WaveBar

Real-time audio visualizer for the macOS menu bar.

Features

• 9 visualization styles — Bars, Bars (Inverted), Mirror Bars, Wave, Blocks, Line, Circle Blob, Circle Rays, Circle Dots
• 7 color schemes — Cyan, Purple, Green, Orange, Pink, Rainbow, White
• Adjustable width — Extra Narrow / Narrow / Medium / Wide / Extra Wide
• Sensitivity control — Low / Medium / High / Max
• Start at Login option
• Menu bar only — no Dock icon, minimal footprint

Install

1. Download WaveBar.dmg from the latest release
2. Open the DMG and drag WaveBar.app to your Applications folder
3. Launch WaveBar

Troubleshooting: If macOS blocks the app, open Terminal and run:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/WaveBar.app

This is needed because the app is not notarized with an Apple Developer account.

Audio permission

On first launch, WaveBar will guide you through granting System Audio Recording permission:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
2. Scroll down to System Audio Recording (not Screen Recording!)
3. Click the + button at the bottom of the list
4. Find and select WaveBar.app, then click Open
5. Make sure the toggle next to WaveBar is ON

You can reopen this page anytime from the WaveBar menu → Check Audio Permissions...

Build from source

Requires macOS 15+ and Swift 6.0+ (Command Line Tools or Xcode).

git clone https://github.com/JulienDeveaux/WaveBar.git
cd WaveBar
chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh
open WaveBar.app

Architecture

File	Role
main.swift	App entry point, NSApplication setup, Launch Services registration
AppDelegate.swift	Menu bar UI, settings menus with live preview, display timer
AudioCaptureManager.swift	CoreAudio Process Tap + aggregate device setup
AudioAnalyzer.swift	FFT via Accelerate/vDSP, logarithmic band grouping, auto-normalization
VisualizerView.swift	Layer-backed NSView rendering all 9 visualization styles

License

MIT