SonarForge v0.2.1

SonarForge v0.2.1

Stability and safety follow-up to v0.2.0 — preamp persistence, digital clip metering, permission recovery, Frequency Response spectrum performance, and polish.

Requirements

• macOS 14.2 or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer). No Intel support.
• "System Audio Recording" permission (requested on first engine start).

New

• Output level meter + CLIP badge — post-gain sample-peak (−60…0 dBFS) with peak-hold. CLIP latches when any sample hits digital full scale (0 dBFS). Measures SonarForge’s float output toward Core Audio, not amp/Bluetooth/speaker clipping.
• Frequency zone strip + band handle teaching tooltips — quick guidance on what each range does while editing the curve.
• Master visualizations toggle — turn off spectrum analysis and all visualizers to save CPU/battery; EQ audio is unchanged.
• Matrix Rain visualization mode (spectrum-driven).

Fixed / improved

• Preamp is saved with the active profile — slider changes persist, survive band edits, profile reload, and A/B compare (no longer snapped back to the old value).
• Profile save failures surface in the UI instead of failing silently.
• Profile import/load caps bands at 16 and derives factory status from the catalog UUID (no spoofed built-ins; no dead 17th+ bands).
• Bypass help text matches real behavior (no EQ, crossfeed, or gain trim).
• Clearer Starting… / timeout / denied recovery (Privacy Settings, Troubleshooting, tccutil tip when relevant). System Audio Recording has no public preflight API — the app does not gate start on Screen Capture APIs.
• Permission start gate regression — removed a false Screen Capture preflight that could block engine start even when System Audio Recording was already granted (especially after install vs debug identity).
• Frequency Response spectrum no longer freezes while dragging preamp/output gain — pre/post traces use SpectrumFeed + display-link (same approach as bars/LED) instead of a main-thread SwiftUI Canvas.
• Help → SonarForge Help opens in-app Welcome (no more “Help isn’t available”).
• Stereo meters: lockstep L/R PCM and pan-aware balance; vectorscope / correlation label cleanup.
• Spectrum analysis reuses FFT scratch buffers (less alloc thrash with visualizers on).
• Debug-only restriction for --debug-log-spectrum-file (not in Release).
• AppModel / ProfileManager isolated to the main actor.
• UI polish: factory count copy, Flat reset by stable id, menu-bar Bypass aligned with main window, compact output meter with correct full-track colors; refreshed README hero screenshot.
• Band numeric fields use subtler dark-mode chrome (less harsh system rounded borders).

Known Limitations

• Apps using exclusive audio access or certain DRM paths may bypass the system
  tap (Netflix in a browser is confirmed working; some protected players may not).
• A brief gap is expected while switching output devices (the capture path is
  rebuilt with a fade).
• AirPlay output behavior is untested. USB DACs and Bluetooth have been
  owner-validated on M4 Pro hardware.
• No optional output limiter yet — use the clip indicator and negative preamp
  for headroom (especially with boosted AutoEQ profiles).

Disclaimer

Provided "AS IS" without warranty (Apache 2.0 §7–8). EQ boosts can make audio
much louder — start at low volume with new profiles and protect your hearing
and equipment. SonarForge collects no data (see PRIVACY.md).

Install

Open SonarForge-0.2.1.dmg and drag SonarForge to Applications. Signed and
notarized — opens with a single confirmation, no Gatekeeper workaround. A
.zip is also attached as an alternative.

Checksums

• SonarForge-0.2.1.dmg — shasum -a 256: f90c8c736164595d5d1dc525a26e01623a6a2a372bf25408f3331948a9e8e36a
• SonarForge-0.2.1.zip — shasum -a 256: 01ab28f85ca884e55df48cc488226d155fa8a979c48e1c5ec02fc3ea13ea7697

Attribution

Headphone corrections via the AutoEQ project and the
measurement community (oratory1990 et al.). Licensed under the
Apache License 2.0.

SonarForge v0.2.0

SonarForge v0.2.0

Crossfeed, a full visualization suite, and a pop-out visualizer — still a focused system-wide parametric EQ for Apple Silicon.

Requirements

• macOS 14.2 or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer). No Intel support.
• "System Audio Recording" permission (requested on first engine start).

New

• Per-profile headphone crossfeed — complementary-filter design after the EQ; strength saved with each profile.
• Visualization modes driven by spectrum bins and post-EQ PCM:
  • Spectrum Bars, Mirrored Bars, Ghost Bars, LED Meters, Spectrogram
  • Oscilloscope, CRT Scope
  • Vectorscope (stereo width / mono image — useful with crossfeed)
  • Correlation meter, VU / PPM meters
  • Particles, Reactor (Metal audio-reactive feedback)
• Pop-out Visualizer window with fullscreen support (Window menu / ⌘⇧V / Pop Out).
• Menu-bar mini spectrum strip while the menu-bar panel is open.
• Spectrum FFT window sized per sample rate so low bass no longer flat-lines at 96 kHz (and other rates).

Fixed / improved

• Visualizers stay smooth while dragging sliders and toggles (off-main draw paths, spectrum/waveform feeds).
• Switching between bar-family modes and Particles → Reactor remounts correctly.
• Polar Spectrum tucked from the menu (code retained); hidden-style preferences migrate to Spectrum Bars.

Known Limitations

• Apps using exclusive audio access or certain DRM paths may bypass the system tap (Netflix in a browser is confirmed working; some protected players may not).
• A brief gap is expected while switching output devices (the capture path is rebuilt with a fade).
• AirPlay / Bluetooth / external USB DAC behavior is not fully hardware-QA'd.
• No optional output limiter yet — watch gain staging with boosted AutoEQ profiles.

