One area where Windows has been leaps and bounds ahead of the Mac for years, if not decades, is volume control. Quite simply, sometimes you need to control volume on a finer level than OS X allows. Windows lets you adjust output volume for each individual application, but this isn’t possible natively on a Mac.
Apple's AirPlay wirelessly streams music from your iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® straight to a Bowers & Wilkins Wireless Music System. Getting AirPlay up and running couldn't be easier, thanks to the Bowers & Wilkins Control app, which walks you through the simple steps to connect to your Wi-Fi. Sound Control is a unique application that adds advanced audio controls to your Mac. Control the audio of each of your apps independently with per-app volume, EQ, balance, and audio routing.
So we have to turn to third-party apps to grant us this ability. Both apps on this list offer the feature of adjusting volume by app. However, the apps each bring something different to the table, so explore the options and decide for yourself which is best.
Volume Mixer
Jun 29, 2019 Before you can use Background Music to set different volume levels for apps, you need to understand how it works. The volume level for an app is set relative to the current volume level for the OS. For example, if your volume is currently set to 50%, the volumes you set for an app will always be equal to, or less than 50% of the volume.
Volume Mixer is the first Mac app on the list and it allows you to control system volume by application. The app sits in your menu bar so you can call it up as needed. Each app, much like on Windows, is accompanied by its own volume slider. Adjust it as you’d like, mute individual apps entirely or click Refresh to bring an app on par with the master volume.
Over in the Preferences, you can choose your default output source or just quickly change sources on the fly. You can also set highly convenient keyboard shortcuts for specific actions revolving around volume control. These include increasing the volume of an active app, decreasing the volume of an active app, toggling mute for an active app, increasing/decreasing/muting background sound and increasing/decreasing/muting notifications. If you want full control over your output audio, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Volume Mixer comes with a free seven day trial after which it’s $9.99 for two copies or $14.99 for lifetime updates. It’s fairly steep pricing, but if you need the features, it works great.
Background Music
![Control Control](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u1g7ol27Eew/maxresdefault.jpg)
Background Music is a simpler app that does much of the same thing as Volume Mixer. From your menu bar, you can adjust volume for individual applications. But in Background Music, the volume sliders aren’t relative to your master volume. Each slider by default is set to the middle and doesn’t change when you raise or lower your volume. That means that technically, if you have your volume all the way up, you could still give some apps a slight boost.
It also has a phenomenal feature that auto-pauses your music when another source of audio starts playing, then automatically continues playback when the other audio stops. It’s much like how music stops and resumes when you get a phone call on your iPhone. The auto-pause feature supports iTunes, Spotify, VOX and VLC.
Background Music is free, unlike Volume Mixer, but since the developer hasn’t officially published it anywhere, it must be installed from GitHub.
Note: The guide to installing Background Music is right on the GitHub page. If you have Xcode installed, just copy and paste the provided prompt into Terminal.
To manually install, download the ZIP file and unzip it. In Terminal, type
cd
followed by the path to where you unzipped the folder. Then install by typing /bin/bash build_and_install.sh
.ALSO SEE:How to Live Monitor Your Microphone Input on Mac
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#audio #music
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Use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to control another device
- Connect your devices to the same Wi-Fi network.
- Sign in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on both devices.
- If you want to control a Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences on your computer.
- Select Accessibility. In the sidebar, choose Switch Control.
- Check the checkbox next to 'Allow platform switching to control your computer.'
- If you haven't already, turn on Switch Control on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
- Use your switch to navigate the Switch Control menu. Select Device.
- Select Use Other Device.
- Select the device that you want to control, then select Connect. Now you can use the switch connected to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to control the other device.
Use your Mac to control another device
Mac Volume Mixer
- Connect your devices to the same Wi-Fi network.
- Sign in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on both devices.
- If you haven't already, turn on Switch Control on your Mac.
- Use your switch to navigate the Switch Control Home panel. Choose Devices.
- Select the device that you want to control, then select Connect. Now you can use the switch connected to your Mac to control the other device.
Stop controlling another device
To stop controlling another device, press and hold your switch for ten seconds. Your switch will control the original device again.
You can also follow these steps:
Stop controlling a Mac
- Use your switch to navigate the Switch Control Home panel. Choose Devices.
- Select Disconnect. Your switch will control the original device again.
Stop controlling an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Use your switch to navigate the Switch Control menu. Select Device.
- Select Stop Using Device. Your switch will control the original device again.
Turn off Switch Control
If you'd like to turn off Switch Control entirely, follow these steps for your device:
Turn off Switch Control on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Use your switch to navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Switch Control, and turn the setting off.
You can also triple-click the Home button or the Side button on certain models at any time to exit Switch Control.
Turn off Switch Control on a Mac
Sound Control For Mac
Use your switch to navigate to System Preferences > Accessibility > Switch Control, and deselect Enable Switch Control.