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DESCRIPTION
WireTap Studio is a professional audio recording, editing, and management solution, allowing you to manage and manipulate your audio with ease. Discretely record from a specific application, record all of your Mac system audio simultaneously, or even record from any hardware/line-in device of your choice.
After recording, edit your clips with WireTap Studio's revolutionary and completely lossless editor. Lossless master recording technology enables you to edit your recorded audio without any loss of quality or content. Come back days, months, or even years later and undo the changes you've made. You can even take a file you mistakenly recorded at a lower quality and increase the quality at any time, without the need to re-record! Even better, patent-pending LivePreview™ technology enables you to preview your audio before you capture it, saving you lots of time and stress. No longer will you need to record multiple bitrates and formats and then compare them side by side. Change the bitrate, compression format, or even add Audio Unit effects, and hear the changes in real time - before you record!
WHAT'S NEW
Version 1.0.12:
- Adds support for Snow Leopard.
- Includes latest AmbrosiaAudioSupport kext (3.0).
- Fixes checking for updates daily.
- Fixed a bug that caused normalization setting to decouple from the peak of the waveform.
- Fixed some memory leaks.
- Deleting large numbers of tracks at a time is much faster.
- iTunes/iPod exporter now properly handles a playlist being renamed while its send dialog is open
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later, QuickTime 7.0 or later, 1GHz G4 or faster, or any Intel Mac
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| WireTap Studio User Reviews (14 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Aug 5 2009 |
FORMICA There are any number of FREE audio recorders/editors, but WireTap Studio is $69? Isn't that a bit greedy? My colleagues and I cannot believe the price of this app. even though Ambrosia is infamous for such pricing, but in this case they're made even more shameful and obvious by the lame justification they offered in the "What's New In This Version" section of their VersionTracker.com posting for Wiretap Studio, which unbelievably reads as follows: "These updates prepare our core Ambrosia productivity tools for the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5.7, as well as improve compatibility with Apple's latest hardware." Does any Mac developer ever release a new version of their software for that first BS reason? And do they ever release updates to fix a hardware incompatibility that NO ONE has complained about on any software review website since their last version was released? Clearly they just wanted to stop the bleeding that the recent release of Jack OS X and other FREE audio editors/recorders inflicted on their market share, and given their dishonorable past business practices, they had no compunction against releasing another pointless update and frivolously marketing WTS on those very same software review websites (which, as you'll see below, are key to their contemptible business plan). Gosh, Ambrosia didn't even claim to fix some of the previous version's bugs, or add one or two new capabilities to this latest version because they're waiting to do that in a future release without their potential customers constantly being reminded that there's new versions available for several FREE apps that do the very same things that WTS charges $69 for! Couldn't Ambrosia hide their unscrupulousness any better than that? If you investigate the past of all FOUR VERSIONS of WireTap XXXXX, you'll discover that Ambrosia has a long history of greedy upgrade policies that piss off their existing customers, but that's how they keep adding new customers every year. And just to preempt the character assassination that I expect from Ambrosia after I write this expose, let me first explain that I have never met and I am in no way related to the makers of ANY of the apps mentioned here (other than my use of Jack instead of WireTap Anywhere because it's a great and FREE program), and I am NOT some disgruntled former Ambrosia employee or customer -- I have never bought any of their software because I caught on to their scummy software renaming scheme (explained in a minute) a couple of years ago when I first compared WireTap Pro against Jack and another great audio-input app called Audio Hijack (which charges $16 and $32 for the two versions of their WireTap competitor app). You see, TODAY AMBROSIA SELLS THIS AUDIO RECORDING APP CALLED WireTap Studio, AND AN AUDIO-INPUT APP CALLED WireTap Anywhere, WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY CALLED WireTap Pro, WHICH ONLY SHORTLY BEFORE WAS CALLED SIMPLY WireTap! To help you fully understand Ambrosia's distracting, dishonest and entirely shameful marketing strategy, just surf over to MacUpdate.com (a company that does not cozy up to the software industry as shamefully as VersionTracker) and look at Ambrosia's posting about its WireTap Studio app (which has customer reviews and other types of feedback going back only to 2007, and which, to be honest, was an outstanding audio recording app -- not an audio-INPUT app like WTA -- when I tested it in 2008). Then check out Ambrosia's MacUpdate posting for WireTap Anywhere, the quality of which I cannot conscionably review here because when it was "originally released" (which really means RENAMED) in 2007, I refused to fully test it because of the unethical marketplace behavior that I describe here, and because I could afford to ignore WTA because of the availability of a truly outstanding and FREE alternative in the form of Jack OS X. When you look at WireTap Anywhere's MacUpdate posting you'll see that THE FEEDBACK GOES ALL THE WAY BACK TO 2003 -- 4 years before Ambrosia's own website claims that WireTap Anywhere was first released. This is because WireTap Anywhere was not really a new product in 1997 but was just a RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap Pro, WHICH IN TURN WAS JUST A RENAMED VERSION OF WireTap. Part of Ambrosi's strategy has been that very time they changed the name of their main app