Disclaimer

Provided "AS IS" without warranty (Apache 2.0 §7–8). EQ boosts can make audio much louder — start at low volume with new profiles and protect your hearing and equipment. SonarForge collects no data (see PRIVACY.md).

Install

Open SonarForge-0.2.0.dmg and drag SonarForge to Applications. Signed and notarized — opens with a single confirmation, no Gatekeeper workaround. A .zip is also attached as an alternative.

Checksums

• SonarForge-0.2.0.dmg — shasum -a 256: 25a916439033e84a847c5583f4ad6dda216e82e3d59c6dab7a2216b683f34d11
• SonarForge-0.2.0.zip — shasum -a 256: 6fc4b4bb7f8e41591788d324681d211c58b817b4fcaf3542ba17f3d86f42c062

Attribution

Headphone corrections via the AutoEQ project and the measurement community (oratory1990 et al.). Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

SonarForge v0.1.2

A visual-polish release.

New & improved

• Color-coded bands. Each EQ band is now colored by its place in the spectrum — warm reds/oranges for bass, greens/yellows for mids, blues/violets for treble — shown on the response graph, the draggable handle, and the band-list row. Selecting a band highlights its contribution.
• Always-on spectrum. Pre and post spectrum traces are shown continuously; the Pre/Post/Legend toggles and the on-graph legend have been removed.
• Tidier layout. The Bands panel is now a fixed-width sidebar (no wasted space), and the Audio Engine controls sit cleanly on one line.

Fixed

• SonarForge's own internal capture device no longer appears in the output-device picker.
• The output-device list refreshes automatically when devices change (the manual refresh button is gone).

Install

Open SonarForge-0.1.2.dmg and drag SonarForge to Applications. Signed and notarized by Apple — opens with a single confirmation. Grant System Audio Recording on first start. Requires macOS 14.2+ on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer).

Checksums (SHA-256)

• SonarForge-0.1.2.dmg — 440cc3b1597f35b1461375717bade01761dc2afe2e0b24da7bf6503ad85fba58
• SonarForge-0.1.2.zip — fc985f1b1ad183a580fcde8ba17a2e93ea0a386c86bbc963a8dcd8196372380b

SonarForge v0.1.1

Bug-fix release — recommended for anyone on v0.1.0.

Fixed

• A/B comparison no longer loses edits. Editing a profile's bands and then toggling A/B used to revert the edit on screen — and a later change could overwrite the saved version. The A/B slots now reference the saved profile library directly, so edits always persist.
• The Profile dropdown now tracks the active A/B slot (it previously showed the wrong profile after switching A↔B).
• Bands panel no longer clips under the divider, and the per-band delete button stays aligned with its row.
• Audio Engine controls no longer overflow on narrower windows; the output-device selector is now a compact speaker-icon picker so the row stays on one line.

Under the hood

• Hardened the com.apple.security.device.audio-input entitlement so it survives project regeneration — a regression that could otherwise silently disable audio in Release builds.

Install

Open SonarForge-0.1.1.dmg and drag SonarForge to Applications. Signed and notarized by Apple — opens with a single confirmation. Grant System Audio Recording on first start. Requires macOS 14.2+ on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer).

Checksums (SHA-256)

• SonarForge-0.1.1.dmg — d6a37e06782098468ae96161301bb7e406e983536e8fc6b50f636eb45e7a8acc
• SonarForge-0.1.1.zip — ea96a15b4dff4048631673f6916019bb8acc18ecdc4f33e04c2da5b93269f8e9

SonarForge v0.1.0

First public release — a free, open-source, system-wide parametric equalizer for macOS.

Requirements

• macOS 14.2 or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or newer). No Intel support.
• "System Audio Recording" permission (requested on first engine start).

Features

• System-wide EQ via Core Audio Taps (driverless) — processes all system audio at once.
• Parametric bands: peaking, low/high shelf, low/high pass, notch — graphical and numeric editing.
• Live pre/post spectrum analyzer (Accelerate/vDSP) behind a draggable response curve.
• AutoEQ import with preserved source attribution.
• Profiles: save, import/export, favorites, quick-switch, A/B compare, global bypass.
• 11 built-in presets, including the artistic Sonar Wave.
• Native SwiftUI, dark mode, full keyboard + VoiceOver accessibility, menu-bar item.
• ~0.2% of one CPU core for a full band set. No network calls, ever.

Known limitations

• Apps using exclusive audio access or certain DRM paths may bypass the system tap.
• A brief gap is expected while switching output devices (the capture path is rebuilt with a fade).
• AirPlay output behavior is untested.

Install

Open SonarForge-0.1.0.dmg and drag SonarForge to Applications. Signed and notarized by Apple — it opens with a single confirmation, no Gatekeeper workaround. Grant System Audio Recording on first start. A .zip is attached as an alternative.

Checksums (SHA-256)

• SonarForge-0.1.0.dmg — 166ab0bf6c0dd1fa454b2c771bc402e10da1cb1dff18f33fa59673d6d8326183
• SonarForge-0.1.0.zip — fcaf12075fdb32b3bb925ea663a73cd84e98915a2f519a451c541f9a795ad5ea

Disclaimer

Provided "AS IS" without warranty (Apache 2.0 §7–8). EQ boosts can make audio much louder — start at low volume with new profiles and protect your hearing and equipment. SonarForge collects no data (see PRIVACY.md).

Attribution

Headphone corrections via the AutoEQ project and the measurement community (oratory1990 et al.). Inspired in part by eqMac (Apache 2.0). Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.