Support

How to get help with Hi-Fi Audio Sim for Mac, HiFi Player for iPhone and HiFi Rack for iPad.

Hi-Fi Audio Sim for Mac

Can I import the music already on my Mac, and fix its tags and album artwork?

Yes. In Master Recordings, the second tab of the Recording Libraries window, press Import… beside the title and choose a folder or files. FLAC, Apple Lossless and AAC come in as they are, WAV and AIFF become FLAC, MP3 becomes Apple Lossless, and your originals are left alone. Open the take and press Edit… on a file to change its title, artist, album, track number and cover, or type into Name this Album to name every file at once. Drop an image on a row to add a cover. When you are done, press Publish… to write the files in the format you choose into a folder of your choice, and add that folder to your catalogue if you like.

Can I record from apps running on my Mac?

Yes. In Settings under Audio, set Line inputs to Apps on this Mac. Each of the two jacks, PHONO and AUX, can then be pointed at one app by name or at This Mac, which is everything the Mac is playing. Select that jack on the amplifier, or on the deck's REC SOURCE, and it records like any other source. Nothing is captured until a jack is both pointed at something and selected. The rack never records its own output, and alert sounds are left out. A web browser has to be recorded with This Mac rather than by name. It needs macOS 14.2 or later, and macOS asks for permission the first time.

Do I need an audio interface to record?

No. In Settings under Audio, set Line inputs to Apps on this Mac and choose This Mac for PHONO or for AUX. That jack then carries everything the Mac is playing, so a browser, a streaming service or any other app can go straight onto a tape. While the jack is selected the sound comes out of the rack rather than your speakers, so you hear it once rather than twice, and it goes back to normal when the jack is not selected. Alert sounds are left out, and the rack never records its own output. An interface is still what you want for a turntable, a cassette player or anything else outside the Mac. This needs macOS 14.2 or later, and macOS asks for permission the first time.

Can I record the sound from a web browser?

Yes, with This Mac. In Settings under Audio, set Line inputs to Apps on this Mac and choose This Mac for the jack you want. Choosing Safari or Chrome by name does not work, because a browser plays its sound through a separate helper process rather than its own, and the display reads NO AUDIO if you try.

Why does the app I chose go quiet?

It has not stopped. While the jack is selected the app leaves your speakers and comes out of the rack instead, through VOLUME, so you hear it once rather than twice. Select another input and it plays normally again. With This Mac, everything the Mac is playing moves across the same way, apart from alert sounds and the rack's own output.

Will my alert sounds end up on the recording?

No. Alert sounds are left out of This Mac whichever output they are set to, and you still hear them in the room. A sound an app plays itself is part of what that app is playing, so that is recorded.

Why is my high-resolution file recorded at 48 kHz from This Mac?

The sound of an app is taken at the rate of the output device in your Mac's Sound settings, which is where other apps play. A 96 kHz file through an output running at 48 is already 48 before the rack sees it. Set that device to 96 kHz in Audio MIDI Setup, or play the file on the tuner instead, which takes it at its own rate.

The display reads NO AUDIO and the app is running. Why?

An app can be tapped only once it is playing something, so one that is running and silent reads NO AUDIO until it starts. Press play in the app and the display shows its name. A web browser keeps saying NO AUDIO however long it plays, because it plays through a separate helper process. Choose This Mac for a browser.

Can I digitise my old cassettes?

Yes, with an audio interface connected to your Mac and a cassette player plugged into it. Format a virtual cassette the same length as the real one, set the deck's SOURCE to LINE, and record side A, then side B. The manual's Recording Your Own Cassettes page has the steps. Afterwards name the tracks and export the cassette with its own covers.

Can I digitise my vinyl records?

Yes, with a turntable connected to an audio interface, through a phono stage if it needs one. Set the deck's SOURCE to LINE, switch MASTER on with no tape in the deck, press REC at the start of a side and STOP at its end. The take is a lossless file at your interface's own rate. In Master Recordings, Edit and Split… suggests where the tracks meet from the gaps between them. Name each piece, or let Identify name it, split the take into files, add a cover and publish.

