Hacking on Mic Drop!

Some of our users have sent us cool hacks and workarounds to extend Mic Drop's functionality or allow it to work with unsupported audio devices.

If you build something really cool, make sure to send us a message—we ❤️ seeing what people build with Mic Drop.

Can I program my mouse/headset/cat to mute my mic?

Yes! There are two ways to do this: map a mouse button to your existing Mic Drop keyboard shortcut, or run a script that will automate Mic Drop.

If you can map a button on your mouse, headset, or any other device to your Mic Drop keyboard shortcut, that should work seamlessly. Apps like Logitech Options let you use a button on your mouse to mute and unmute Mic Drop.

If you want to use a command-line tool or trigger Mic Drop without a key press, see Automation & Scripting.

Cats, as a rule, will only press keys that you don't want pressed, so no promises there. 😼

Can I make a giant physical mute button?

You sure can! There are a number of different ways of accomplishing this, and it really depends on what you're looking for.

First of all, you'll want some kind of external hardware button. You can buy a pre-built solution like Stream Deck, or you can get tinkering and make your own, like this programmable USB button. You can even get really creative (like one of our users!) and build a custom hardware switch attached to a giant neon "on air" light. 🤩

To turn a light on and off, you can query Mic Drop's mute state using a Terminal command: osascript -e 'tell application "Mic Drop"' -e 'read' -e 'end tell'. active means your mic is on while muted means your mic is muted.

To use this button to toggle Mic Drop’s mute state, use this Terminal command: osascript -e 'tell application "Mic Drop"' -e 'toggle' -e 'end tell'.

You can learn more at Automation & Scripting.

My microphone or audio input device isn't supported. Is there a workaround?

Indeed there is! Many users have had success using Loopback to create a virtual audio device and then muting that device with Mic Drop. Mic Drop is compatible with Loopback audio devices and in our experience this has worked quite well.

We can't promise absolutely every incompatible device will work using this Loopback hack, but so far most XLR-USB type audio interfaces work perfectly with Mic Drop + Loopback. If you've upgraded to a really cool audio setup but still want to use Mic Drop, give Loopback a try!

Can I show a mute button in my Touch Bar?

Yes, but not directly from Mic Drop. Use BetterTouchTool to configure a Touch Bar button that will activate your Mic Drop keyboard shortcut or run osascript -e 'tell application "Mic Drop"' -e 'toggle' -e 'end tell', and you should be good to go!

Bonus: if you want to query the mute state of Mic Drop to change the icon based on whether you're muted or not, you can use this command to get the mute status: osascript -e 'tell application "Mic Drop"' -e 'read' -e 'end tell'.