Ways to EQ the system audio on a Mac (or any computer?)

Equipment
#1

I tap into audio sources from all over while I use my computer, a MacBook Pro. This got me thinking about how I would appreciate having a little more control over my system eq.

While I work, I often have a podcast going, then maybe later switch to music (audio files, streaming, are there other modes to consume audio on a computer?), then might have a conference call here and there.

I’ve hunted around a bit for different solutions. Ideally, something light weight, simple, like the built in Music App equalizer, but open source. I came a cross a few things, like eqMac (open source) and Airfoil (not open source).

Curious what others have to say or recommend here.

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#2

Could you use Loopback to route audio I/O a DAW and EQ in there?

#3

Maybe a combination of Blackhole and Element with an EQ plug-in of your choice?

#5

SoundSource has been my solution for day-to-day app audio wrangling since 2019. I think it was on a slight sale at the time.

If you want per-app volume, eq, and output routing it’s worth a look. Lots in there I don’t use, too. It replaces the system volume menubar item and gets out of the way.

Edit to add: Paid software, not open source, worth it for my context.

#6

I’ve done this using Soundflower and Pure Data. Set system preferences output and Pd input as Soundflower 2ch, Pd output to the Mac’s built-in output.

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