Posted By Paul Kafasis on May 4th, 2018

Loopback 1.2 has just been released, and it provides a small but useful update to our powerful audio routing tool. With this new version, you now have full control of the volumes of your virtual audio devices. This functionality has been one of the most frequent requests from our users, and we’re delighted to be providing it with this free update. Read on for more, or just update to Loopback 1.2 now.

Volume Controls for Everything

While most physical audio devices you plug in to your Mac will provide volume controls, older versions of Loopback made virtual audio devices which did not offer any controls. Now, every device made with Loopback 1.2 and up provides complete volume controls. Volume controls are now available with both master and per-channel adjustments.

When you view your Loopback devices in MacOS’s built-in “Audio MIDI Setup” app, you’ll find volume controls you can tweak as needed. As well, if you assign a Loopback device as your system output device or system input device, the volume sliders in the Sound System Preference will work as expected. If you set a Loopback device as your system output, your keyboard volume keys will even control its volume.

The Case of the Missing Volume Controls

It might seem strange that these volumes controls weren’t available previously, but it was an artifact of how Loopback came into existence. The technology which eventually came to power Loopback began life as the audio capture backend used by other Rogue Amoeba apps like Airfoil and Audio Hijack. This implementation uses invisible virtual audio devices to pass audio around, and volume adjustment isn’t necessary there.

We eventually used this backend technology as the base of our full-fledged audio routing app Loopback. When we did, previously hidden virtual audio devices became visible to the user, and their lack of volume controls was exposed. User requests made it obvious it was worth adding, and with so much interest, we’re particularly glad to bring this feature to our latest update. We hope these new controls make Loopback even more useful for you!

Get Loopback 1.2 Now

With Loopback 1.2, virtual audio devices are now more configurable than ever. If you’re new to our potent audio routing tool, or you were waiting for volume controls, check out the Loopback page to learn more and download the free trial. Of course, if you’re already a Loopback user, just select “Check for Update” from the Loopback menu to update for free.