Make sound come out of internal and external speakers

[zblaxberg]

Is there a way to make sound come out of my macbook pro and speakers that I hooked up to it simultaneously?


Clarification: All Sound will come through both the speakers I plug in and the macbook pro's internal speakers. Not just certain sounds through the external and other sounds through the internal.

 

[gr8tfly]

If you want to use them at the same time, then yes. If you want the same audio coming out of both - I don't know of any easy way.

I currently have USB speakers, mostly for iChat audio conferencing (louder and reduces feedback). With iChat set to use them, and the System Preferences set to "internal", I can do both during a chat (audio from chat goes through the USB speakers, all other audio through the internal). Also, works the same with any other app which can select output.

 

[billjazz67]

MacBook Pro-use internal speakers and external subwoofer simulateously?

I'm posting this here because I have a related question, and this may help get over the "why" and solicit and actual answer.

There are many reasons why people may want to use the internal and external speakers at the same time. For me, the mid/treble response of the MacBook Pro 17" speakers is more than adequate for background listening while I work, so I want to hook up a subwoofer at the same time. Why? Because I have a tiny desk and want no more clutter, but there is space under the desk for a small powered sub.

Therefore, it would be really cool if I could just plug in a sub to the headphone port and leave the internal speakers on. Essentially, I'm looking for a software hack to turn the headphone jack into a variable line out connection, where all sound made by the computer comes out the headphone jack and the internal speakers at the same time.

I know that the internal speakers are turned off by software, not hardware, it's not like the old days where the speakers were literally wired through the headphone jack (like transistor radios). The sound driver becomes aware that a plug is inserted and than mutes the internal speakers.

So, has anybody figured out a hack to manually control the process of switching off the internal speakers?

I imagine all sorts of uses for this, such as being able to use the internal speakers to monitor audio that is being fed to an external sound system.

I know it's unrelated, but my Sony TV has a menu control that allows me to turn the internal speakers on or off and set audio out a variable or fixed. That solution allows me to use a Sub with the Sony TV, eliminating the need for receiver and speakers, just to hear decent audio.

 

[nath81]

Yeah I would like to do something like that too.

I use my sterio, which has a usb input, most of the time for listening to music, but since the speakers are quite a way from the computer I would like to use the internal speakers for non-music stuff. System sounds go through the internal speakers. I'm sure someone could make an app that makes the computer regard sound from messenger, quicktime, firefox, safari etc as system sounds. I know I could buy and airport and put music from itunes through that, but that is an expensive solution! Would be great to have a sub as well!

 

[DMC440]

billjazz - did you ever get this working?

 

[soms]

Try LineIn

I use it for my 360 input/output, might work for this too.

 

[ddesignboy]

Figured it out

I FIGURED IT OUT!

To get this to work, you need to buy two things:
1) Audio Hijack Pro software by RogueAmoeba, with the SoundFlower plugin.
2) Griffin iMic.

Once you've installed both the hardware and software, do the following:

1) In Hijack Pro, create a session with source type: audio device, and SoundFlower 2Ch as the input, and iMic as the output.
2) Create a second session again with source type: audio device, and SoundFlower 2Ch as the input, but change the output to "Built-in Output."
3) Click the "Hijack" button for both sessions, so Hijack Pro is hijacking audio from Soundflower and routing it to both outputs simultaneously.
4) In System Preferences/Sound, change sound output to "SoundFlower 2Ch".

 

[ddesignboy]

revision

okay you actually only need to set up one session - the "System Audio" session. Choose the iMic as your output. Then, in the effects tab, add the following effect: 4XEffect/Auxiliary Device Output and choose "built-in output". The benefit of this is that you can add effects such as low-pass filters (in case your subwoofer lacks its own filter).