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Working with audio from special and hidden sources

In addition to adjusting audio from traditional applications, SoundSource can adjust audio from certain special sources, as well as hidden background processes which do not appear on your Mac like traditional applications. This includes system services, as well as the occasional command-line tool.

Choosing special sources

SoundSource's Add Favorite menu makes it easy to choose popular sources which would otherwise be very difficult to find. This is done through the Special Sources section of the Add Favorite menu, where you can choose:

Background Sounds (MacOS 13 and higher)
Finder
Siri (MacOS 13 and higher)
System AirPlay Receiver (MacOS 12 and higher)
Text to Speech (MacOS 14 and higher)
VoiceOver (MacOS 13 and higher)

Background Sounds

(MacOS 13 and higher)

The Background Sounds special source handles background audio played via the Audio section of the Accessibility options of the System Settings app.

Captured Source

com.apple.accessibility.heard

Finder

The Finder special source handles any audio played by the Finder, as well as audio produced using the Mac's “Quick Look” functionality.

Captured Sources

com.apple.finder
com.apple.quicklook.QuickLookUIService

Siri

The Siri special source handles all the audio from Siri, including both its sound effects and its spoken word audio.

Captured Sources on MacOS 14 and Higher

com.apple.CoreSpeech
com.apple.sirittsd

Captured Sources on MacOS 13

com.apple.Siri

Captured Sources on MacOS 12 and lower

com.apple.CoreSpeech
com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd

System AirPlay Receiver

(MacOS 12 and higher)

The System AirPlay Receiver special source handles audio played directly to MacOS via AirPlay, using the system's AirPlay receiving capabilities.

Captured Source

com.apple.controlcenter

System Speech

(MacOS 12 and lower)

On older versions of MacOS (MacOS 12 and lower), SoundSource offered a System Speech special source. This handles all audio spoken by the system, including Siri and VoiceOver. Due to the way the system provides this audio, it is merged into one special source. Do note that any adjustment you make to this special source will affect audio from all of these sources.

As a result of change’s made by Apple, it was removed for MacOS 13 and up, with the Siri and VoiceOver special sources serving as replacements.

Captured Sources

com.apple.CoreSpeech
com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd
com.apple.VoiceOver

Text to Speech

(MacOS 14 and higher)

The Text to Speech special source handles audio played by the system's text reading (triggered by the Start Speaking command in the Speech menu). On MacOS 14 and higher, some applications produce audio from their own processes, while others send it to the system process. Unfortunately, this means you may need to pay attention to active applications in SoundSource to determine exactly which application is producing audio. If the Text to Speech special source is not producing audio, pay attention to the application in which the text is being read itself.

Captured Source

com.apple.accessibility.AXVisualSupportAgent

VoiceOver

The VoiceOver special source handles all the audio from the VoiceOver experience, including both spoken words and sound effects.

Captured Sources on MacOS 14 and Higher

com.apple.VoiceOver
com.apple.VoiceOverQuickstart

Captured Sources on MacOS 13

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd
com.apple.VoiceOver
com.apple.VoiceOverQuickstart

Captured Sources on MacOS 12 and lower

com.apple.speech.speechsynthesisd
com.apple.VoiceOver

Accessing other hidden sources

By default, other hidden sources are not shown by SoundSource's Add Favorite menu. However, if you hold down the Option key when clicking on the selector, a new Running Processes sub-menu will be shown. Within the Running Processes sub-menu, you'll see a list of processes from which SoundSource may be able to capture audio. Though this list may contain dozens of different processes, only a few of these are likely to produce audio.

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