MACA
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User Guide

Everything you need to get the most out of MACA — from the menu bar basics to profiles, the equalizer and the local API.

Getting started

MACA is a menu bar app. After installation, a small icon appears in the macOS menu bar (top-right of your screen). Click it to open the main popup window.

On first launch, a short setup wizard guides you through the essentials. You can enable launch at login at any time in Settings › General.

Per-app volume control

Each app row has its own volume slider and mute button. MACA uses Apple's Core Audio Taps to intercept each app's audio stream and applies volume in real time via digital signal processing.

All audio channels pass through unmodified — only the gain is adjusted. Volume and mute for every app are free and unlimited.

Per-app audio routingPro

Click the device icon on any app row to open the output device picker. This sends an individual app's audio to a different output than the system default — and one app can play across up to four devices at once.

Per-app equalizerPro

Click the EQ button on any app row to open a 10-band equalizer window for that app. Create custom EQ profiles in Settings › Equalizer; they appear at the top of the preset picker in every EQ window and can be renamed, edited and deleted.

Focus Mode

Focus Mode mutes all audio except your communication apps — pre-configured for 100+ apps like Teams, Discord, Zoom and FaceTime. Activate it from the popup or with a keyboard shortcut; the phone icon turns green while active.

Audio normalizerPro

The Normalizer automatically balances levels across apps so no single app is much louder or quieter than the rest. When it is actively adjusting by more than 0.5 dB, a small gain indicator appears next to the toggle.

ProfilesPro

Profiles save a snapshot of your audio setup — per-app volume, mute state, output device and EQ — so you can switch between setups in one click. Each profile has an Auto-Save toggle that writes your changes back automatically while it is active.

Secondary devices

The Secondary Devices section at the bottom of the popup shows volume controls for every connected output device other than the current default, so you can balance headphones, speakers and monitors at a glance.

Keyboard shortcuts

MACA supports global keyboard shortcuts that work from any app. Configure them in Settings › Shortcuts: click the recorder field next to any action, press your combination, then click elsewhere to confirm. Use “Reset to Defaults” to restore the originals.

Siri & Shortcuts app

Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut and search for “MACA” to find its actions — volume, mute, profile switching and more — so you can automate MACA from Siri and system automations.

Settings

Open Settings from the gear icon in the popup footer, or by right-clicking the menu bar icon. Here you control which apps appear in the popup, icon style, shortcuts, the equalizer, and system behavior.

Audio health monitor

MACA runs an automatic health check every 30 seconds in the background and repairs common audio issues automatically. You can review what was fixed in Settings › System › Repair History.

Free vs Pro

Per-app volume and mute are free for all your apps, with no limit. Pro unlocks per-app audio routing, the 10-band equalizer, the normalizer, unlimited profiles and the local Control API. Upgrades are handled through the App Store and can be restored on any device with the same Apple ID.

Local Control APIPro

MACA provides a local REST API to control every audio-producing app programmatically — perfect for automation, Stream Deck integrations, smart-home setups and custom scripts. All calls stay on your Mac.

Troubleshooting

Common topics: no apps appear in the list, the level meter shows no activity, an app disappeared, audio sounds distorted, MACA is missing from the menu bar, or a macOS-version warning. If audio misbehaves after a crash, MACA can clean up the audio system automatically.

Still stuck? Reach us at contact@amx-mediensysteme.de.