Ambrosia used that new name to claim that it was "really a whole new version that was completely rewritten and has a totally new set of capabilities!" In this way they repeatedly justified CHARGING ALL THEIR OLDER (and therefore more professionally settled/rich) CUSTOMERS A SECOND SHAREWARE FEE (if the customer wanted to obtain the newest version), and it gave the company a NEW OPPORTUNITY TO MARKET THEIR "NEW" MAIN APP, and it gave them a new opportunity and (specious) justification to DUPE THE SOFTWARE UPDATE WEBSITES LIKE MacUpdate.com (which first fell for it, then didn't fall for it) AND VersionTracker.com (which originally and to this day turns a blind eye to it) INTO LETTING THEM START OVER WITH A CLEAN HISTORY OF USER FEEDBACK IN ORDER TO ERASE ALL THE OLD NEGATIVE FEEDBACK, AND TO HELP THEM GIVE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS THE IMPRESSION THAT IT REALLY IS A NEW AND DIFFERENT APP (when all the old users but none of the new users know that, in fact, it is the same old app but with perhaps one more new capability, or maybe even just a different method of graphically organizing it). Non-critics of such disgusting business practices (like probably Ambrosia) call this "cross-grade" marketing, which is the production of several versions of one type of app that all have overlapping capabilities in order to justify a constant though confusing product upgrade cycle which enables the company to force some customers to pay repeatedly while still attracting a bevy of new customers every year. A lot of scumbag companies use this marketing "philosophy," though I'll let you decide which ones they are. Of course, for this to work, the company's apps have to be of sufficiently higher quality than their competition's apps or customers wouldn't put up with that sh!t and your company would slowly whither and die. So, now you know.
(Version 1.0.11) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Aug 28 2009 |
BIGDAVE56 C'mon... Tell us how you REALLY feel...
(Version 1.0.12) | |
| May 18 2009 |
NIGEL2112 This is not a review of WTS as I have not used it. I had WT Pro which I used almost daily. It was a neat little app although a tad pricey for what it did, but I bought it and used the heck out of it. Then I reinstalled my OS to unjunk my iMac, I go to Ambrosia to see about getting WTP back and now it's 'Studio' and the price has gone to almost SEVENTY dollars! I can't go back to 'Pro' it's gone and forgotten, so now I'm just left with a bad taste in my mouth. So much for Ambrosia. I don't care how good they think their stuff is, they're just plain greedy.
(Version 1.0.11) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
 | May 27 2009 |
You can still find WireTap Pro here: http://ambrosia.cachefly.net/wiretap/essentials/WireTapPro.dmg We recently updated it for the last time, but have not tested it against the 10.5.7 update to OS X. Comparing WireTap Studio to WireTap Pro: WireTap Studio is a full-fledged audio solution - it can record from a discrete application (WireTap Pro could only capture Mac audio generally) and an editor, as well as containing a nifty way to transfer audio to different places - email, servers, external devices, or even your iPhone. WireTap Pro has none of these features. To be more specific with that first feature - when you click "Record" in WireTap Pro, we capture *every* sound coming through your Mac. So if you're recording an interview over Skype and your microphone, and new email arrives or someone IMs you, the sounds produced by those events will be right there in your recording. WireTap Studio, on the other hand, will let you target a specific microphone and a specific application, letting you record with certainty that you'll only get what you want, and that's even BEFORE you use LivePreview, and the lossless editing we put in there.
(Version 1.0.11) | |
| Jun 3 2009 |
NIGEL2112 I have no doubt that you believe your software is the best and can give me proof, but you're now asking way too much money for the ability to record audio on the Mac. I just need a quick and simple way to capture audio, I don't need a whole studio, and I dare say a large proportion of your potential customers don't either. You may have thought it was very clever to replace (instead of add to) WTPro with a higher cost product with more features but you've just pushed a whole level of business away.
(Version 1.0.11) | |
| Dec 4 2008 |
BIGDAVE56 I'm not going to comment on the app feature set except to agree with another poster that input level control and metering are lacking. There are meters, but they are tiny and uncalibrated (except for changing color at overload). There is no support for VST plugins according to the developer, yet, strangely, the installer reports several times during the process 'installing VST plugin'. Most of that reflects personal preference, but I have one major beef, and that is with the licensing process. Instead of the license lasting the life of the product, like essentially every other app on the market,you have to renew periodically. For me, that always seems to happen when I haven't used the app in awhile and am trying to capture something in a hurry. Worse, instead of telling you what the frak the issue is, the app simply crashes at launch if the license has already expired. Luckily, previous experience with this problem led me to the solution, which was to reinstall the app, which puts it in trial mode. Then you have to go to Licensing under the Wiretap menu and enter your license key (hope you saved it so you could look it up, another hoop to jump through). Only then does Wiretap tell you that your license is expired and you need to renew. Fortunately, once you get to that point, it only takes a few more seconds. But it is a total PITA that does nothing to make me want to use the app. I would go so far as to say it is the most annoying license process I have ever seen. Partly as a result of all this, I use Audio Hijack Pro a lot more. I don't have to go through the above irritation, it has usable metering (and support for plugin options like PSP VintageMeter, which I love), and I don't have to squint at it to use it. Overall, the three stars seems to be in the ballpark. It has some interesting features, but...
