netSOUND For Mac

netSOUND is a handy tool that can be very useful for audio producers, as it allows you to transfer uncompressed audio from one Mac to another, provided they are connected via a standard RJ45 cable. The provided bundle is made up of two applications, a player and a router. They each need to be installed on the source and target systems respectively.

It should be noted, however, that during our tests, both apps periodically crashed when used on two systems running OS X 10.11 and OS X 10.10.3.

netSOUND is, fortunately, very easy to set up, as you simply need to install each app on two networked Macs, keeping in mind that the one running the player module will be transmitting audio, while the other will be receiving. Then, it is a simple matter of entering their IP addresses in the router app, and you are pretty much set to go. More advanced settings can be customized, but after these simple configurations you can already begin sending an audio stream.

netSOUND allows you to choose the desired input device, driver and channel mode, but you can also load an audio plugin and send its sound output to netSOUND router.

The app also supports MIDI implementation and can transfer audio to a ReWire device.

Simply put, visual presentation is not one of netSOUND’s strengths. The interface appears to be very out-of-date and will not impress most Mac users.

Most importantly, however, we encountered some problems while testing the application, as both modules would occasionally crash for no apparent reason. While this may not be the case for all users, it is something to be taken into consideration.

Overall, though, netSOUND is a tool that has many potential uses and can prove invaluable to audio producers, although a modernized interface would go a long way towards improving its appeal to OS X users.