[APP] Equaliser – free, open-source system-wide parametric EQ for macOS (Apple Silicon) – looking for feedback

[olieb]

I've been using Vizzdom Analyzer with EQ
macOS (ver. 1.38)

Did not know this one.
Interestingly this has a menu and shows up in App Switcher and in the Dock. Nice.
But I agree about Equaliser being more user friendly after the window has been brought up.

All good points. I will keep an open mind to whether I can place some values more directly in the main UI, but to be honest I kinda like the UI more or less as it is.

As said above, I kind of like the UI too, but ....
Especially in Manual Mode some things are too complicated IME.
This is what I see in the menu bar.

So it is several clicks only to get to the app window at all.
Doable of course, but ...
EDIT: Now something peculiar happened. After installing and checking Vizzdom the menu items changed.
Now there is the microphone icon seen in the pic and additionally the Equalizer icon with the "normal" drop menu,
This was not there before and when I start VizzdomAnalyzer the Equalizer icon disappears (respective the Vizzdom item appears instead) even when the Equaliser window is in the foreground.
EDIT2: This confusion might have been all my fault, as perhaps there is just not enough space on my menu bar? I hid some stuff and both app icons and the mic icon appear now all the time. Idk. Maybe that explains my former comment (Though IIRC there was enough space in the beginning - maybe the Equaliser icon is a bit wider than the visible part and got behind the MacBook camera?)

And in the window the placement of items is not very logical. (Gain in and Gain out belong to the preset, don't they?)
And then there is the gear and the hidden settings. These have two(!) pages for about 4 items. And settings for each filter.
Most of this could be directly exposed in the ”main" window.
I hacked together some ideas how I would approach it (with recycling what is already there, mostly rearrangement).

The pink frame marks what I love to be able to access from the menu bar.
There could be a toggle for Manual-Automatic, too.
The lower half defines the preset.
The filters do not need a second layer for settings in my view.
Personally, I do not like these on/off sliders. I would prefer a highlighted/dimmed-greyed button instead or a toggle switch like [EQ|Flat], but that is a matter of taste, of course.

Absolutely. My feedback alone shouldn't dictate your design decisions.

This: +1

 

[kriskringle]

As said above, I kind of like the UI too, but ....
Especially in Manual Mode some things are too complicated IME.
This is what I see in the menu bar.
View attachment 522269
So it is several clicks only to get to the app window at all.
Doable of course, but ...
EDIT: Now something peculiar happened. After installing and checking Vizzdom the menu items changed.
Now there is the microphone icon seen in the pic and additionally the Equalizer icon with the "normal" drop menu,
This was not there before and when I start VizzdomAnalyzer the Equalizer icon disappears (respective the Vizzdom item appears instead) even when the Equaliser window is in the foreground.
EDIT2: This confusion might have been all my fault, as perhaps there is just not enough space on my menu bar? I hid some stuff and both app icons and the mic icon appear now all the time. Idk. Maybe that explains my former comment (Though IIRC there was enough space in the beginning - maybe the Equaliser icon is a bit wider than the visible part and got behind the MacBook camera?)

I think this may have been the issue all along.
In manual mode the macOS menu bar should (and does show on my mac) like this:

The orange microphone indicator and the orange dot on controls (far right in the image) are a feature of macOS TCC (Transparency, Consent, and Control) system. When an application uses the microphone input, the orange icon and dot appears automatically, nothing you can do about it.
We need to use the microphone input in manual mode, because in manual mode I want the app to be able to use other drivers than the one I ship with the app, like BlackHole. BlackHole and many other drivers work by emulating a virtual output (speaker) and virtual input (microphone) and basically putting the microphone up next to the speaker, thus allowing the Mac to output all its audio to the output and allowing apps to get the audio as input from the drivers input. This is exactly what Equaliser does in manual mode and in capture mode I smoothly named "HAL Input"... smooth.. I know.. However in capture mode "Shared Memory" (default mode) I implemented a workaround because I do not want to look at the orange icon all day. This is a custom implementation that has a tight coupling with the driver I ship with Equaliser and the Equaliser application itself, and it allows the Equaliser application to receive the audio from the driver without relying on the microphone input.

All this just to say that you should have the the Equaliser icon in the macOS menu bar regardless of which mode the app is in.

(input selector coming next version)

maybe the Equaliser icon is a bit wider than the visible part and got behind the MacBook camera?

I sadly don't know the width of the menu bar icon, as it is one of Apples stock icons "slider.vertical.3" It looked close enough to my app icon that I didn't bother making a custom menu bar icon just yet.

(Gain in and Gain out belong to the preset, don't they?)

They do, I get your point on the placement of those.

Did not know this one.
Interestingly this has a menu and shows up in App Switcher and in the Dock. Nice.

I am still debating whether I want to have the main UI of Equaliser show up as a full app with icon in the Dock, accessible in app switcher and all that or if I want it to be as it is currently, where it lives only in the menu bar. There are pros and cons of both approaches, which one prefers more I guess depends on how one uses the app.

And then there is the gear and the hidden settings. These have two(!) pages for about 4 items.

I do believe that it is fairly common for Mac apps to have a settings view that is accessible by typing "cmd+," on the keyboard. "Audio MIDI Setup" has one, "Finder" has one. How many settings are available in there depends heavily on the app in question. The placement of the settings icon though I am not fully sure on either, but that comes back to the point above a bit too..

