[Solved] AudioIn needs to be granted audio device access to capture sound on Mac OSX 10.14 Mojave

[crcdng]

AudioIn does not work, no audio from microphone, no error message shown.

The microphone works in other applications (e.g. Skype) and AudioIn has worked in previous versions of the Processing Sound library.

To replicate, start:
File > Examples > Libraries> Sound > IO

Processing 3.5.3, Sound 2.1.0, Macbook Pro, Mac OSX 10.14.4

[kevinstadler]

Thanks for reporting, have you tried changing the input away from the default audio device? Call

Sound.list();

to see the list of available audio devices on your computer, you can then select which device (and input channel) to record from as documented here: https://processing.org/reference/libraries/sound/Sound_inputDevice_.html

[crcdng]

I added this to the IO example and tried with the microphone (1) and the default device (0).

Output from Sound.list():

device id 0: Default Audio Device
  max inputs : 1   (default)
  max outputs: 2   (default)
device id 1: MacBook Pro Microphone
  max inputs : 1
  max outputs: 0
device id 2: MacBook Pro Speakers
  max inputs : 0
  max outputs: 2
device id 3: Port MacBook Pro Microphone
  max inputs : 0
  max outputs: 0
device id 4: Port MacBook Pro Speakers
  max inputs : 0
  max outputs: 0

Code:

import processing.sound.*;

AudioIn input;
Amplitude loudness;
  
void setup() {
  size(640, 360);
  background(255);
  Sound s = new Sound(this);
  Sound.list();
  s.inputDevice(1);
  
  // Create an Audio input and grab the 1st channel
  input = new AudioIn(this, 0);

  // Begin capturing the audio input
  input.start();
  // start() activates audio capture so that you can use it as
  // the input to live sound analysis, but it does NOT cause the
  // captured audio to be played back to you. if you also want the
  // microphone input to be played back to you, call
  //    input.play();
  // instead (be careful with your speaker volume, you might produce
  // painful audio feedback. best to first try it out wearing headphones!)

  // Create a new Amplitude analyzer
  loudness = new Amplitude(this);

  // Patch the input to the volume analyzer
  loudness.input(input);
}


void draw() {
  // Adjust the volume of the audio input based on mouse position
  float inputLevel = map(mouseY, 0, height, 1.0, 0.0);
  input.amp(inputLevel);

  // loudness.analyze() return a value between 0 and 1. To adjust
  // the scaling and mapping of an ellipse we scale from 0 to 0.5
  float volume = loudness.analyze();
  int size = int(map(volume, 0, 0.5, 1, 350));

  background(125, 255, 125);
  noStroke();
  fill(255, 0, 150);
  // We draw a circle whose size is coupled to the audio analysis
  ellipse(width/2, height/2, size, size);
}

[crcdng]

I found the solution after an openframeworks app also has stopped working. On Mac OSX 10.14 Mojave an application has to be given microphone access explicitly.

There are two ways to do it. One is by requesting authorization for media capture through the application. It will then ask the user during the first startup.

The other one is by the user in System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy.

[kevinstadler]

Thanks for the detailed report, I'll keep this issue open so that other people can find it too if they run into the same problem.

[guilebarros]

Hi, guys. I'm having the same problem with audio and camera input with Processing in Mojave 10.14.4. I can't explicitly give access of the Macbook inputs cause Processing isn't even asking for permission. The code shows no errors and the devices are correctly listed with Sound.list(), but no audio input. Any tips? Thanks in advance.

[kevinstadler]

@guilebarros have you tried the solution in #30 (comment) above?

Regarding getting a permission request popup during runtime instead of having to set the permission manually up front in the MacOS system settings, this will have to be fixed in the Processing app itself (see #51 @benfry), not at the level of individual libraries.

[guilebarros]

Hi, Kevin. Thanks for the reply. The #30 solution didn't work cause I don't have Processing in the list to give it permission. I don't know if I understood the #51 solution. But I've edited the info.plist file from Processing Plugin folder and added these lines:

NSCameraUsageDescription
Processing Java needs access to the camera for your video calls
NSMicrophoneUsageDescription
Processing Java needs access to the microphone for your calls

But it made no difference in the behaviour regarding the camera and microphone inputs.

