Posted By Chris Barajas on September 6th, 2024

Throughout this year, we’ve been working hard on significant improvements to the first-run experience for all of our audio capture applications as promised in our 2024 status report. We’ve shipped free updates to Piezo and Airfoil in March, Audio Hijack in April, and Loopback in early June. The final app we need to update is our audio control utility SoundSource.

That update is almost complete. SoundSource’s next update will provide a much simpler setup process, similar to Loopback: on a new Mac, no restarts will be required, nor any of the formerly necessary security setting changes. Instead, you’ll be all set in just a few clicks.

Bringing Support for MacOS 15 (Sequoia), Too

We’ve also been making the necessary refinements to get SoundSource working well on MacOS 15 (Sequoia), which Apple will be releasing soon. The rest of our lineup has already been updated for Sequoia, and SoundSource’s forthcoming update will offer preliminary compatibility with the new operating system release as well.

“She Needs More Work, Sir. A Shakedown!”

As we finalize SoundSource’s public release, we want to take it for a bit of a sea trial—and you can help! We’ve created a test release of SoundSource, for use on MacOS 14.5 and higher, including betas of MacOS 15.¹ To try it out, just click the big button below:

This will be a free update for all existing users, so don’t hesitate to give it a spin. We’re very interested in getting your feedback on this update, so please get in touch with us via this link, or through the Contact Us… command in SoundSource’s Help menu. Whether you experience issues or it’s working well for you, let us know.

Footnotes:

1. We’ll have another update to SoundSource that’s compatible with MacOS 11 through 14.4.1, as well. For now, we’re focused on testing against MacOS 14.5 and up. ↩︎

Posted By Paul Kafasis on August 8th, 2024

In recent months, I’ve begun to notice that results from web searches often highlight specific text on the page to which they’re linking. The web page is also scrolled to the relevant content. It’s quite helpful!

A quick investigation showed this is accomplished by appending a bit of code, #:~:text= to the URL for a link. These are called Text Fragments, and they’ve been supported by Chrome since back in 2020. It took a couple more years for support to come to Safari, but at this point, the element is well-supported enough to be worth using.

For example, during Apple’s beta season each summer, we get a lot of inquiries about our support for the upcoming OS. We guide users to our Status page, which is regularly updated with the latest information. When we do, we also want to highlight the fact that they can turn on optional test releases, to get pre-release access to updates. With Text Fragments, we can do just that. A specific link to rogueamoeba.com/status/#:~:text=Test%20Releases%20Provide%20Early%20Access will scroll the page down and highlight the relevant text:

I tested making a few of these manually, which worked but was quite a hassle. While contemplating a bookmarklet to handle it, our man Lee Falin beat me to the punch.

Here’s what he worked out:

javascript:(function() {
    var selectedText = window.getSelection ? window.getSelection().toString() : document.selection.createRange().text;
    if (!selectedText) {
        alert("Please select some text on the page first.");
        return;
    }
    var newUrl = window.location.href.split('#')[0] + "#:~:text=" + encodeURIComponent(selectedText);
    var textArea = document.createElement("textarea");
    textArea.value = newUrl;
    document.body.appendChild(textArea);
    textArea.select();
    document.execCommand("copy");
    document.body.removeChild(textArea);
})();

By using this code in a bookmarklet, you can easily create links with helpful highlighting. The one-time process to turn that code into a bookmarklet is slightly clunky, but it can be accomplished quickly.

First, bookmark any page at all in your web browser. Next, edit the bookmark’s address (in Safari, select Edit Bookmarks from the Bookmarks menu, control-click the bookmark, then select Edit Address…). You can now paste in the JavaScript from above. Finally, you can rename the bookmarklet to whatever you like.

Once you have your bookmarklet set, just highlight text on any page, then select the bookmark. The URL for the current page will be placed on your clipboard, ready for pasting. When the link is clicked, it will appear with your specified highlighting. Handy!

Posted By Paul Kafasis on August 1st, 2024

We’ve just posted a free update to Farrago! Version 2.1 brings over two dozen enhancements and fixes to the Mac’s best soundboard app. Read on for more details, or just update immediately by selecting “Check for Update” in the Farrago menu.

Notable Updates

First up, for fans of automation, we’ve introduced several enhancements to Farrago’s Shortcuts support. It’s now possible to set the color of a sound using the “Set Sound Setting” shortcut, and the “Get Sound” and “Get Sound Set” shortcuts can now extract Sounds and Sound Sets directly from shortcut input. We’ve also added new properties to the “Sound” (“X Position”, “Y Position”, and “OSC Base Address”), and the “Sound Set” (“OSC Base Address”) types.

Farrago also offers the ability to get or set OSC values from a shortcut, which allows shortcuts to read a tile’s remaining time, set its playback position, and more. We’ve also made several updates to OSC support itself, with new paths for resetting List playback state and managing the playback mode setting for sets in List mode, as well as several bug fixes.

We’ve leveled up our accessibility too, with a handful of fixes and improvements for users operating Farrago via VoiceOver. A rare crash has been fixed, tooltips have been improved, and several rough edges have been sanded down.

There are many other small changes in Farrago 2.1. You can read all about them in the comprehensive release notes.

Preliminary MacOS 15 (Sequoia) Support

With this latest update, Farrago also joins Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Fission, and Piezo in offering preliminary support for MacOS 15 (Sequoia). The latest versions of all these apps no longer warn about the OS being unsupported when run on Sequoia. At this time, there are no known issues.

