Create an Equalizer for All Audio in Mac OS X
Ever wish you had a system wide equalizer to adjust all audio output in Mac OS X and not just in iTunes? Maybe you want to adjust the way all audio output sounds or maybe you just want to boost the output volume of the built-in Mac speakers. We’ll show you how to do both by creating your own universal EQ using two free tools, follow along:
Requirements
- Soundflower – free download from Google Code
- AU Lab – free download from Apple Developers (requires free Apple Dev ID)
Download and install both Soundflower and AU Lab, you will then need to restart your Mac to have full access to the audio components. Once rebooted, follow along with the instructions below:
Set Up a Universal Audio Equalizer for Mac OS X
- Set System Volume to the maximum level, do this either through the menu bar or by hitting the Volume Up key repeatedly
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu and select the “Sound” panel, followed by the “Output” tab. Select “Soundflower (2ch) from the Output list
- Now launch AU Lab, found in /Applications/Utilities/
- From the “Audio Input Device” pulldown menu, select “Soundflower (2ch)”, and then from “Audio Output Device” menu select “Stereo In/Stereo Out”
- Click the “Create Document” button at the bottom of the screen
- At the next screen, look for “Output 1″ column and click the “Effects” dropdown, selecting “AUGraphicEQ”
- This is your new system-wide equalizer, set it how you see fit. Changes here will impact all audio output on the Mac
- When satisfied with the EQ settings, hit Command+S to save the EQ settings file and put it somewhere easy to find like the Documents folder
- Now open AU Lab preferences from the AU Lab menu, click on the “Document” tab and click the radiobox next to “Open a specific document”, selecting the .trak EQ file you saved in the previous step
Optional final step: If you want the EQ settings to load on every Mac OS X boot, right-click on the AU Lab icon, go to Options, and select “Open at Login”
It’s important to note that AU Lab must be running in order for the equalizer to have an effect, keeping it running will consume a small amount of CPU resources but it’s much less process hungry than some of the third party alternatives available on the market.
A big thanks to Dan Wong for sending in this tip
I can’t find the “Effects” dropdown as to find the “AUGraphicEQ”. So a bit stuck.
Ok got that bit. Audio is coming through the AU lab, just can’t hear it. Mmm.
i think you must have forgotten to set the audio output, see step 4
Did you make sure to set your default, “normal” volume to the max before changing the audio output? (step 1)
If you have, make sure the input/outputs are set correctly, as Napoleon said! (steps 2 and 4)
AU Lab settings cannot be saved unless you are working from an Administrator account.
Even in (local user) Documents?
Done everything as far I can see, but no sound. Says that the chosen (sound flower) unit do not have any soundcontrol and therefor does not work.
Found the Soundflower icon and chose built in output/ input.
Works great now. Thanks!
The 31 band equalizer works like a charm,
much better than the iTunes equalizer
Because its system wide you can also use it for boosting the audio on videos with ac3 audio
Listen to some 320k audio in iTunes with a good pair of cans with the 31 band equalizer on and you can really tell the difference
Another benefit is the equalizer settings are saved in the .trak file file so you can share your setting with other people.
You could also use Garageband instead of AU Lab (see http://superuser.com/questions/321634/os-x-filter-system-audio-out-to-remove-high-pitched-noise/321791#321791).
There are also some commercial apps that allow applying an EQ to all sound output like http://www.globaldelight.com/boom/ and http://www.prosofteng.com/products/hear.php.
That Garageband fix uses a heck of a lot more RAM and CPU, where AU Lab is essentially a “barebones Garageband”, making it way more suitable for system-wide equalising.
Also I skipped over the paid apps that do this because a) this method is free and b) it’s not that much more complicated
This is great.
Great!
I use the Hear app, http://www.prosofteng.com/products/hear.php
It’s quite remarkable the level of audio presence it can bring out to any sound system, including cheap speaker system to hi-fi head phones.
I’m having trouble with this part of Line 4: “…and then from “Audio Output Device” menu select “Stereo In/Stereo Out”. I don’t see that option in output settings, all I find is:
“built-in output”
“soundflower (2 ch)”
“soundlfower (16 ch)”
However, under Factory Configurations on the left, I have
“Stereo In/Stereo Out” selected. What do I select in the output settings drop down if I don’t see Stereo in/Stereo Out. Thanks!
Select “built-in output” and your good to go
Thanks! I had the exact same problem!
I had the same problem. Thanks.
…Wow… …Thanks a lot, the sound is amazing (much, much better-the bass is killing me)… …What we would do without people like you… …Just one suggestion to new comers: – between 2nd and 3rd step open SoundFlower from applications, click on ‘it and for (2ch) option choose “Build-in Output”. And for step number 6(six): look for “Audio 1″ column and click the “Effects” dropdown, selecting “AUGraphicEQ” – this is what worked for me…
Hint
U can now record sound from youtube or any other place in fact
Just hit record and it will save a acf file (Apple CoreAudio Format) , open in QT and export as m4a.
