issue

When I received a notification, the new message sound will play twice with a very short interval but long enough to notice. Although it do not affect the actual using, but it is annoying.
This problem only happens for the system alert. All the other audio is fine.

Steps to reproduce

I do really want to help reproduce it. But I don't know how. It is just when someone message me, the alert will play twice.
I don't even know if it is actually caused by any error configuration in my app settings.
Please help

What was the expected result?

No response

Put here any screenshots or videos (optional)

No response

Platform

macOS

Application version

BetterAudio 26.5.3 (14)

Operating system (name + version)

26.3

[Andrewzhang00GH]

Problem still exists for the latest update.

[rokartur]

@Andrewzhang00GH Can you record that for me?

[Andrewzhang00GH]

https://www.icloud.com/attachment/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcvws.icloud-content.com%2FB%2FAWbzchSmU8m0cabgpuhWfTK-o2KrAe94_zJoDYJ-wh5nofct9BMvwaxP%2F%24%7Bf%7D%3Fo%3DAvrD9s5X8GdUZ1Nkz8NKZmJFwEPs0NujlWgUrG8kAdJp%26v%3D1%26x%3D3%26a%3DCAog1UtoYM4ltYZgBC1aAQW6O6YKhYnsY-bOX34aSULRpU8SbxDxnNes0TMY8azSgNszIgEAUgS-o2KrWgQvwaxPaidSgy-6TLtIPqtTK0fuVJgVgPNe4ISo8DwShul-_OGmLWXGChLU57FyJ3j1_M5sIa3CjAnPPlsCr-zafIdccRXxkiHsA7jHehadBgItXemGRw%26e%3D1776775632%26fl%3D%26r%3D63395B25-8ADF-4E41-888C-2DEA27E0D2F8-1%26k%3D%24%7Buk%7D%26ckc%3Dcom.apple.clouddocs%26ckz%3DiCloud.com.aviorrok.DynamicLakePro%26p%3D140%26s%3DnRsZPtdLSr_2UugSarfexs5XFEI&uk=WyWT7G39wbHYKN3LtANfqQ&f=Screen%20Recording%202026-03-22%20at%2023.45.44.mov&sz=30155187

But I found it not 100% happening, it is like 80% of the time will happen.

[rokartur]

Hi, I get it now. I'm aware of this issue. The thing is, it's practically impossible to achieve zero latency. I’m considering partnering with a popular screen recording app or creating an open API that any app written in Swift can use to access the audio generated by BetterAudio. Currently, the problem is that any app using ScreenCaptureKit captures both the default system audio and the audio generated by BetterAudio, and because BetterAudio generates a very slight delay, this effect occurs.

[Andrewzhang00GH]

I think the title is not accurate. I'm using screen recording simply because this is the fastest way to make a system alert.
Sending myself a message does not cause system alert. But I'm 100% sure the double audio issue happens when a new notification was sent to me.
It is a bit weird cuz as I said this double audio does not happen all the time. It's like happen once and work well for several times and then happen again. Sorry that I cannot find an exact pattern to help debug it, please tell me if you need me to do anything that can help test it. :)

On the other hand, do you know FineTune? I tried this before and it does not have this specific problem, hopefully it can help.

For me, Betteraudio stands out from other competitors for its UI/UX and stability , but definitely needs it to be reliable for the basic features.

[m13v]

I ran into something similar while building a screen recording SDK for macOS. The double-audio issue often comes from ScreenCaptureKit (or similar capture frameworks) creating a duplicate audio tap alongside the system's own notification sound path. When the capture stream is active, both the direct system audio and the captured/mirrored audio route to the output device.

A few things worth checking:

1. Whether BetterAudio uses an aggregate audio device or a tap-based approach for routing. If it creates a virtual device that mirrors system output, notification sounds can get played once on the real device and once through the mirrored path.

2. Try toggling "excludesCurrentProcessAudio" (if using SCStream) or the equivalent config for your capture method. Sometimes the capture inadvertently re-injects audio that should only play once.

3. On macOS 14+, there is a known timing issue where CoreAudio notifications delivered through the default alert sound path fire twice if there is an active audio tap with certain buffer configurations. Adjusting the buffer size or sample rate on your tap can sometimes resolve it.

Would be curious to know what audio routing approach BetterAudio uses under the hood - that would narrow down where the duplication happens.