Originally published at: Audio Hijack 4 Brings Interface Improvements and Recording Upgrades - TidBITS
The latest version of Rogue Amoeba’s Mac app for grabbing, mixing, and manipulating audio from apps and sound inputs makes it easier to design and improve workflows. It also offers new and improved audio recording and processing features.
I had a problem when I upgraded to Audio Hijack 4 — my previous sessions from version 3 weren’t imported on the first launch, and trying to manually import them from within the app (via the Help menu) wasn’t working. I emailed Rogue Amoeba to ask for help, and had a conversation with Paul Kafasis over the weekend to determine where the problem was and how best to fix it. (I’d managed to workaround it by manually copying and renaming the preference lists from version 3, but Paul cautioned that it wasn’t an ideal solution, even if it did let me do a broadcast on Sunday.) Long story short, I was able to get the import to work correctly at last, and version 4.0.2 now incorporates the fix. Many thanks to Paul for his assistance (and persistance), and an example of good customer support. 
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Does anyone know if Audio Hijack 4 still requires that the system security level be lowered to install Rogue Amoeba’s ACE drivers?
It does. That’s always going to be a requirement, I’m afraid. They’re only lowering it to signed developer extensions, so the risk would be that a) a rogue malware operator had set up an account or hijacked an existing one b) that you were convinced to install such a system extension.
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I’ve never understood what makes their extension so special that it requires one to lower the system security level (because other plugins, say from Zoom or Camo, do not). It was possible on my first M1 MacBook Pro to restore the full security level after the installation, but on my M1 Pro MacBook Pro, that resulted in an inscrutable error. I wound up removing the extension, but then I still couldn’t restore full security and had to reinstall the system!
I’ve been over this several times with RA tech support, and they have the temerity to refer me to Apple! Anyone who has dealt with Apple knows that as soon as they hear of third-party software, they ask users to remove it or refer them back to the developer!
It’s pretty straightforward: there’s no way for Rogue Amoeba to achieve what they do without it. Apple doesn’t have a way to allow specific developers to receive authorization, so Rogue Amoeba has to follow the general developer guideline, which requires you lower security for all authorized developers. (You’d think you could perhaps anoint a specific one; I’m sure they’d pay a special fee to be in a higher-scrutiny list, even.)
So if you need Rogue Amoeba’s features, they can’t do it without lower security. If Apple wanted to expose certain aspect of audio within the sandboxed full security environment, Rogue Amoeba wouldn’t need this.
Apple is more likely to listen to persistent user requests than those of developers. And they don’t listen well to users, either!