Questions

Is there a MIDI Mixer for Mac?

MIDI Mixer is made for Windows. MIDI Mixer's own page describes it as controlling Windows volumes with MIDI, and it mentions no Mac version. On a Mac, InputConfig, the free app I make, turns a MIDI knob or fader into the system volume, one to one, and puts mute, play and pause and track skipping on pads. It does not set the volume of one app at a time, which is the part of MIDI Mixer a Mac has no direct match for.

I read MIDI Mixer's page on October 7, 2026. What follows is what works on a Mac today.

On this page: 8 sections

1. Steps
2. Make a knob the Mac's volume
3. Put mute and the media keys on pads
4. Know what it does not do
5. Get closer to a mixer for each app
6. Use the rest of the controller
7. The short version
8. Questions

Steps

1. Connect the MIDI controller and open InputConfig.
2. Add a row, press Scan, and move the knob or fader.
3. Choose System Volume as the output.
4. Activate the preset and move the knob.

Make a knob the Mac's volume

• You: Add a row, press Scan, and move the knob or fader. Choose System Volume as the output.
• InputConfig: Sets the Mac's volume to the position of the control, all the way down at one end and all the way up at the other.
• Check: Move the fader and the Mac's volume follows it.

System Volume takes over only once you move the control, so plugging the controller in does not yank the volume to wherever the fader happens to sit. A fader on the desk beats hunting for the volume keys. System functions lists the Mac's other controls.

InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

Put mute and the media keys on pads

These are sent as the Mac's real media keys, so they work with Music, Spotify, a browser tab or whatever else is playing. Media keys act on whatever is playing, with no setup for each app. The built-in MIDI: Media Deck preset is this layout, with the volume fader from the section above, ready to re-scan onto your own controller.

Know what it does not do

• Volume for one app. macOS has one system volume and no mixer for individual apps, and InputConfig does not add one.
• Switching output devices. It has no output of its own for choosing the Mac's sound device.
• Lighting the controller. It cannot light pads or move motor faders.

One fader for the whole Mac is what it offers, not a fader for each app.

Get closer to a mixer for each app

Many apps have their own volume shortcut, and a knob can send it. In the Music app, Command Up Arrow and Command Down Arrow change Music's own volume. Set a knob to Turn mode with those two shortcuts, and give the preset an auto-switch entry for Music. While Music is in front, the knob moves Music's volume and leaves the system volume alone. A shortcut reaches an app's own volume only while that app is in front. It is a partial answer, and I would rather say so.

Use the rest of the controller

• Pads as shortcuts. Any pad can send a key, a macro, a Siri Shortcut or open an app.
• A pedal as push to talk. A sustain pedal can hold a key down for as long as your foot is on it.
• Scenes for streaming. A MIDI controller for OBS puts scene switches on pads.

The volume fader is one row, and the other pads are free for anything else. A MIDI controller as a macro pad and control surface builds a full layout.

The short version

• MIDI Mixer. A Windows app.
• On a Mac. InputConfig makes a knob the system volume, with mute and media keys on pads.
• Not included. A separate volume for each app.

For the Mac's own volume, one row and one knob are all it takes.

Questions

Related

• System functions
• MIDI to keystroke: MIDI keys, pads and knobs as shortcuts
• MIDI: Media Deck preset
• A MIDI controller as a control surface
• Can a MIDI controller control OBS on a Mac?
• MIDI to keystroke on a Mac: every app, compared

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 7, 2026