(Version 1.0.6) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
 | Nov 24 2008 |
GLOBETROTTERDK Can anyone explain the difference between WireTap Studio and WireTap Anywhere?
(Version 1.0.6) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Dec 19 2008 |
AMBROSIASW The easiest way to explain the difference is that WireTap Studio is a complete system for capturing your recordings, editing them to the exact way you want them to sound and a transferring application. WireTap Anywhere is located in your System Preferences window, and is something that allows you to create virtual audio devices. Meaning you can select a multitude of audio inputs, be it microphones to applications such as skype, and harness them into a single audio source, which can then be used by existing software. No need to have the overly complicated mixing board for 5 microphones, then try to input the sound from iChat, Skype, and iTunes. With Wiretap Anywhere, you can simply select all these, create your own virutal device and that will appear as a single item in your softwares audio input. We offer video turtorials on both products on the Ambrosia Website. Also, both products have a trial period so you can try them both and learn the difference with a more hands on approach.
(Version 1.0.6) | |
 | Apr 18 2008 |
MOOGAN After trying the demo, I find that WireTap Studio is an easy to use, neatly designed application which lacks a couple of features I expected. There doesn't appear to be any obvious metering, other than calling up the source tab in the preferences window, not very convenient. No control over whether it's peak or RMS metering either. No level (gain) controls for the recording level? Live preview is an interesting feature but with some experience you should be able to judge which format and level of compression to use anyway. There are some well designed features however, and this app will suit some users exactly, worth evaluating and comparing with Audio Hijack Pro etc.
(Version 1.0.6) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Apr 8 2008 |
MACERICG One request for Mr. Welch: This is a great app for recording streaming audio -- if you know how to go back and label everything appropriately. Developer Roxio boasts that their new version of Toast has "audio fingerprint identification" to tag songs automatically -- http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/listen.html -- I've tried it, but I'm not impressed. It seems to try linking files back to Gracenote after-the-fact, rather than pulling from the streaming data labels. Any chance of building a similar (and better) feature into WireTap Studio?
(Version 1.0.6) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Apr 9 2008 |
AMBROSIASW I'm not Mr. Welch, but I'll reply :). This feature is on the feature request list. I would love to see it. Since WireTap Studio records at the system level it's not capturing any of the information from the streams to add into tags. Because of this, WireTap Studio can record from a much broader set of sources. As the application grows, hopefully this feature can be added. Thanks for the feedback!
(Version 1.0.6) | |
| Mar 28 2008 |
SWORDFISH Maybe I'm missing something, but is there a "Statistics" function? For measuring clipped samples and average sound levels (RMS power)?
(Version 1.0.5) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Mar 31 2008 |
I'm sorry, but WireTap Studio does not have a "Statistics" function. The information on the audio segment that had been recorded with WireTap Studio can be found in the audio editing window. Should you have any questions on how to use the software, Ambrosia offers video tutorials which are free to watch on their WireTap Studio page. You are also free to post questions on the webboard or write to tech support. | |
| Mar 12 2008 |
JDUB800 This is a great, solid application. Well designed and full featured. It filled a spot I had suffered for ages. Worth the cash. Once caveat - The update mechanism seems a bit fiddly. Could Sparkle not just update the app in situ instead of running an installer? Minor niggle, I know... :)
(Version 1.0.5) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Mar 13 2008 |
AMBROSIASW Thanks for your kind words regarding WireTap Studio. As for the update process, WireTap Studio consists of an application as well as a kernel extension. Sparkle is unable to update kernel extensions directly so an installer must be used.
(Version 1.0.5) | |
| Oct 31 2007 |
J.B. Unfortunately, this just isn't working on Leopard.
(Version 1.0) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Feb 18 2008 |
AMBROSIASW The Current version of WireTap Studio is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
(Version 1.0.4) | |
| Oct 20 2007 |
Much better than other similar apps. If you have the equipment. (Mac OS X 10.4 or later, QuickTime 7.0 or later, 1GHz G4 or faster, or any Intel Mac) The "other" apps work fine if you don't. Ease of use, format choices, LivePreview, intuitive editing - all combined, a much better product. If you have a need (or desire) for this utility, you will really like it. It is slick and fun.
(Version 1.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
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