Can you use this Apple EQ with a HIFIMAN soundcard?
What steps would I change?
I imagine you’d just have to change inputs/outputs according to how it’s set up. I haven’t tried it with a USB soundcard so can’t help unfortunately! Don’t those things come with their own software to tweak the sound anywho?
Hey Now,
I’ve been trying to get this to work with the Built-In Digital Optical output with no luck.
I’m running:
Zotac Z68-ITX WiFi Supreme Wifi Mobo
8GB GSkill RAM
Intel 3.29 GHz iCore 3 (Sandy Bridge)
OSX Lion 10.7.4
AU Lab 2.2.2 (2.2.1)
Sunflower 1.6.2.1
I’m pumping the signal through a Muse Audio DAC to a Pyle PCA2 2x40w Amp
It works just fine, but when I add AU Lab and Sunflower, I get no signal. I’ve tried different combinations of Input/Output under Sunflower and AU Lab, but can’t seem to get it to work.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
~ hayduke
Thanks so much..Works like a charm w/very small resource demand. Love it.
I was having a problem with Soundflower not passing sound through to the built in output (soundflower 1.6.2.1 and mac OSX 10.7.4), none of the correct settings would work, neither would reinstalling it.
Once I installed this app soundflower started working again!
I can’t get this to output to headphones when they are plugged in, shows music is playing but no sound, tried changing output to headphones in sound preferences, but nada, any ideas? Everything else works just fine, brilliant actually!
Worked perfectly on Lion. Seems there are troubles with sound volume on Mountain Lion.
I’m searching for a wide-system audio equalizer for my Mac for years: this is the perfect solution for my needs, and it works perfectly in Mountain Lion too. Thanks!
Excellent, works greatly on Mountain Lion. =)
Blessed are those who hath bestowed this miracle upon the masses.
Works like a freaking charm.
thanks dood, great for eq’n spotify
Thank you so much! Just got Audio Engine 2 speakers with the Sub and it needed some tweaking in the mids/highs .. now it’s awesome
Thx thx thx
This is a great tip! Have been trying to do this for awhile and this is a great solution. Thanks!
Im running Mountain Lion, i can get this to work only through my headphones? When i unplug them, no sound comes out of my built in MacBook speakers…
What am i doing wrong?
Literally just fixed it. Before i selected Soundflower as my audio output, i had my speakers muted.
I reselected the build in output, and unmuted them, then reselected soundflower and viola it works for both headphones and internal speakers!
Hey.
This works great. I have just one problem. I can’t turn the volum up. I have set the system volume to the maximum level, and the volum levels on Audio 1 AND Output 1 is also maxed out.
Is there any easy fix to get the volum higer?
¡Muy excelente! Thanks for posting
I can’t get AU Lab to open, MBP 2.9ghz 10.8.2 8gbram, downloaded, installed, rebooted. Couldn’t get step 4 to work, as AUL didn’t open but crashed right after load screen.
Me too. Installed AU Lab on OSX 10.5.8, but can’t get it to launch.
I have Xcode installed on my 10.5.8 machine, and discovered AU lab listed in it audio tools.
Got it all to work except last step where you right click on AU Lab icon to make it load during booting. Can’t seem to get that Option to come up.
Hi
Great tip, but is it possible to make it work with airplay? Everything works fine as long as I output the sound via the “built-in output”, but if I select “airplay” no sound is outputted… I’m running mountain lion, so I’m able to output the sound directly to my airport express (option+volume icon->select airport express as output), but as soon as I try to put the AULab in between, I lose the sound…
Can this be fixed, or is it only possible to output the sound without and equ? If so, is there any third party apps available? I’ve understood airfoil should be able to do it (built in equalizer), but that it introduces a delay of a couple of seconds (and costs $25 whereas the airplay feature is already built in in mlion)
Thanks
Richard
Hi Richard,
I do have exactly the same problem. Output thru all devices except AirPlay is ok. With AirPlay and AUlab I hear nothing. Sending sound directly to AirPlay or via SoundFlower is working fine.
Doesn’t anybody know a way to use this equalizer with AirPlay?
Thanks all
Thomas
Don’t know what I’m doing wrong — I followed all the steps, but I get this loud buzzing sound as soon as I launch AU Lab with the settings described. As you can see in the screenshot: https://img.skitch.com/20121009-mjxnjqu4nd1w25migd93x6tg5h.png the soundflower “input” is creating a -8 db buzz on both channels. Anyone every had that happen?
