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Overview of built-in audio effects in SoundSource

SoundSource is often used to host third-party audio unit effects, but it also features a selection of our own audio effects, created in-house by Rogue Amoeba.

This page provides a simple overview of SoundSource’s built-in effects and ways they can be used to enhance your sound.

10-Band EQ

Fine-tune specific frequencies by adjusting the relative levels of 10 different frequency bands.

The equalizer includes almost two dozen presets to improve your audio in an instant, and you can save your own custom equalizer settings for later use.

Balance & Pan

SoundSource includes an effect for adjusting the stereo balance of audio, which can toggle between Balance and Pan modes.

The Balance effect adjusts the relative levels of audio between the left and right stereo channels. This is useful for correcting audio that is skewed to one side, or for compensating for hearing loss in one ear.

The Pan adjustment acts in a different fashion, setting the position of audio between the left and right stereo channels. This can be helpful when placing audio in a specific location within the stereo field.

Headphone Equalizer

Automatic calibrated equalization for headphones, powered by the well-known AutoEq project. Use it when playing audio to headphones to make them sound their very best. Profiles are available for thousands of different headphone models.

Magic Boost

Boosts quiet audio so you can hear it, while louder audio is left untouched to increase the perceived overall volume without adding distortion.

Volume Overdrive

Amplify audio from individual applications up to 400%, making it possible to hear your audio even in loud environments

Learning more about audio effects

For more details on SoundSource’s built-in effects, see the “Built-In Effects” page of SoundSource’s manual.

Experimenting by listening to your audio output while adjusting effect parameters is a useful strategy for getting to know any audio effect. Trying this approach with different effects and audio sources can help to build intuition for how audio effects can change your sound and when they might be useful to add to your setup.

For more in-depth information, books on sound recording offer perspectives on the technical and creative problems that audio effects can solve.

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