Do note that Apple’s OS betas remain in flux, and we always encourage users to stick with Apple’s official (non-beta) OS releases to avoid problems. If you’re already running Sequoia, however, just be sure you’ve got our latest versions.

Further Sequoia Updates Still to Come

At present, Loopback and SoundSource do not yet run on Sequoia. We’re still hard at work on updates for both of these apps, and we’ll have more there in the weeks ahead. Keep an eye on our official Status page for more soon.

Posted By Paul Kafasis on June 28th, 2024

We’ve just released a small but important update to our cable-free audio routing tool, Loopback. The recent release of Loopback 2.4.0 featured a simplified setup process on MacOS 14.5 and up, powered by an overhauled audio capture backend. However, that change introduced several new problems we needed to correct. Today’s update brings critical fixes for those issues.

All Loopback users on MacOS 14.5 or higher should update to version 2.4.1 now. To do so, select the Check for Updates option in the Loopback menu to update to the latest version now.¹

Transitioning to a New Audio Capture Backend

With the release of MacOS 11 in 2020, Apple made changes that negatively impacted the setup process for our apps. Getting the necessary audio capture system (known as “ACE”) working was painful, with Apple Silicon-based machines even requiring changes to the Mac’s “Startup Security Policy”. These hurdles were difficult for both users and us.

We wanted to provide a better experience, and that meant we needed to change the backend system Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Loopback, Piezo, and SoundSource use for audio capture. We began work on our new audio capture system (dubbed “ARK”) in late 2022. It’s been an immense undertaking, but after nearly two years, ARK is ready for real-world use.²

This spring, we began to transition our products away from using ACE for audio capture. We’ve aimed for the move to ARK to be invisible to existing users of our products, and updates to Audio Hijack, Piezo, and Airfoil were very successful in that regard.

Loopback 2.4.0 and 2.4.1

Loopback, however, fell a bit short of the goal of a completely seamless transition. It needed more substantial changes than our other apps, and that led to a few rough edges in the Loopback 2.4.0 release. After several weeks of effort, we’ve now smoothed those out in version 2.4.1, which includes:

• A fix for distortion which could be heard when audio was routed through Loopback’s virtual devices
• Improved audio capture of apps playing audio through a non-default output device
• Substantial CPU performance improvements

To see the full list of improvements in Loopback 2.4.1, give the release notes a read.

Your Feedback Is Essential

Before every release, we do a substantial amount of testing to ensure the app is ready. Still, it’s impossible to test all potential scenarios, so user feedback is essential to us. Recent communications with Loopback users helped us rectify the issues mentioned above, and we’re very grateful for the assistance.

Our top-notch Support team is always here for you, listening to input and assisting with issues. Those conversations are a key part of our development process, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

More Updates to Come

We expect to ship further updates with initial support for MacOS 15 (Sequoia) in the coming weeks. An update to our essential sound control utility SoundSource is also still in the works, and will complete our transition to the new audio capture backend. Watch for more later this summer.

Footnotes:

1. If you’re not yet on MacOS 14.5, you’ll continue to use Loopback 2.3.3, which does not need an update at this time. We now have two functionally equivalent variants of the app, based on your exact operating system version. You don’t need to do anything, however. The app’s built-in version checking handles this for you automatically. ↩︎

2. A brief marketing note: Our licenseable ARK-SDK, built on top of ARK, makes it easy to capture and process audio on MacOS. If you’re a MacOS software developer in need of audio capture or just a simplified way of dealing with audio, learn more about licensing. ↩︎

Posted By Paul Kafasis on June 10th, 2024

Earlier today, Apple announced the next version of the Mac’s operating system: MacOS 15 (Sequoia). Developers are just now receiving an initial version of Sequoia to test with, and the official release is expected this fall. Here at Rogue Amoeba, we’ve already begun the work necessary to update our entire product line for Sequoia, with official support coming as soon as possible.

For now, however, we strongly encourage our users to steer clear of Apple’s beta OS releases. All of our software is fully supported on the current MacOS 14 (Sonoma) and lower, and we recommend sticking with those OSes.

Current Sequoia Status

At present, our lineup can be divided into two groups.

Group #1: Functional on Sequoia

The following apps will function on Sequoia, and initial testing has surfaced no issues:

Airfoil

Audio Hijack

Farrago

Fission

Piezo

Do note that these apps are not officially supported on Sequoia yet. They’ll warn you of that when you run them, but will allow you to proceed.

Group #2: Inoperable on Sequoia

Meanwhile, these apps will not yet run at all on Sequoia:

Loopback

SoundSource

Updates in the Works

Our helpful Status page details the current state of affairs for major OS upgrades and other transitions. It’s the canonical source of information when it comes to supporting Sequoia.

In the past, our updates have generally arrived at the tail end of the OS’s development cycle. However, we know that some of our users will jump on Apple’s Sequoia betas earlier. This year, we’re aiming to provide releases with initial support sooner.

We’ll start by issuing test releases that run without warning on the new OS, followed by official updates to support Sequoia. You can turn on test releases now to get our latest updates for Sequoia as soon as they’re available.

More Soon

We expect to have more news soon, so consider subscribing to the blog via RSS and following our social media accounts as well. As always, stay tuned!