Can I make a mixtape and play it on my phone or in the car?

Yes. Record one onto a cassette or a DAT, or press Import in the Deck Library to lay a folder of tracks out over a cassette's two sides. Then choose Export to Files from the tape's menu. Every file gets a cover drawn from the tape, Export as a mixtape tags the tracks as one album with each side of a cassette as a disc, and a playlist keeps them in tape order. Copy the folder to your phone, or to a USB stick for the car.

Can I record a radio station and keep just the songs?

Yes. Play the station, set the deck's REC SOURCE to TUNER, switch MASTER on with no tape in the deck, and press REC. A station that sends its song titles marks every change of song as it records. In Master Recordings, Edit and Split… turns those marks into splits, Suggest Breaks finds the adverts and the news and marks them Leave out, and the songs are split into named files you can publish.

Can I rip my CDs?

Yes. Put the disc in, then in Master Recordings press Import… and choose the CD. Each track comes in as Apple Lossless, identical to the disc, named and tagged from the disc lookup when the disc is found. Publish it in any format from there.

Can I remix a track, or push the vocal back?

Up to a point, and without separating the instruments. In Master Recordings, Send to Master Remix opens a file on a desk that splits it into six parts by frequency and by position: bass, air, and the centre and the sides of two middle bands. Each part has a fader, a mute and a solo. Turning the upper centre down pushes a lead vocal back, and turning the sides up widens the record. MIX DOWN writes what you are hearing, and you can publish that on its own or in the original's place in the take. The recording itself is never changed.

Does it really sound like a cassette, and can I turn that off?

As a cassette plays you hear a soft hiss in the quiet parts, slightly softer treble, a little thickening on loud passages and a faint waver on held notes, depending on the tape type and the deck's condition. Settings, under Cassettes, switches each part off, or all of it with Tape character. None of it is recorded onto the cassette, so the change applies to every cassette at once.

Can it name the songs on a tape for me?

Yes, with your Mac's own music recognition, through a shortcut. In Settings, under Audio, press Install Shortcut, then Test. Press IDENTIFY on the deck to name the track playing, or Identify Tracks in Edit Tape to name a whole tape. It needs macOS 14.4.1 or later.

Are my recordings high-resolution?

A DAT or a cassette holds 16 bit audio, as the formats did. Switch MASTER on and a lossless copy of the source is kept beside the tape at its own rate and depth, which is up to 24 bit and 192 kHz from an audio interface, an exact copy of a CD, or whatever the app you are recording from this Mac is playing.

Can I play the music on my network drive or media server?

Yes. Add folders, including network shares mounted in the Finder, in Settings under Music Sources. Scan Network finds DLNA media servers, and Add Server adds one by its address. Everything goes into one catalogue, with playlists and a play queue across all of it.

What can I put in the play queue?

Any track in your catalogue, from wherever it lives: music folders on your Mac, on an external drive or on a network share, mixed freely with tracks from DLNA media servers in the same queue. Double click a track in the catalogue, or drag tracks and albums into the queue, and drag them into the order you want. Save as Playlist… keeps a queue you like, to play again from the Playlists tab.

Will it fit on my laptop screen?

Yes. Both racks are 1,000 by about 625 points at their usual size, which fits a 13-inch MacBook Pro from 1280 × 800 up. The rack fills its window, so drag the window smaller on a laptop, or larger on a big display, and the rack follows. Settings, under Appearance, offers three finishes and lets you set the display colours.

Can I play through AirPlay or Bluetooth speakers?

Yes. Press SPEAKERS on the amplifier, or use Settings under Audio. A receiver joins the list once your Mac is sending sound to it, and the same panel has a button that opens Sound Settings so you can pick it. A receiver holds about two seconds of sound before it plays any of it, and the app waits the same amount before it moves the meters, the counters and the track names, so they keep step with what you hear.

