"You didn't give EarMaster access to microphone" when Mac OS never asks

Dommedagsprofet · Post by **Dommedagsprofet** » Aug 19, 2022 2:22 am

I came upon both the problem and the solution, so thought I'd share.

Problem: The problem is that I started using a fresh install of EarMaster, started doing some voice exercises, tested the microphone without problem, started doing some exercises, and immediately EarMaster tells me I don't have permission. I cross out the message, but EarMaster still seems to be working fine, registering the correct notes. So the only problem is the error message is disturbing doing the exercises.

Explanation: My default device is an external sound card with a connected microphone, not the internal MacBook Pro microphone. This is then of course also the device that was selected by default by EarMaster, as I wanted it to. It doesn't seem like Mac OS has any problem with that, so the OS doesn't actually ask for permission for EarMaster to use the microphone, as there seems to be no policy for Mac OS to deny access to the sound streams from external sources. However, EarMaster seems to have "a problem" with this on the OS' behalf, even though it's not actually a problem. So it's an EarMaster bug.

Solution: Switch to the internal Mac microphone for a moment. Then the OS will ask for permission to use it, you can accept it, switch back to the external soundcard and EarMaster will no longer complain that it doesn't have permission.