I appreciate the UI image you made, it shows what I would call a more power user oriented interface. I think that what I am going for is something that is a bit simpler when you first launch the app (intentionally shows you a bit less), but allows you to have powerful features if you want.
There is something to work with here, and that is great.
UI is not neither my favourite thing to build nor where I have expertise, and it shows, I am aware

 

[kriskringle]

I released Equaliser version 1.3.1 which contains fixes to what I believe are most of the bugs found.
Equaliser does not yet have an automatic update functionality, so you have to get it from https://equaliser.knage.net again.

No updates to the UI just yet, I need to think about that a bit more, but I thought it was important to get some bug fixes out.

Bug Fixes
- EQ gain values are handled more consistently throughout the app and now supports 1Hz to 22000Hz
- Device menus now show a checkmark next to the active selection
- Input and output devices are now both presented in the menu bar in manual mode
- Volume stays consistent when switching output devices
- Fine-tuning bands with arrow keys is now more responsive and controllable
- Clicking the same output in macOS settings repeatedly no longer causes audio to bypass Equaliser
- Equaliser now correctly routes to virtual devices in automatic mode - send audio through Equaliser to BlackHole for further processing

 

[olieb]

I appreciate the feedback regardless of whether I will change something or not - it makes me think.

Yeah, but do not think too long ;-)
However, considering that the filter adjustment part is not what is used all the time, It is very nice the way it is now. Thanks a lot!

One remark though.
When I create a preset with 10 bands, these are spaced in octaves from 32Hz to 16000Hz and all makes a lot of sense.
But when switching to any other number the highest band goes to 26000Hz, that seems an awkward choice.
And an option to sort the bands (manually or automatically like REW) would be nice, another thing to think about ;-)

 

[kriskringle]

Yeah, but do not think too long ;-)

Haha - I am afraid it may take a while, I am making this app in my spare time for fun

However, considering that the filter adjustment part is not what is used all the time, It is very nice the way it is now. Thanks a lot!

❤

One remark though.
When I create a preset with 10 bands, these are spaced in octaves from 32Hz to 16000Hz and all makes a lot of sense.
But when switching to any other number the highest band goes to 26000Hz, that seems an awkward choice.
And an option to sort the bands (manually or automatically like REW) would be nice, another thing to think about ;-)

Yeah.. hmm.. well.. that is a leftover from an earlier implementation definitely an awkward choice - nicely spotted.
And that is a good idea with the sorting.

 

[waynel]

great app, just used it to implement a PEQ from REW on my secondary desktop genelecs.

 

[longts]

Thank you very much! I’m using it on my MacBook Air M2 with monitor speakers. I measured the RTA using REW, and then I used PEQ to cut the peak bass for the frequency range of 20-300 Hz. Now, the sound is very good!

 

[Cecill]

Thanks for the product.

I’ve noticed an issue when using it with headphones on my Mac. When I connect headphones to the Mac’s headphone output and route audio through the Equaliser, I hear a loud pop and then no sound at all. As soon as I turn the Equaliser off, the audio comes back through the headphones.

Am I missing a step in the setup? Are there any settings I need to enable so that audio can pass through the Equaliser and still play through headphones?

 

[kriskringle]

Thanks for the product.

I’ve noticed an issue when using it with headphones on my Mac. When I connect headphones to the Mac’s headphone output and route audio through the Equaliser, I hear a loud pop and then no sound at all. As soon as I turn the Equaliser off, the audio comes back through the headphones.

Am I missing a step in the setup? Are there any settings I need to enable so that audio can pass through the Equaliser and still play through headphones?

It’s sounds like you encountered a bug in the software that I have not encountered myself.

Thanks for flagging it.

Unfortunately I have not had time to work on Equaliser the last few weeks, but I still have things I want to add and fix when time allows.

It would be helpful if you could tell me what kind of Mac and what version of macOS you are experiencing this issue on.
Also whether you are connecting/disconnecting headphones while Equaliser is running or if you quitting Equaliser between connect/disconnect.
None of the above should matter, but knowing exactly what is happening will help me dial in on the issue when I have some free time

 

[Cecill]

I’m using a MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip running Tahoe 26.2. This time, the behaviour was the exact opposite of what it was before. When I turned the Equaliser on and plugged my Sennheiser HD650 into the Mac’s headphone jack, the audio was correctly processed through the Equaliser and played through the headphones.

However, after disconnecting the headphones, no sound came through the built-in speakers, even though Tidal showed that the music was still playing. There was also another loud pop. At this point, I’m hesitant to continue testing because I’m concerned the popping noise could potentially damage the Mac.

 

[kriskringle]

I’m using a MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip running Tahoe 26.2. This time, the behaviour was the exact opposite of what it was before. When I turned the Equaliser on and plugged my Sennheiser HD650 into the Mac’s headphone jack, the audio was correctly processed through the Equaliser and played through the headphones.

However, after disconnecting the headphones, no sound came through the built-in speakers, even though Tidal showed that the music was still playing. There was also another loud pop. At this point, I’m hesitant to continue testing because I’m concerned the popping noise could potentially damage the Mac.

Thanks, and understandable concern.

I think I have enough to dig in to the issue.
No promises on when it will be solved, I’m not currently in a position where I can dedicate specific time to this project, it’s more a when I have time kinda thing.