Switch your whole audio setup with one keystroke

A single device shortcut only ever moves one thing. To flip an entire setup, headset output, headset mic and a different volume on one key, and speakers, desk mic and a lower volume on another, save the whole thing as a Quick Config and trigger it with a chorus://config?apply= link bound to its own key.

Most people who alternate between two Mac setups aren't switching one device at a time. They're switching all of them at once: a headset for a game, then a webcam mic and the room's speakers the moment a call starts, and usually the volume needs to change to match. Doing that by hand is three separate decisions made through two different menus, every single time.

A device shortcut covers half the job

Chorus lets you record a real keyboard shortcut against any single output, any single input, or any saved Group, and pressing it switches straight there with no menu in between. We've covered binding those shortcuts in detail already. What's worth being precise about here: a shortcut recorded that way only moves the side of the setup you bound it to. An output shortcut doesn't touch your microphone, and an input shortcut doesn't touch your speakers. Two different Mac setups, each defined by an output, an input and a volume, need more than one of these shortcuts pressed to fully switch over, one per side of the setup, rather than a single press that covers the lot.

That's not a shortfall in the shortcut feature itself, it's just what a single device shortcut is for. Pressing one key to jump straight to a specific pair of headphones, or straight to a specific microphone, is genuinely useful on its own, especially for a device you reach for constantly. The gap only shows up once your routine involves changing several things together rather than one thing on its own.

What a saved Group actually bundles

A Group in Chorus isn't just a list of output devices. It also stores its own volume level and the balance between its members, so a shortcut bound to a Group already does more than switch speakers: it sets the level too. Build a "Gaming" group at headset output and your usual volume, and a "Call" group at speakers and a lower volume, and each shortcut becomes a genuine output-plus-volume switch rather than a device swap you then have to adjust by hand. That's real, and it's broader than switching a single device. It still leaves the microphone out, because a Group is an output concept: it exists to combine speakers, not to pair an output with an input.

The whole setup, output and input together

To also move the microphone, Chorus has a second, quieter feature: Quick Configs. A Quick Config snapshots your entire current setup under a name, which side is your active output (a Group, with its volume, or a single device), which device is your input, and any per-app routing you've set. Recall it, and Chorus restores all of that in one call, not just the output.

The per-app part matters more than it sounds like it should. If you've sent Discord to your headset and left Spotify on the desk speakers, a plain output or Group shortcut leaves that untouched, since it only decides where the system's default output goes. A Quick Config carries those per-app routes along with it, so switching setups doesn't quietly leave one app pointed at whatever you had it on before.

The honest caveat: Quick Configs don't appear anywhere in Chorus's own interface. There's no button to save or apply one from inside the app. They exist purely as a chorus:// automation link, the same mechanism Raycast and Stream Deck already use to trigger Chorus. You save one with chorus://config?save=Gaming and recall it with chorus://config?apply=Gaming, fired from whichever automation tool you already have set up.

Setting up two setups

The order matters more than the number of steps:

• Build each output as a Group first. Headset output at your gaming volume, saved as one Group; speakers at a quieter level, saved as another. Give each its own shortcut in Chorus if you also want them switchable on their own.
• Get one full setup live, then save it. Switch to the headset Group, switch your input to the headset mic, then run chorus://config?save=Gaming. Repeat for speakers and your desk mic, saved as Call.
• Bind a key to each apply link. One Shortcuts app shortcut (or Raycast hotkey, or Stream Deck button) per config, pointed at chorus://config?apply=Gaming and chorus://config?apply=Call.

From then on, the whole setup, output, input and volume, moves on the key you picked. The work is in the one-time setup rather than in the switch itself, which is the part you'll actually be doing several times a day.

For more on building a multi-step automation, see Apple's own Shortcuts user guide.

Frequently asked questions