CATCH The Manual · v0.1

Instant replay for sound

Catch the moment you
already missed.

Catch is always listening to your Mac. Hit the hand and it saves the last few minutes — the take you didn't record, the phrase you'll never say the same way twice.

The idea

It's a tape loop that never stops.

From the moment you open it, Catch keeps a rolling buffer of whatever it's listening to — the last 1 to 6 minutes, always. Nothing is written to disk until you decide a moment was worth keeping. Then one tap saves it, right up to the second you tapped.

You never have to remember to press record. You just have to remember that it's running.

01  Install & first launch

  1. Open the disk image

    Double-click Catch_0.1.0_aarch64.dmg, then drag Catch onto the Applications folder.

  2. Launch it

    Open Catch from Applications. If macOS blocks the first launch, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway.

  3. Allow the microphone

    On first run Catch asks for microphone access — allow it, and it starts listening to your input immediately.

  4. For system audio, allow one more thing

    To capture "what you hear" (see Choosing your source), grant System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording → Catch. Without it, system captures come out silent.

02  The capture window

Catch lives in a small window that floats above everything, so it's one click away without taking over your screen. Here's every control on it.

IN OUT CATCH LISTENING · LAST 01:00 1 2 3 4
  • 1The hand. Tap it to grab the buffer. The scarlet arc rides the live level, so you can see it hearing.
  • 2IN / OUT. Quick-switch between your interface (input) and system audio (output). The specific device or app is set in Settings.
  • 3Status & buffer. Shows what it's doing and how far back it reaches; the dots fill to your chosen length.
  • 4Folder & gear. Recent Catches (bottom-left) and Settings (bottom-right). Click again to close.
Set the buffer length

Hold ⌥ or ⌘ over the window and a dial appears around the hand — drag it to set how far back Catch reaches, from 1 to 6 minutes. (Plain clicks still grab, so you won't set it by accident.)

03  Grabbing a moment

Two ways, whenever something worth keeping just happened:

  • Tap the hand in the capture window.
  • Press ⌥⌘G from anywhere — you don't need Catch in front.

Catch writes the last few minutes to a file and a small tag pops up with its name. Click that tag to jump straight to it in Recent Catches.

04  Choosing your source

In Settings → Capture → Source, pick what Catch listens to:

Input an interface
Any audio interface or mic connected to your Mac — your Apollo, a USB mic, the built-in mic. Choose the device and which channels to arm.
System Output what you hear
Everything coming out of your Mac, captured cleanly with no cables. Needs the System Audio Recording permission from step 4.
A single app output, one source
Capture just one app's audio — Spotify, a browser tab, Ableton. If the app isn't making sound yet, Catch waits for it and starts the instant it plays; it never quietly records your whole system instead.
Good to know

Catch records at your interface's current sample rate and doesn't change your hardware. Lower rates (44.1 / 48 kHz) give you a longer rolling buffer for the same memory.

05  Recent Catches

The folder button opens your recent catches — a flyout docked to the window. For each one you can:

  • Play & scrub — click the waveform to jump around.
  • Rename — click the name and type.
  • Reveal in Finder — find the actual file on disk.
  • Drag into your DAW — grab a row and drop it straight onto a track in Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools, wherever.

CLEAR empties the list without touching the files on disk — the audio itself stays right where it was saved.

06  Settings, top to bottom

Format & depth
WAV or AIFF (uncompressed), FLAC (lossless, ~60% the size), or M4A (small AAC files) — at 16, 24, or 32-bit.
Capture length
How many minutes the rolling buffer holds, 1 to 6. The same value as the dial on the window.
Storage location
Where catches are saved. They're filed into dated folders automatically.
File naming
A naming pattern plus a phrase flavor — Catch coins a two-word name for every take (amber-tide, low-ceiling) so nothing is ever "Untitled 3".
Auto-normalize
On by default. Lifts each catch to a usable level — handy because system-audio captures land quiet (Catch taps the signal before your monitor volume).
Theme
Fourteen palettes, light and dark. The whole app — including this window's mood — follows your pick.

07  Your license

Paste your key in Settings → License and click Activate. One key works on up to 3 Macs. Moving to a new machine? Click Remove to free an activation, then activate on the other Mac.

Catch re-checks your license quietly now and then, but it won't lock you out when you're offline — grab away on a plane.

"That key isn't a Catch license"

The key is valid but belongs to a different product. Use the key from your Catch purchase — it's in your confirmation email and on your Lemon Squeezy order page.

08  Keeping Catch current

Open Settings → Updates → Check now. If there's a newer version, Catch downloads and installs it for you — quit and reopen to finish. That's it; you're on the latest.

09  Keyboard shortcuts

⌥⌘G
Grab the buffer from anywhere
⌘,
Open / close Settings
⌘W  ·  Esc
Close the Settings or Recent flyout
Hold ⌥ / ⌘
Reveal the buffer-length dial on the window

10  Troubleshooting

My system capture is silent

macOS needs explicit permission to record system audio. Grant Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording → Catch, then reopen Catch.

The catch is quieter than what I heard

Normal — Catch taps the signal before your interface's monitor volume, so the room can be loud while the file sits low. Keep Auto-normalize on (it is by default) and catches come out at full level.

I picked an app but nothing's recording

The app isn't producing audio yet, so Catch is waiting for it (rather than recording everything else). Press play in that app and Catch grabs it automatically.

Only a few seconds got saved

The buffer only holds what it has recorded since you opened Catch. Give it a minute of listening and it'll reach the full length.