Using the System Audio
Setup
Note: If you are ever having any trouble setting up the system audio with AVTouchBar, please do not hesitate to email me at jake@avtouchbar.com. I try to be as responsive as possible and am always happy to help you get your setup working!
AVTouchBar can use the internal microphone with no additional setup, but to use the internal system audio there are additional steps. Apple does not offer a way to access the system audio, so we must install a third party audio driver that allows us to do this.
I will now walk you through exactly how to use each audio driver the correct way inside AVTouchBar. If you would like to avoid using an aggregate device because it disables volume control, please jump to: How to use Loopback or How to use Boom3D Audio
How to use Soundflower & BlackHole
Inside AVTouchBar, select Soundflower (2ch) or BlackHole (2ch) as the audio source. Please note that you must use the 2 channel versions of these audio drivers. Audio drivers that use more than 2 channels are currently not supported.
Then choose the MacOS output you would like to hear the audio through.
Now you are ready to click visualize. When you click visualize, AVTouchBar will automatically create an aggregate output device for you, so you do not need to adjust any audio settings. Visuals should appear and you should be able to hear the audio from the output you chose.
When using an aggregate device, MacOS will disable the volume controls. This is an unfortunate annoyance of using aggregate devices on Mac’s. To counter this, I have implemented a touch bar gesture that will adjust the volume, even if you are using an aggregate. You can do this by taking a single finger and sliding it up/down on the visuals to increase/decrease the volume.
For more information on all the touch bar gestures, please see touch bar gestures to learn more.
To avoid using an aggregate device, please scroll down to How to use Loopback or How to use Boom3D Audio.
How to use Loopback
Loopback is an awesome program with a lot of different uses. We can very easily use Loopback to get the system audio without needing an aggregate device. Open Loopback and create a new virtual device.
Next, we can select additional sources to get the audio from. Press the (+) button next to sources to add any program to the sources list. You can add as many programs as you want.
We can now add “monitors” that will receive the audio. In this section, we want to choose the output device that we will hear the audio through. You can also choose multiple outputs and turn them on/off when you want audio to go to them or not.
If you play some audio through a program listed under the “Sources” you should see the audio path go from the program to the output. In this example, you can see the audio go from Spotify to my plugged in external headphones.
Inside AVTouchBar, select the Loopback audio device you just created. Make sure that “Create aggregate device” is set to “No” in the advanced settings.
And now you are ready to click visualize! Give it a go and you should be able to see visuals without an aggregate device.
Important: If you want to switch back to using a different audio source, such as Soundflower or BlackHole, just make sure to turn the audio device off inside Loopback. Loopback overtakes all audio routing, so you need to turn it off to return to the normal functionality of MacOS audio control.
How to use Boom3D & Hue Sync
Download and install Boom3D Audio or Hue Sync. Once installed, open AVTouchBar and select Boom/Hue Sync as the audio source. And that’s it! You can click visualize and visuals will appear, without needing an aggregate device.
Note: If you would like to change the output using Boom (ex. change from speakers to headphones), you will have to click “stop”, change the output, then click visualize again.