MorendoHow do you lower Discord without lowering the game on Mac?
macOS has a single volume for every app. To set Discord apart, three methods: per-user volume inside Discord, free but limited to voice; a per-app mixer, FineTune for free or Morendo for 19 €, which gives Discord one slider and the game another; a keyboard shortcut, which is what Morendo adds with its named buses: Discord in the Chat bus, one key to turn it down without leaving the match.
Why the Mac cannot do this on its own
Windows has had a volume mixer since Vista: one slider per app, in the taskbar. macOS, Tahoe included, has one slider. The keyboard volume keys, the menu bar control and System Settings all do the same thing: they raise or lower everything that plays. Turning down the friend shouting in Discord turns the game down with them.
Discord's output slider changes Discord's level relative to the rest, but it is capped, it cannot be reached from the keyboard, and you have to leave the match to find it. That is the move everyone makes twice a night.
Method 1: Discord's own settings, free and enough for a single friend
Right-click a participant in the voice channel and you get a User Volume slider, from 0 to 200%. That is the right fix when one person is too loud: Discord remembers the setting per user, session after session.
The limits: it only touches voice. Notifications, the soundboard and shared video keep their level. And if the whole channel drowns the game, you adjust every participant, then do it again when a new friend joins. Discord has no keyboard shortcut for its output volume.
Method 2: a per-app mixer
A per-app mixer gives Discord its own slider, independent from the game, the music and the browser. Since macOS 14.4 these tools no longer need to install an audio driver: Apple opened an API, process taps, that intercepts an app's sound before it reaches the sound card.
FineTune is free and open source. It gives a slider to every app that plays, an equalizer per app and routing to several outputs. If your need is "Discord at 50%, everything else loud", it is enough. Its keyboard shortcut targets whichever app is making sound when you press it, which gets ambiguous when the game and Discord are both playing.
Morendo, which we make, costs 19 € once and thinks in buses rather than apps. Discord goes in the Chat bus, the game in the Game bus, Spotify in Media. The setting belongs to the bus: Discord can update or relaunch, Chat stays at 60%. And each bus has its own keyboard shortcuts.
Method 3: the keyboard shortcut, without leaving the match
This is what Discord's slider and FineTune do not do in the right place. In Morendo you assign a combination to the Chat bus, say ⌥⌘↓ to lower and ⌥⌘↑ to raise. Mid-match, one press takes Discord down a few steps; a small panel appears at the bottom of the screen to confirm the level, then fades. The game does not move, you never left.
The Chat bus can also carry an equalizer. The Clear voice preset lifts the speech frequencies: a friend who talks quietly becomes intelligible without being turned up, so without crushing the game.
| Discord settings | FineTune | Morendo | Wave Link 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free, open source | 19 € once | Free |
| No driver | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, driver and system extension |
| Discord independent from the game | Voice only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shortcut during the match | No | The app currently playing | Per bus, with on-screen confirmation | Via Stream Deck |
| Setting survives a Discord update | Per user | Per app | Per bus | Yes |
| Equalizer on the voice | No | Per app | Per bus, Clear voice preset | Audio Units |
Checked on September 10, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us, we fix it.
Set it up in three minutes with Morendo
- Download Morendo, drag it to Applications, launch it. macOS asks for a single permission, system audio recording: that is what lets it hear each app separately.
- Launch the game and Discord. Both show up in the console. Drop Discord in Chat and the game in Game. They will remember.
- Set the Chat fader where it suits you, and pick the Clear voice preset if voices lack presence.
- Open the Chat bus shortcuts and record one combination to raise and one to lower. Test it from the game: the confirmation panel appears, the game does not move.
The trial lasts 14 days with every feature, no card. Then 19 € for one Mac, no subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Does the shortcut work when the game is full screen?
Yes. Morendo's shortcuts are global: they apply whatever app is in front, including a full-screen game. The small confirmation panel shows on top, except in a few exclusive full-screen games that hide everything but themselves; the volume still changes.
Does it add delay to the voice?
A little, and Morendo shows it: the delay is measured on your hardware and displayed in the console, typically between 5 and 15 ms. The game, if left at 100% with no equalizer, is untouched and gets no delay at all.
What if I use Discord in the browser?
To macOS, the browser is a single app: the Discord tab and the YouTube tab share one volume. To adjust Discord on its own, use the Discord desktop app, which then shows up as a separate app in any mixer.
Do I have to redo everything when Discord updates?
No. In Morendo, Discord sits in the Chat bus, and the bus carries the setting. A Discord update, a version change or a Mac restart changes nothing: Chat stays at the level you chose.
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