Microphones and audio devices
Daisy records two streams: your microphone and your system audio (the other side of the call). It watches both while you record and tells you when something changes.
Picking your microphone
- Your default — Settings → Recordings → Microphone. The level meter beside the dropdown shows the device is hearing you.
- Just this meeting — the Microphone dropdown on the New recording screen, and the in-call Mic switcher. Both are session-only.
- A quick swap — Settings → Profile → Re-run setup wizard opens the microphone picker on its own. See Re-running the setup wizard.
System audio needs no picking. Daisy captures whatever your computer is playing through, and follows you if you switch from speakers to a headset mid-call.
Your choice sticks. Unplug your interface, reboot, plug it back in — you get the same microphone back. If it isn't there, Daisy uses the system default. New devices show up in the dropdown as you plug them in, no restart needed.
When a device changes mid-recording
Recording keeps going. You'll get a toast in the corner saying what happened, and it's in the day's log too.
| What you see | What happened | What Daisy does |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone switched | Your mic disappeared — unplugged, or its dongle dropped | Moves to another physical mic and names it |
| Another app is using your microphone | A system call (FaceTime, Phone, a soft-phone) has taken the device | Waits, and picks it back up when the other app lets go |
| Your mic isn't producing audio | The device is streaming but delivering nothing | Keeps retrying; resumes on its own once it produces sound |
| Microphone appears silent | Two minutes of nothing | Rebuilds the stream and asks you to check the input |
| Mic muted outside Daisy | Your microphone was muted in the system mixer | Unmute it in the OS |
| Mic level is very low | The mic is alive and recording, just quiet | Recording continues; the notice clears itself |
| Mic recovered | The device is producing sound again | Clears the warning above it |
| System audio capture stopped | The far-end track stopped; your mic is unaffected | Reconnects |
| System audio is back | Reconnected | Clears the warning |
| Mic / system audio capture stopped (red) | Reconnecting failed repeatedly | Pause and resume the recording, or pick a device in the mic selector |
Automatic fallbacks only ever land on a physical microphone. Virtual devices — loopback cables, meeting-app virtual mics, an iPhone offered over Continuity — stay yours to pick.
Bluetooth headsets
Bluetooth headsets play high-quality stereo or carry a microphone, one at a time, so a recording made on one sounds like a phone call. Daisy handles the switching for you, including on Linux, where headsets often need a nudge to hand over their mic at all.
For the best recording of your own voice, use a wired or USB mic and leave the Bluetooth headset for listening.
Echo cancellation
When you record on speakers, the other side's voice bleeds into your microphone. Daisy removes it so "who said what" stays clean. It happens automatically: Daisy uses whichever canceller is best on your machine and notes the choice in the log.
The one control you have is Settings → Recordings → Cleanup → Remove the other side's voice from your mic: Automatic (the default), Always, or Never. Cleanup writes a new track and leaves your original audio alone.
On macOS, taking a FaceTime or Phone call mid-meeting can silence Daisy's microphone. Daisy notices and keeps recording. While that's going on your mic reads as silent between phrases, which is normal, so the Mic level is very low notice stays hidden.
Sleep, lids and wake
Daisy keeps your machine awake for the length of a recording, through the long stretches where you're only listening. If it suspends anyway — a closed lid, a forced sleep — Daisy restarts the audio on wake and carries on.
If something still isn't right
- Check the mic in Settings → Recordings — the level meter should move when you talk.
- Check the OS mixer for a muted or turned-down input, and for another app holding the device.
- Pause and resume the recording. This rebuilds both streams from scratch.
- Turn on Detailed logs and reproduce it once — every audio warning you were shown is in the log, with the device it happened on. See Diagnostics and logs.