Unlike more traditional applications, SoundSource lives entirely in your system's menu bar. This page provides an overview of the various ways SoundSource interacts with the menu bar.

SoundSource's Main Icon

When you click SoundSource's icon in your menu bar, it will show the main SoundSource window.

SoundSource's Menu Bar Icon

Beyond providing access to SoundSource's window, this icon offers two additional functions.

Volume Indicator

SoundSource's menu bar icon shows a rough approximation of the current volume level for your default system output device. This is similar to the system's “Volume” menu bar icon, which SoundSource is intended to replace entirely.

Alternate Menu

While a standard click on SoundSource menu bar icons shows SoundSource's main window, Control-clicking reveals a convenient alternate menu instead.

SoundSource's Alternate Control-Click Menu

This menu provides even faster access to the output volume slider and input and output adjustments, as well as many of SoundSource's settings and controls.

Details on Menu Bar Meters

In addition to its main icon, SoundSource can optionally provide meters in your menu bar, tied to specific audio sources. These meters can be turned on in the Appearance tab of the Settings window.

SoundSource's Menu Bar Meters Settings

For each of these settings that's turned on, SoundSource will place a small icon and meter pair in the menu bar.

An Assortment of Menu Bar Meters

The icon indicates the specific audio source, while the meter visually shows audio activity.

Muting

In addition to providing a visual indication for audio, these meters also offer a very handy mute control. Simply click an icon to mute audio from that source.

Input and Google Chrome, Muted

You can mute all output to the default device, or the output from individual active applications. Clicking the input icon will mute your microphone.

Understanding “Active Applications”

Turning on the Active Applications checkbox will cause menu bar meters to appear for all applications which are producing audio on your Mac. “Active applications” are specifically those which are currently producing audio, or have done so in the last 15 seconds. These same applications will also automatically appear in the Applications section of SoundSource's main window.

Passive and Active Metering With Input Menu Bar Meters

By default, SoundSource's input menu bar meters now show activity only when the system’s default input device is actively being read by another application on the system. When the input meter is otherwise inactive, it will be drawn disabled to indicate that it's not displaying audio activity. We call this “passive metering”, and it’s used to prevent MacOS’s mic-in-use indicators from appearing at all times.

Even when the meter itself is not showing activity, you can still click it to mute your input device instantly.

If you wish, you can restore SoundSource’s former “active metering” behavior to have the meter show input activity at all times. Control-click on the input device’s meter in SoundSource’s main window, then select “Active” from the pop-up menu. This setting will also affect the inline Input Device meters in the main window.

Be aware that active metering with the input menu bar meters will cause MacOS’s mic-in-use indicator to appear whenever SoundSource is open.

Re-Ordering Menu Bar Icons

All of SoundSource's menu bar icons can be moved around the menu bar as desired, to get the exact order you wish. To move any icon in the menu bar, press the Command key as you drag the icon left or right within the menu bar.

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