A real-time voice processor for macOS that turns your microphone into a broadcast-quality virtual mic.
Zoom, Teams, Meet, Discord, OBS — just pick "Voice Enhancer" and talk.
Most people sound flat, muddy, or harsh on calls — not because of bad mics, but because raw audio isn't processed. Voice Enhancer fixes that in real time, with zero setup:
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Without Voice Enhancer
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With Voice Enhancer
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| Feature | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Voice Presets | Natural, Broadcast, Clarity, Warm — one click to sound great |
| ~10ms | Latency | Real-time processing with no perceptible delay |
| 0% | CPU Impact | 512 frames processed in under 50μs on Apple Silicon |
| 100% | Local | No cloud, no network calls, no telemetry, no AI — your voice stays on your Mac |
Live Tuning — Adjustable compression and de-essing sliders. Dial in exactly what works for your voice, mid-call.
Voice Preview — Record a 3-second clip, tweak the sliders, hear the result on your own voice instantly.
Real-Time Meters — Input/output levels plus compressor and de-esser gain reduction, so you can see exactly what the DSP is doing.
Virtual Microphone — Shows up as "Voice Enhancer" in any app's mic picker. No plugins, no extensions, no per-app config.
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Gentle cleanup, transparent Good mics, quiet rooms |
Radio DJ voice, bold and clear Podcasts, presentations |
Presence boost, cuts through Quiet or distant mics |
Adds body, softens harshness Thin or harsh-sounding mics |
Same voice, same mic — just a different preset. Listen for yourself:
Listen on SoundCloud — Original (unprocessed) vs. Natural, Broadcast, Clarity, and Warm.
brew tap aheadly-tech/tap
brew install --cask voice-enhancer- Open Voice Enhancer
- Grant microphone permission when prompted
- Pick a preset
- In your meeting app, select "Voice Enhancer" as the microphone
- That's it — you sound better now
brew uninstall --cask voice-enhancerBuild from source
Prerequisites: Xcode 15+, CMake 3.20+, XcodeGen
brew install cmake xcodegen
./scripts/build.sh
sudo ./scripts/install.sh
open VoiceEnhancerApp/build/Build/Products/Release/Voice\ Enhancer.appTo uninstall a source build: sudo ./scripts/uninstall.sh
Your voice goes in raw, comes out polished. The DSP chain runs in this order:
Mic Input → High-Pass Filter → Compressor → 4-Band Parametric EQ → De-Esser → Limiter → Virtual Mic Output
The app and virtual driver communicate through a lock-free shared-memory ring buffer — no XPC, no kernel extensions, no IPC frameworks. Just fast, direct memory.
Three components, cleanly separated:
| Component | Language | Role |
|---|---|---|
| AudioEngine | C++17 | DSP library — HPF, compressor, parametric EQ, de-esser, limiter. Real-time safe, unit-tested. |
| VirtualDriver | C++ | Core Audio HAL plugin. Registers as a system microphone. |
| VoiceEnhancerApp | Swift / SwiftUI | User interface, mic capture, parameter control. Talks to engine via C ABI. |
IPC: App and driver share audio through a POSIX shared-memory lock-free SPSC ring buffer (shared/RingBuffer.h).
Repository layout
├── AudioEngine/ C++ DSP library (CMake)
│ ├── include/ Public headers
│ ├── src/ Implementation
│ ├── bridge/ C ABI for Swift interop
│ └── tests/ Unit tests
├── VirtualDriver/ Core Audio HAL plugin
│ └── src/ Plugin, Device, Stream implementations
├── VoiceEnhancerApp/ SwiftUI macOS application
│ └── Sources/
│ ├── App/ App entry point
│ ├── Audio/ Mic capture, engine bridge, voice preview
│ ├── Models/ Preset, AudioDevice
│ ├── ViewModels/ AudioViewModel
│ ├── Views/ ContentView, Settings, Meters, Presets
│ └── Resources/ Assets, entitlements, Info.plist
├── shared/ Ring buffer (shared by app + driver)
├── scripts/ Build, install, notarize, uninstall
└── docs/ Architecture, build guide, contributing
The audio callback is engineered for absolute real-time safety:
- Fast math — IEEE 754 bit-trick approximations replace per-sample transcendental functions (~3.8x faster than
std::log10/std::exp) - Zero allocations — No
malloc, no locks, no Swift runtime calls on the audio thread - Engine-managed conversion — AVAudioEngine handles sample rate conversion in its own RT-optimized graph
- Large ring buffer — 16,384 frames (~341ms at 48 kHz) absorbs macOS scheduling jitter without underruns
"Voice Enhancer" doesn't show up as a microphone
The HAL driver needs to be installed:
sudo ./scripts/install.shThis copies the driver to /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/ and restarts coreaudiod. You may hear a brief audio interruption — that's normal.
Can I use this during a live call?
Yes. The app processes audio continuously. You can change presets and adjust sliders mid-call. The Voice Preview feature outputs to your speakers/headphones, not the virtual mic, so it won't leak into the meeting.
Does this work with AirPods / Bluetooth mics?
Yes. Voice Enhancer reads from whatever input device you select (or the system default). If macOS sees it as a microphone, Voice Enhancer can process it.
What's the CPU usage?
Negligible. The DSP chain processes 512 frames (~10ms) in under 50μs on Apple Silicon. You won't see it in Activity Monitor.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please read docs/CONTRIBUTING.md and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md first.
Privacy Policy — Voice Enhancer runs 100% offline. No data collection, no telemetry, no network calls.
Apache 2.0 — use it, fork it, ship it. Just give credit and note your changes.