Superb recording app for microphone and speakers

WireTap Pro was succeeded by WireTap Studio in 2007, but I still prefer the Pro version because of it’s simplicity, discreetness and easy of use.

You won’t find any mention of WireTap Pro on the developer website apart from old press releases but this review is proof that it does still exist! It’s harder than you’d imagine to find a decent, lightweight and simple recording tool that will record from your microphone, speakers or an input device. WireTap Pro does everything effortlessly and since using it, I’ve never looked back.

WireTap Pro lets you switch between recording from your mic or your speakers in a click. The speaker and microphone are clearly highlighted on front of the main recording panel which is small and discreet. Clicking on them highlights one or the other, or both if you want to record from both sources. The highlighting is a little obscure and could have done with being a bit clearer, but just squint a little and you’ll see which one is activated. Press the record button and you’re done – that’s why I like this app so much. Just remember if you choose both, make sure you wear headphones otherwise WireTap Pro will record both the internal and external output at the same time. So, if you’re recording a telephone conversation, it will record the respondents voice twice and make them sound like a doppelganger or something! When you click ‘Stop’ to halt recording, WireTap Studio immediately prompts you to give a name to the recorded file that it saves within the WireTap Pro folder.

There’s no mucking around with configuring input channels, sound levels and there’s no annoying bleeping or audio warnings, which is ideal for recording phone conversations. However, that’s not to say there’s not plenty of room for tinkering. There are a set of options to change the graphic equalizer and you can choose from 4 recording formats – AIFF, MP3. AAC and Quicktime. The default is AIFF which is a bit annoying but I just changed it to MP3 in a click.

Finally, as a sort of special bonus, WireTap Pro offers an automatic recording tool for radio shows, podcasts and other web broadcasts that can be scheduled according to when they were aired. Of course, nowadays, iTunes and other apps offer this and many web broadcasts are archived for later listening too. However, for those that don’t, it’s a great way to keep track of your favorite broadcasts. Unfortunately, WireTap Pro can’t actually open the web stream for you though – you’ll have to be on hand to do that, but you could always leave it streaming and set WireTap Pro to record while you’re away.

Simplicity, ease of use and discreetness are why WireTap studio is a superb internal and external recording application for Mac.