What does the app send over the internet?

Only three things: the disc lookup when a CD goes in, your station searches, and the stations you play. A station search carries what you typed, and your country when that tick box is on, which comes from your Mac's Region setting rather than your location. DLNA stays on your own network. Naming by music recognition is done by Apple, through your shortcut. There is no account and no analytics, and nothing is collected. The privacy policy has the details.

Where are my tapes kept, and how do I back them up?

Tapes are ordinary files in the folder you choose in Settings, under Deck Library, and master recordings are in your Master Library. Back them up as you would any files, with Time Machine for example. Your catalogue and playlists can be saved to a file with Save… beside Current, in Settings under Music Sources.

How much space are my recordings using?

Choose About Hi-Fi Audio Sim from the Hi-Fi Audio Sim menu. The chart splits them four ways, audio cassettes, DAT tapes, hard disks and master recordings, with each one's size and share beside it. The figures are what the recordings take up on disk, which is what the Finder shows.

Why does a recording on my shelf have a cloud on it?

Its audio is in iCloud rather than on this Mac, which happens when your library folder is in iCloud Drive and the Mac is set to optimise storage. The recording stays on the shelf. Choose Download from iCloud, in the pane beside it or in its menu, and it comes back. Nothing is downloaded until you ask, so opening the window and reading an inlay card leave your recordings where they are. Rescan in the toolbar picks up anything iCloud has taken away or handed back while the window was open.

What it does not do

Can I export MP3?

No. macOS has no MP3 encoder. Choose AAC for small files: it plays on almost everything that plays MP3. MP3s you import come in as Apple Lossless.

Can other apps open my tapes?

No. Choose Export to Files from the tape's menu in the Deck Library for ordinary audio files, or Export to Master to work on them in Master Recordings.

Can I copy one tape to another, or record two at once?

No. The rack holds one recording deck at a time: DAT, cassette or hard disk. To copy a tape, export it to files, choose another deck with the RECORDER keys on the amplifier or in the Rack menu, and put the files on a new tape with Import in the Deck Library.

Can it decode the noise reduction on my real cassettes?

No. The app's noise reduction only turns down the hiss it adds itself. If a real cassette was recorded with noise reduction, switch the same on at your cassette player while you copy it.

Can the Master Library be on a network drive?

No. It has to be on your Mac or on a drive plugged into it. Your music folders can be on a network share.

Can it find album artwork online?

No. You add your own images in Master Recordings, from the Finder, a browser or the clipboard. An exported tape gets a cover the app draws from the tape itself.

Can I burn a CD?

No. The CD player plays discs and Master Recordings imports them, but the app does not write discs.

Does the eject key open an empty CD drive?

No. The app can eject a disc that is in the drive, but it cannot open an empty drive. Use the drive's own button, then put the disc in.

Will my high-resolution exports play on every network player?

Not always. Some network players and speakers play nothing above 48 kHz. Publish or export at 44.1 or 48 kHz for those.

On a MacBook, what does music recognition listen to?

Whatever your Mac's sound input is set to. On a MacBook that is the built in microphone unless you choose otherwise, so it hears the room and the music has to be playing out loud. An audio interface with a loopback, or audio routing software, lets it hear the music directly. Check the input in System Settings, under Sound.

Is there an iPhone or iPad version?

Both, as separate apps. HiFi Player on the iPhone draws a tape and plays it. HiFi Rack on the iPad draws the rack itself: the amplifier, the equaliser, the tuner and a recording deck. Each plays the recordings this app makes, with their sides, track marks and cassette sound, and each is licensed on its own. Send a recording across with Send to Device, in the Deck Library; the same folder serves both. Recording, editing and everything else stay on the Mac. See The iPhone Player and HiFi Rack for iPad in the app's manual.

