SoundSource: Sound Control So Good, It Should Be Built Into macOS (Sponsor)

This week, MacSparky is sponsored by SoundSource, a utility I use daily. The problem with the Mac’s native sound controls is that they are designed for people who need them once every few years. If you need to adjust your sound settings more than that, you need SoundSource.

SoundSource is the sound settings controller that should be built in. Whether you listen to podcasts, blast music, or stream video, SoundSource is for everyone who uses audio on their Mac. It gives you per-app audio control, letting you change the volume of any app and route individual apps to different audio devices. Mute your browser, or send music to one set of speakers and everything else to another.

It doesn’t just give you sources; it also lets you apply effects to any audio on your Mac. Boost volume levels, add an equalizer, and even apply Audio Unit plugins. SoundSource also provides fast access to your Mac’s audio devices, so there’s no need to dig around in System Settings when you need to adjust things.

Main menu bar pull-down window for the SoundSource app from Rogue Amoeba, showing the various sections of the utility, along with 4 favorite apps, which have a green star to the left of their name.

If you have a DisplayPort or HDMI device that fails to offer volume adjustment, SoundSource can help there, too. It gives those devices a proper volume slider, and the Super Volume Keys feature also makes your keyboard volume controls work. And the best part is you don’t have to click through cryptic preferences boxes. With SoundSource you get all of these tools right in your menu bar.

And don’t forget, SoundSource is from Rogue Amoeba, which is the authority for sound processing on your Mac.

Best of all, through the end of February, MacSparky readers can save 20% by purchasing with coupon code SOUNDSPARK20. Learn more and download a free trial on the SoundSource site.

Dropzone: One of My Favorite Mac Utilities

This week I’m welcoming back Dropzone as a sponsor at MacSparky. Dropzone is a productivity tool that enhances drag-and-drop on your Mac. Drag files onto the menu item and a beautifully designed and animated grid of all your actions opens. Share with services such as AirDrop, Imgur, FTP, Amazon S3, Facebook, X (Twitter) and many others. Move and copy files, launch applications, and even develop your own actions using the powerful Ruby-based scripting API.

With Dropzone, you can easily add actions to your grid with the new Quick Add menu or by dropping folders or apps onto the ‘Add to Grid’ area. Quickly reorganize your actions using drag-and-drop and delete them by holding the Option key. The new in-grid progress bars let you keep track of task progress. Also see how tasks are progressing at a glance in the new animated menu item.

Drop Bar has another great feature: Drag files you know you’ll need later onto the Drop Bar area of the grid to stash them temporarily. Drag stacks on top of each other to combine them. You can even drag a stack onto another Dropzone action.

One of my favorite new features is Add-on Actions, where you can add pre-configured actions to Dropzone. Want to resize files, search images, download from YouTube? Those actions (and a lot more) are available to you.

Dropzone menu bar icon with its window revealed, showing the various files saved to it.

I use Dropzone daily. Here are just a few things I do with Dropzone:

I keep some of my most commonly used image files (MacSparky Logo, podcast artwork) permanently saved in Dropzone. Anytime I need them, they are there waiting for me.
Often I’ve got temporary files when working on a project. I put them on the DropBar in Dropzone so I can use them as needed.
When working on my laptop and I’ve got apps in full-screen mode, Dropzone hold any attachments I need to move between files.
When I want to keep a YouTube video, I drop it on the Dropzone YouTube downloader.
I’ve set certain folders as repeating Dropzone targets. Now I can move files to my Action folder or copy items to the Desktop with just a drag.

I’m a big Dropzone fan and happy to have them as a MacSparky sponsor. Check it out today.

Fantastical: The Superhero of Calendar Apps (Sponsor)

I’m thrilled to once again have Flexibits’ fantastic calendar app as a MacSparky sponsor. 2023 was a busy year for the Fantastical team and that meant users got a ton of great improvements. I use Fantastical every day at MacSparky HQ and I keep being blown away by how much it can do for me.

This is one subscription that gives me great value, and I’m happy to keep renewing. Flexibits published a nice video recap in December so you can see for yourself all the hard work they put in. For me, some features really landed and continue to make managing my calendar events and Zoom calls a breeze:

Openings and Proposals links got a lot better and I can now add contact details in the URL link.

Live Activities — for those of us with a Dynamic Island-equipped iPhone, seeing your upcoming Fantastical event in this prime spot is so handy, and you can get right to it with a tap.

In June, the Quarter view was added to the Mini Window on Mac. This is my favorite view in Fantastical and one that I’m convinced they added just for me.

With iOS 17 came interactive widgets, and SmartStack and StandBy widgets, too. Fantastical was ready, and took advantage of these new features in September. I use widgets all the time. They also made the Apple Watch app so much nicer and easier to use.

I could go on and on…but I think you’re getting it: Fantastical has never been better, and if you’re wondering whether it’s right for you, head over there now and give it a spin! Managing your events, tasks, and meetings has never felt as good.

DEVONthink: The Place for Documents and Files (Sponsor)

I often hear from listeners/readers looking for a research solution in the Mac ecosystem. My favorite app for this, without a doubt, is DEVONthink. DEVONthink is the most professional document and information management application for the Mac. It’s the one place for storing all your documents, snippets, or bookmarks, and working with them.

The Integrated A.I. assists you with filing and searching, while the extensive search language with advanced Boolean operators.

DEVONthink features a Flexible sync system that supports many cloud services – or lets you synchronize over the local network too – with everything securely encrypted. This gives you the choice for however syncing works best for you!

It has Smart rules and flexible reminders that let you automate all parts of your workflow and delegate boring, repeating tasks. Let DEVONthink automatically organize your data with rules you define!

DEVONthink’s AppleScript dictionary is one of the largest on the Mac. There’s no part of DEVONthink that can’t be automated. Extend DEVONthink’s functionality with your own commands by adding them to its Scripts menu.

Even templates can have scripts inside and you can set up new documents with data from placeholders, or inserted by your own AppleScript code.

DEVONthink To Go, the iOS companion app, has really seen a lot of updates this year. The latest version, 3.8, adds in-document search to text documents, formatted notes, and RTFs. Search using quotes and Boolean operators. When you open a document from a global search, DEVONthink To Go reuses the query to highlight occurrences in the document. You can now also undo and redo many item actions, from moving and replicating to converting and more. It even now shows replicated or duplicated items in color, just like on the Mac.

I find DEVONthink’s combination of innovative features and automation support irresistible. Interested? MacSparky readers can get a 20% discount on DEVONthink.