MorendoWhat is the best Background Music alternative on Mac?
Three driverless options stand in for it: FineTune, free, the closest match to Background Music for per-app volume; Morendo, which sorts apps into buses you set once and forget; SoundDial or Submix for a simpler need. None of them pause music automatically or record system audio, Background Music's two strongest features.
Why people look for an alternative
Background Music installs a HAL driver in /Library, with your admin password, then asks you to select its virtual output device for everything else to keep working. That has long been the price of a free, open-source tool.
The repository currently has 542 open issues, two of them recent and specific: severe audio choppiness on macOS 26 Tahoe, reported in May 2026, and complete silence during FaceTime calls, reported in April 2026. To be fair, the project is not abandoned: version 0.5.0 shipped on June 10, 2026, and it is still being maintained. But an audio driver stays more fragile than a tool that installs none, and every major macOS upgrade puts some of that work back to zero.
What Background Music does that the others do not
Background Music does two things none of the driverless apps in this guide match. First, it automatically pauses your music the moment another app starts making sound, then resumes it. Second, it can record system audio, useful for capturing what comes out of the Mac without going through a microphone.
FineTune, Morendo, SoundDial and Submix all handle per-app volume, but none of them automates a pause, and none records system audio. If either of those is why you keep Background Music around, no alternative in this guide replaces it, driver or not.
The driverless alternatives, closest to most different
FineTune is the closest match. Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license, it shares Background Music's spirit: per-app volume, with nothing to install beyond an ordinary app. Version 1.9.0, from July 9, 2026, adds a 10-band equalizer, boost up to 4×, pinned or ignored apps, and global keyboard shortcuts aimed at whichever app is currently playing. Install it by dragging it to Applications, or with brew install --cask finetune.
Morendo, which we make, changes the model: instead of one slider per app, you sort apps into buses, Media, Chat, Game, or your own. A bus you set once keeps its volume, its 10-band equalizer and its keyboard shortcuts no matter which app moves in or out of it. It costs 19 € once, for one Mac, after a 14-day trial.
SoundDial, on the Mac App Store for $12.99, bets on simplicity: saved profiles and auto-ducking that lowers music the moment a call starts, a feature that echoes Background Music's automatic pause without working the same way. No equalizer.
Submix, from $7.99, is the most different of the four: per-app volume, mute and routing, with live meters, but no equalizer and no announced shortcuts.
| Background Music | FineTune | Morendo | SoundDial | Submix | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free, open source | 19 € once | $12.99 | $7.99 |
| No driver | No, HAL driver | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-app volume | Yes | Yes, 4× boost | Yes | Yes, 0 to 200% | Yes, with boost |
| Automatic music pause | Yes | No | No | Close, via auto-ducking | No |
| System audio recording | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Equalizer | No | 10 bands per app | 10 bands per bus | No | No |
| Trial | Free | Free | 14 days, no card | None | 7 days |
Checked on September 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us, we fix it.
Uninstalling Background Music cleanly
Background Music's repository ships a script, uninstall.sh, that removes the HAL driver and restarts coreaudiod so macOS forgets the virtual device. That is the clean way to leave: more reliable than removing the driver by hand, which can leave traces in Sound settings. Once the script has run, the Mac carries no trace of Background Music, and you can install whichever alternative you picked.
Setting up the alternative in three steps
- Download Morendo, drag it to Applications, launch it. macOS asks for one permission, system audio recording: no admin password, no driver.
- Apps that are playing show up in the console. Drop them into a bus, Media for music, Other for the rest, and set the fader.
- If Background Music is still installed, run its uninstall.sh script to remove the HAL driver before you carry on with Morendo.
The trial lasts 14 days with every feature, no card. Then 19 € for one Mac, no subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Is the macOS 26 audio choppiness fixed?
Not as of this writing. The issue reporting severe audio choppiness on macOS 26 Tahoe is dated May 2026 and remains open, like most of the repository's 542 open issues. Version 0.5.0, released June 10, 2026, shows the project is active, but nothing guarantees a fix by any given date.
Does a driverless alternative also pause music automatically?
No, none of the apps in this guide do. SoundDial comes closest with auto-ducking that lowers music when a call starts, but that is not the same mechanism as Background Music's automatic pause. FineTune, Morendo and Submix leave music playing until you turn it down yourself.
Do I need to uninstall Background Music before installing something else?
It is not required to try an alternative, but it is cleaner. Background Music's repository ships a script, uninstall.sh, that removes the HAL driver and restarts coreaudiod. Without it, the virtual Background Music device can linger in your Sound settings even after you delete the app.
Can Morendo record system audio like Background Music?
No. Morendo asks for the same permission, system audio recording, but only to hear each app separately and set its volume. It records nothing to disk. If recording system audio is what you need, Background Music remains the only app in this guide that does it.
Download Morendo, 14-day trial See the comparison
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