[dantfv]

Hi @guilebarros, I guess I am at the same point as you.

In Mojave 10.14.6, without microfone and camera on my application, althought I can list the devices from there. The application doesn`t ask permission for use, so it stops running on device.start(). I have edited info.plist from processing and the plugin folder as described in #51 solution.

I can´t (or I still haven't found) a way to manually give access to processing in System Preferences (2nd solution suggested by @i3games), therefore Processing isn't listed as solution #30.

Let's keep it rolling... if I find something new, I will share with you here!

[guilebarros]

Hi, @dantfv , thanks for your input. It's somewhat comforting knowing that I'm not alone on this issue. :) If somehow I found a solution, I will share it here too.

[hedbergj]

Simply changing the info.plist files didn't do it for me. I see other discussions that indicate it would probably require resigning the app or even forcing OS to ask for mic/cam permissions by altering deeper db files, but I haven't gotten around to trying that yet. (MacOS catalina)

[dvlahos]

Also having this issue. I went into System Preferences > Security and Privacy and attempted to give Processing permission to access the microphone but it appears that you cannot manually add an application. Or perhaps I just do not know how. I'm using Processing 3.5.4 in macOS Catalina 10.15.3. Any help is appreciated!

[guilebarros]

Thanks, @hedbergj. Regarding deeper db files, not sure if I'm willing to go so deep to solve this issue. But I'll be in the fence, if someone find a less scary solution I'll be glad. :)

[dantfv]

Hi @hedbergj, please, could you share this other discussion, so I can give a read and maybe a try...

Like @guilebarros, I also didn't want to go so deep, but right now I am probably taking anything that comes... :)

[hedbergj]

@dantfv This post seems to offer a solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/comments/dk1t47/heres_how_to_get_your_microphone_to_work_on/
However, I haven't tried it and so obviously am not endorsing it and would include some sort of 'at your own risk' clause... (Nor am I going to do it myself, since I don't really want to mess around with the system too much at this point)

[dantfv]

Hi @hedbergj, thank you very much! I followed the idea from that solution and with some small changes it worked for me!!

I will try to share with you guys in case you want to go with it. ALERT: Do it at your own risk, ok?! I am not really sure/confident about everything that I've done...

STEP 1 : Disable The System Integrity Check so that you can access the relevant system database.
Reboot your Mac and hold Cmd+R on startup. This will bring up the Recovery Mode.
Open Utility -> Terminal from the menu bar and type csrutil disable
Reboot.

STEP 2 : Manually add permission for Processing to access the microphone/camera.
Open Terminal and type the following command:
sudo sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db
->Now, you can select, insert, etc into the table access.
First, I did
select * from access
With that command I could understand the lines of permissions, even checking those on my System Preferences - Security and Privacy, changing the checkmarks on the apps and checking what changed on the registers.

Then, I performed:
INSERT INTO access VALUES('kTCCServiceCamera','org.processing.app',0,1,1,NULL,NULL,NULL,'UNUSED',NULL,0,1578356911);"

 Now, Processing was listed on the interface in System Preferences - Security and Privacy and my camera started on my application.  
 To be honest, I can't really tell what each value of this register means, specially the last one.. I guess it could be some sort of date-time value, so I copied from one register that I have listed (I took it from the same register from skype)

Finally, adding permission to mic:
INSERT INTO access VALUES('kTCCServiceMicrophone','org.processing.app',0,1,1,NULL,NULL,NULL,'UNUSED',NULL,0,1578356911);"

To leave the sqlite3, just give the command .quit.

Step 3: Cleanup
Reboot your Mac and hold Cmd+R on startup. This will bring up the Recovery Mode.
Open Utility -> Terminal from the menu bar and type csrutil enable
Reboot.

IMPORTANT: Before trying this steps, I had already changed the Plist from processing and jre pluggin in the processing content as described in #51 .

Thanks again everybody, I hope that helps you somehow (and specially don't crash any SO)!

[hedbergj]

nice @dantfv ! Glad it worked.

[gomako]

In case anyone is looking for another way to get around this, I tried the solution in this comment and it worked for me.