Easier way to switch sound output device

Question

I bought a USB soundcard for my Macbook Pro, so I can use a headset mic for Skype. By default, the. sound goes to a pair of external speakers (for iTunes) or the built-in speakers (on the road/gaming)

Is there a simple way to switch or toggle (keyboard shortcut, menu-bar icon, dock-able app) between these two output devices.

Apple-Menu->System Preferences->Sound is just too many clicks, requiring much precise mouse manuvering, when all I want to do is switch the output in a hurry).

I'd rather not buy a "switcher", one more device to carry around!

Answer 1

It sounds like you are after SoundSource:

SoundSource is a tiny tool for OS X enabling you to switch your audio input and output sources with a single click, and even adjust their volume settings.

Another program that does the same thing is PTHVolume.

Answer 2

Also in Snow Leopard if you hold option and click the sound icon in the upper Right of the Mac it will bring down a menu similar to what the above mentioned 3rd party plugins do.

Answer 3

You can press Option-Volume(Up/Down/Mute) to open the Sound Preferences directly, although you would still need to select the desired output.

Answer 4

(Originally posted here http://leafraker.com/2007/09/17/how-to-create-a-quicksilver-trigger/)

You can use applescript to switch between two sources, triggered by Quicksilver being the fastest way:

property speakers : "Headphones" --ext. speakers are connected to headphone output
property headset : "Line out"

tell application "System Preferences" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    get properties
    tell process "System Preferences"
        click menu item "Sound" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
        delay 2
        click radio button "Output" of tab group 1 of window "sound"
        delay 1
        set theRows to every row of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "sound"
        repeat with aRow in theRows
            if selected of aRow then
                set curr_output to (value of text field 1 of aRow as text)
                if curr_output is speakers then set desired_output to headset
                if curr_output is headset then set desired_output to speakers
                exit repeat
            end if
        end repeat
        repeat with aRow in theRows
            if (value of text field 1 of aRow as text) is desired_output then
                set selected of aRow to true
                exit repeat
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences" to quit

Also, there is a command-line wrapper for SoundSource, making it easier to integrate with applescript/quicksilver/scripts etc:

http://whoshacks.blogspot.com/2009/01/change-audio-devices-via-shell-script.html

And another to try:

http://code.google.com/p/switchaudio-osx/downloads/list

Answer 5

Listen, it might be some app. In my case, it's Vox.

When Vox is on (and it's set to send audio to the system default device), when I plug in the external soundcard, the system switches to the external, and very quickly switches back to internal speakers.

When Vox is off (quit), and I plug in the external soundcard - if it was default before, the system switches to it and stays on it.

So in my case, the Vox player makes the difference. Perhaps you could try with some other player, see what happens (and in this case - what doesn't).

Oh, this is a 2009 question... now I see... but anyway, this is what happens on my system. It's MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2012 running OS X 10.8.5.