Playing these recordings on a phone or an iPad? See HiFi Player for iPhone and HiFi Rack for iPad below.

HiFi Player for iPhone

What is HiFi Player?

A free app for iPhone that plays the cassettes, DAT tapes and hard disks made in Hi-Fi Audio Sim, with their sides, their track marks and their cassette sound. It has a transport, an equaliser and meters, and it only reads.

Do I need the Mac app as well?

To make tapes, yes. The player comes with two demo tapes, so you can hear what it does before you have any of your own.

How do I get my tapes onto my phone?

On the Mac, choose a folder in Settings under Deck Library, then pick Send to Device from a tape's menu in the Deck Library. On the phone, choose that same folder the first time you open the app. A folder in iCloud Drive is the easiest, because the Mac can write straight into it. You can also drop a tape into the player's own folder with Finder, with the phone plugged in.

Do I need iCloud?

No. Any folder the Files app can reach will do, including the player's own folder on the phone. iCloud Drive is simply the one that needs no cable.

I sent a tape across and it is not on the shelf.

Pull down on the shelf to look again. A tape still on its way from iCloud appears with a cloud badge and its size, and plays once it has arrived.

What do the cloud and phone symbols mean, and what is Offload?

A cloud with an arrow means the tape is in the cloud and not on the phone; tap it to fetch it. A phone means it is here, and its menu offers Offload, which frees the space and leaves the tape safe in the cloud. Both are also swipe actions on the row.

A tape says it has not finished downloading.

Its label has arrived and its audio has not, which is normal for a large tape on a slow connection. Wait for it, or open the folder in Files and fetch it there.

Where did the demo tapes go?

They step aside as soon as you choose a folder of your own, so they are not mixed in with your recordings. They are still on the phone, under On My iPhone in the Files app, and you can delete them there. Forget the folder and they come back.

Can I record, rename or edit a tape on the phone?

No. The player only reads, and nothing you do on it changes a tape. That is what makes it safe to keep your only copy in a shared folder.

Will it remember where I was?

Yes, for each tape, kept on the phone. The first time it meets a tape it picks up where the Mac left off.

How do I wind a tape?

Hold a skip key. Cassette Settings sets the winding speed, separately for cassettes and for DAT tapes, from a realistic wind to instant. A hard disk skips straight to the track instead, because there is no tape to wind.

Does it turn a cassette over?

Yes. It runs on from side A into side B by itself, and the display says which side you are on.

Does it really sound like a cassette?

Yes. A soft hiss in the quiet parts, slightly softer treble, a little thickening on loud passages and a gentle waver, all following the tape type and the deck condition the recording was made with. Turn it off in Cassette Settings and the tape plays exactly as it was stored.

What are the four keys under the transport?

The equaliser's memories, with the same seven bands as the rack and the same four curves to start from. Press one to use it, and press the lit one again to switch the equaliser off. You can rename them to whatever means something to you, such as the headphones you use on the train.

Do the meters and the counter keep up over AirPlay?

Yes. AirPlay plays about two seconds behind, so the player waits the same amount before it moves them. They match what you are hearing rather than what has been sent. On headphones and wired output there is nothing to wait for.

Two edges of that are worth knowing. After you press play the counter sits still for a moment, because nothing later than that has reached you yet. After you press stop the meters drop at once while the receiver plays out what it already holds.

Is there a CarPlay app?

There is no icon on the car's home screen. Choose a tape on the phone before you set off and the car's own Now Playing screen takes over, with the cover, the title and working play, stop and skip keys.

Why is a picture of the tape shown as the cover?

Because that is what is playing. The player draws the cassette, DAT tape or drive, with its name and the side you are on, for the lock screen, the car and AirPlay.

Which iPhones does it run on?

iPhones running iOS 15 or later.

Does it send anything anywhere?

No. It has no network connection of any kind, no account and no analytics. The privacy policy says so in full.

How much room does a tape take on the phone?