MacBook Pro OSX 10.7.5
Hey Matt, did you fix the buzzing sound? I’m getting the same problem.
Hey guys, loud buzzing too after 5mn of pure awesomeness. Searching for a fix.
Upon loading AU Lab, this comes up every time.
[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/11jw1fb.png[/IMG]
Thanks for posting this up! I have been looking for a free and descent system wide eq since I switched from linux (got spoiled with the audio output options there.) Just from a descent set of 2.1 speakers I can tell this setup works great.
This is awesome, makes even just my iMac speakers sound sooooooooo much better! Thank you so much!
I can get it to work with the built in speaker but not through my apogee duet that goes to my powered monitors. I was able to get buzzing digital clipping sound, turned down the levels, but it still sounded somewhat distorted and the volume would not work. Any suggestions would be awesome.
also: i could only get the duet to work by using the boom app as an output, otherwise nothing. Thanks…
It works for me. However, everytime I restart I loose the sound, requiring me to create a new document. I noticed that when I first create the document, the output setting says “main out.” However, after restarting, the output setting says “sound flower stream.” Does anyone have any suggestions why I lose the sound after I restart? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I found that if you select the Audio 1 column, press Cmd+Bksp, press Shift+Cmd+A, and then click OK, the sound though the AU document gets restored.
Unfortunately this would have to be done on *every* restart, but its better than having to recreate everything.
Try updating to 2.2.2, fixed in this version
Works great. However, when I reopen the *.trak file in AU Lab, the input column indicates that no sound is coming in, even when it was working before closing. Any help would be appreciated.
Awesome! thanks for this.
You can also add some reverb too if you like that sort of thing or your room’s a little dry haha. Just add AUMatrixReverb – put ‘dry/wet mix’ down to about 7% and ‘small/large mix’ to about 40% and experiment.
Thanks again
Wait, is this free? Do you need to be an actual developer?
I got it set up and working fine, love it!
One small problem though, I’m getting a yellow warning triangle with an exclamation mark icon displayed at the bottom left on the AU lab icon in the dock every time after waking from sleep. When I open AU lab and hover over the warning sign it says ‘…overload’. Is anybody else getting this message?
Sorry just to clarify I don’t get the warning sign when I sleep and wake my system (Mountain Lion). It usually happens after the system being in sleep mode overnight.
I see this behaviour too. I believe it is this:
http://lists.apple.com/archives/coreaudio-api/2008/Mar/msg00021.html
hi guys.
i use a NI audio kontrol 1 soundcard and in order to use it i have to change the system preferences>audio menu to the sound card instead of the soundflower (2ch) which obviously cuts all output audio from soundflower. is there a way around this?
thanks, great tip, particularly useful when listening to internet radio. This had always too much Bass through my external speakers but now I can get it just right.
yeah! thanks a lot. soundcloud sounds now like it should!
Doesn’t seem to work on Mountain Lion. I can see the sound registering in the AU Lab monitor window, but nothing comes out of my speakers when I select Soundflower in my sound output prefs. I have to switch back to “Line Out” (I’m using a speaker set with a subwoofer, not the internal Mac speakers) to get any sound and then the equalizer has no effect.
So as I was setting this up, step 4 I was unable to select stereo in/stereo out in the drop down menu from audio output…. the only choices I had were 2ch & 64 ch and built in output… so I selected 2ch and it seems to work fine. Is this ok? Or did I do something wrong in the setup process for me to not have the correct choice displayed?
Great post. I downloaded AU lab from http://www.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/ and to make it load it at startup time I use System Preferences/System/Users&Groups/Login Items.
Thanks!
Awesome! have always wanted something like this! Thanks
great . it works amazingly and also I can use all my audio plugins that I use in Protools. Thanks!
[...] it’s even easier to use, plus it also allows for additional advanced options like setting a system-wide equalizer for all audio output on a [...]
[...] Windows, and though it’s certainly not applicable to everyone, be aware that if you set up a universal audio equalizer for all system audio in OS X using something like AU Lab you may run into EQ exaggeration that you [...]
Thank you. Just thank you. What a difference!
Hi Dan
I got a problem on installing the equalizer using Au Lab and Soundflower and hope you can assist. I followed the above instructions but did a wrong selection at Step 4 and saved in a Document File. When I go back to amend it, it wouldn’t gave me the option to do that anymore. Even though I uninstalled and reinstall both the Au Lab and Soundflower, the old data always remain in the box and I couldn’t delete it. I have tried clearing all cookies but it still doesn’t work. The factory configurations would not appear again. I would appreciate your advise. Thank you.
Outstanding!!
Hi, will this also give eqalizer control for the mini-Hdmi port?
I mean Over the mini-displayport??