Outputing audio on mac

[trueruvoice]

Hi

Running MacPro here and trying to output audio to a different sound device.  

I have several aggregate devices that I set up for different scenarios.  The are all hosted by the same 32ch interface.  This particular set up is supposed to take audio out on ch 15-16 but instead, It keeps playing it on channels 1 & 2.    Is it because Zoom does not recognize aggregate devices?  It plays it on first two channels of the default interface even though in preferences is chosen an aggregate device.

I hope you understand what am saying 🙂

Any ideas?

Thanks 🙂

[Jameswalter · Accepted solution]

To output audio on your Mac in Zoom, you can follow these steps:

1. Launch the Zoom app: Open the Zoom application on your Mac.

2. Join or start a meeting: Join an existing meeting or start a new meeting by clicking on the appropriate options within the Zoom app.

3. Click on the "Join Audio" button: Once you are in the meeting, you will see a toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Locate the "Join Audio" button and click on it.

4. Select audio output: A pop-up window will appear with audio options. In the "Audio Output" section, choose the desired output device from the dropdown menu. The available options will depend on the audio devices connected to your Mac, such as built-in speakers, headphones, or external speakers.

Regards,
James

[Spex]

@trueruvoice I am having the same issue. I have a mixer that presents an USB audio device to the mac computer with 4 channels output. When selecting the device in Zoom there is no options to output on channels 3/4, zoom only outputs on channels 1/2 which the mixer is not listening on. I wish zoom would fix this for mac. It seems to work fine for windows computers.

[chadtee]

Having the exact same problem. I stumbled into a workaround — it works, but requires a third party app...

1. Install SoundSource (from Rogue Amoeba — an OS level audio router app). Add Zoom as an application that you want to redirect audio from. Have it redirect to the device that's not working — in my case, a Mackie ProFX10 with USB interface (but that uses Outputs 3 and 4, not 1 and 2).

2. Go into Audio MIDI Setup (in your Utilities folder). Open the Audio Devices window. Click the plus (+) icon in the lower left, and select Create a Multi-Output device. Add your non-functioning output as the only device. I named mine "zoom workaround".

3. Go back into Zoom audio settings. Choose "zoom workaround" (or the like) as your audio output. 

There's some funny interaction between Multi-Output device settings and SoundSource that fixes things. I really assumed SoundSource should be able to fix it alone, but I can't consistently reproduce it. 

[jrock11111]

Thank you chadtee for this solution!!

This SoundSource worked for me as well, and solved the issue of Zoom only routing to USB 1/2.  However I didn't need to create a multifunction device.

My setup: I have zoom set to my mac speakers/mic, and then I have SoundSource redirect the output to PFX (Mackie ProFX12v3).   That's basically the same thing as chadtee, however instead of creating the multifunction device, I changed the PFX profile's Speaker Configuration to be channels 3 and 4, and this worked just as well.  I can now send Zoom out on usb channels 3/4 to the last channel of the mixer - just like the ProFX10v3.  

I have had another issue with the ProFX10 when I run Hybrid meetings.  For me, these meetings are a room full of people (50+) where there is a presentation being done live, but this is also a zoom meeting, and the online attendees need to ask questions and interact with the live event.  The live event needs to send the zoom audio to the PA speakers along with the presenters, and the microphones from the live presenters need to not only go through the pa speakers, but back into the zoom meeting as well.   I imagine this sounds like a standard scenario to you all like just as it does to me.  However the problem with the ProFX10v3 (and seems to be the case with many mixers) is that the USB 3/4 does a pass-through to the main mix automatically, and it therefore is sent back to the zoom meeting, which causes echos for everyone in the meeting.  I can solve the problem with older v1 Mackie's, as they have a "USB Thru" button, which will prevent that loopback.  Or, I can utilize the subgroup on the ProFX12v3.  This mixer allows routing to this subgroup and/or the main mix.  Since the main mix is what is sent to the mac over USB, I can disengage LR on that last USB 3/4 mixer channel so that it only sends signal to the subgroup, but not the LR main mix (and therefore not back to my mac).  The live microphones will however go to both the main mix and the sub 1/2.  Now, instead of connecting my PA speakers to the MAIN Outs on the Mackie, I connect them to the Sub outs 1/2. 

It's a messy setup, because I also have to use the SoundSource app to reroute Zoom to usb 3/4, in combination with the non-standard PA connections.   

I wish Mackie would add that USB-Thru button back to their mixers for the second problem, and that Zoom would create a more flexible interface to the mac audio for the first.

Anyway, the ProFX12v3 is about $350, and that's the cheapest option I've found.   Other mixers - Possibly the ONYX 12 (which needs the same runaround) would be more universally useful because it can record onboard, or the Soundcraft Signature MTK units, which have more USB flexibility, would be an alternative, but they're a few hundred more bucks.

I hope I explained that clear enough... and that it helps someone down the road.

[mtanner]

Registered here just to add this comment.  It's funny that you have almost the exact same solution I came up with for avoiding echoing USB audio back through the house mains, using the sub 1/2 outs.  In my case, it's microphones that I'm trying to avoid echoing.  When we run hybrid meetings, I use some nice wireless mics to get a good recording of the local participants, but the house venue we do most of these events in has a fancy AV system with their own microphones that I can't easily eliminate or get a feed from.  So I'm forced to use the house mics for house amplification, and my mics only for the stream/recording.  But when we add a Zoom component and we're playing videos/music both into the Zoom and to the house, and running it all off a single laptop, I need the computer USB audio out going both to the house and back into the computer, but my microphones ONLY going to the computer, else it echoes very badly.  So my USB channel 11/12 input stays assigned to sub 1/2, my recording mics only to L/R (which also goes out over USB), and I use the sub 1/2 out to patch the mixer into the house so that it (theoretically) works.   I have the Mackie ProFX12v3.

Anyway, I found this because I was searching for the exact same issue the users above posted, that Zoom on the Mac does not seem to output to channels 3/4 like I have set up in the Mac's "Audio MIDI Settings" app.  Other apps (Music, browser) work fine and audio plays into 11/12 and back out through the mains, but Zoom I can only hear through the headphones/control room out by pressing the "to phones / control room" button above the sub 1-2 fader.  Thank you to @chadtee above, I will look into the SoundSource thing.  They also have another app called Loopback (that I guess used to be called SoundFlower?) that is supposed to be able to do the same thing but it looks like SoundSource might be cheaper.  And there is an application called BlackHole that I downloaded a while back that might be able to do this for "free" (donations requested/accepted) but I'm not sure.  I think I had Zoom audio working on the Mac several months ago with this BlackHole thing, because we were doing these events all the time during Covid, but I recently had to wipe our office MacBook and reinstall everything and I've got an event coming up where I might need this working.  I've been troubleshooting and trying to figure out why no Zoom audio on the Mac and this post caught my eye!

[jrubinmd]

Worked for me: Mac Studio/ UA Apollo 6