The same as on the Mac, since a tape is uncompressed: about 635 MB an hour at 44.1 kHz and 690 MB an hour at 48 kHz. Offload the ones you are not listening to and they stay in the cloud.

HiFi Rack for iPad

What is HiFi Rack?

The rack itself on an iPad. The amplifier, the equaliser, the tuner and a recording deck, on one screen, working the way they do on the Mac. It plays cassettes, DAT tapes and hard disks with their sides, their track marks and their cassette sound, and it plays internet radio.

How is it different from HiFi Player on the iPhone?

The phone draws a tape and plays it. The iPad draws the whole rack, with the amplifier's controls, the seven band equaliser and its four memories, and the tuner. They are separate apps, licensed separately, and both read the same folder, so a recording sent once can be played on either.

Can it record?

No. There is no MASTER, no line input and no way to write to a recording. Nothing you do on the iPad can change a tape.

Is there a CD player?

No. An iPad has no drive to put a disc in, so that unit is not there.

Can I play my own music library on it?

No. The tuner is internet radio only: there is no catalogue and no play queue, because an iPad is not usually where a music library lives. What it plays is the recordings you send it, and the radio.

How do I get my recordings onto it?

In the Mac app, open Settings, Deck Library, and choose a folder your iPad can see, such as one in iCloud Drive. Then pick a recording in the Deck Library and press Send to Device. On the iPad, point HiFi Rack at the same folder. The same folder serves the iPhone player too.

Is there anything to play before I send something?

Yes. It comes with three demo recordings, one for each kind of machine it draws. They step aside once you choose a folder of your own, and you can delete them.

Can I make it smaller, or hide the units I do not use?

Settings has a Units list. Turn a box off and the rest grow, because the rack fills the screen. The amplifier is always there, since everything plays through it.

Can I send the sound to a speaker?

Yes. Headphones, Bluetooth, CarPlay and AirPlay are routed by iPadOS the moment they are connected, and SPEAKERS on the amplifier opens the system's own chooser. An AirPlay receiver holds about two seconds before it plays anything, and the meters and counter wait the same amount so they keep step with what you hear.

Get in touch

One address for both apps. If the answers above do not cover it, write to support@hifiaudiosim.com and say which app you are writing about.

What to include, whichever app

• What you were doing when it happened, in enough detail to try it again.
• Whether it happens every time or only sometimes.

For Hi-Fi Audio Sim on the Mac

• Which Mac, and which version of macOS.
• For anything to do with sound: which audio device is selected for input and output, and at what sample rate.
• For anything to do with recording: the tape's mode and length, and whether the deck was on REC IN or LINE.

For HiFi Player on the iPhone

• Which iPhone, and which version of iOS.
• Which folder your tapes are in, and whether the tape was on the phone or still in the cloud.
• Which kind of tape, and whether you were listening on the phone, headphones, Bluetooth, CarPlay or AirPlay.

For HiFi Rack on the iPad

• Which iPad, and which version of iPadOS.
• Which folder your recordings are in, and whether the recording was on the iPad or still in the cloud.
• Which rack you were using, which units were showing, and whether you were listening on the iPad, headphones, Bluetooth or AirPlay.

If an app has crashed

On the Mac, macOS keeps a report. Open Console, choose Crash Reports in the sidebar, and find the most recent one named Hi-Fi Audio Sim.

On the iPhone or the iPad, open Settings, then Privacy & Security, Analytics & Improvements, Analytics Data, and look for the most recent entry whose name begins with HiFi Player or HiFi Rack. Tap it and share it. Any of these reports tells us far more than a description can.

Your recordings are yours

Tapes are ordinary files in the folder you chose for them, and Hi-Fi Audio Sim never moves or uploads them. If you ever remove the app, its uninstaller takes the program and its settings and deliberately leaves your recordings alone.

HiFi Player only reads. It cannot change, move or delete a tape, so sending one to your phone is always a copy.