Settings
Choices that apply to the whole app: what DarkStage listens to, which DAW it follows, your shortcuts and your preset library. Each display's own look is set in Wired Displays.
General
How DarkStage behaves on this Mac.
- Open DarkStage at Login: start with the Mac.
- Show DarkStage in Dock & App Switcher: behave like a normal app instead of living only in the menu bar.
- Keep this window on top (in the Settings Window card): keep the DarkStage window above your other windows while you work. Off by default.
- Where's My Mouse?: after the pointer has sat still for the Idle Time (default 30 sec), your next move flashes a ring around it for the Ring Duration (default 1.1 sec). Choose a Ring Colour and use Trigger Ring to preview. Details in Mouse Options.
With several blacked-out screens it's easy to lose the pointer. Where's My Mouse finds it for you. Clicking or scrolling never triggers the ring.
If you leave Show DarkStage in Dock off, open this window with F13 or the menu bar icon. ⌘Tab won't find it.
NOW PLAYING
App-wide settings for the Now Playing widget: one artwork switch that serves every display, and the Player Compatibility Report.
- Enhanced Apple Music Artwork: off by default. Uses Apple Music to find covers for streamed tracks more reliably. The first time you turn it on, macOS asks once whether DarkStage may access Apple Music. No Apple Music subscription is needed. Turning it off stops DarkStage using Apple Music; the macOS permission itself is left as it is.
- While it's on, an Apple Music access: line shows where things stand: authorized, authorization not determined, denied (System Settings › Privacy & Security › Media & Apple Music) or restricted.
| Track | Where the cover comes from, in order |
|---|---|
| Apple Music, streamed | 1. The Apple Music catalog (only while Enhanced Artwork is on and access is authorised) → 2. the public Apple catalog → 3. the exact copy of that album in your library → 4. a placeholder, rather than a cover that might be wrong. |
| Apple Music, in your library | The cover stored with the track. If it has none, the same catalog search (Apple Music catalog when enabled, then the public Apple catalog), then a placeholder. |
| Spotify | Spotify's own cover for the track. Enhanced Artwork doesn't affect it. |
If Apple Music access is denied, or there is no network, artwork carries on exactly as it does with the switch off. Nothing stops working.
Player Compatibility Report
Under the artwork switch, Player Compatibility Report… builds a short, passive report of the music players on this Mac: “Checks installed music players and Automation permission. Does not test Apple Music artwork.” If Now Playing doesn't show your player, the report is the most useful thing you can send us.
- Open your music app and start playback.
- In DarkStage, open Settings ▸ General and scroll to NOW PLAYING.
- Click Player Compatibility Report…. The report opens in a window.
- Read it through. It contains no track, artist, album or account information.
- Click Copy Report, then paste it into an email to support@mydarkstage.com.
It lists DarkStage's version and build, your macOS version, which player DarkStage is showing right now, then the seven music players it knows by name (installed or not), plus any other running app that declares itself a Music app, by identity only. Each player gets a compatibility status:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| SUPPORTED | DarkStage has a tested integration for this player and its interface is present. |
| PARTIALLY SUPPORTED | DarkStage supports this player, but part of the interface it uses was not found. |
| DETECTED — NOT SUPPORTED | A known music player is installed; DarkStage has no integration for it. |
| NOT DETECTED | A known music player that is not installed. |
| UNKNOWN / NOT TESTED | A running app that declares the Music category. It may be a player, a DAW or an audio tool; nothing about it was tested. |
Individual lines read YES / NO (established), UNKNOWN (could not be established), NOT TESTED (deliberately not examined), PERMISSION REQUIRED (macOS Automation permission is missing) or NOT APPLICABLE (does not apply).
- Detection does not mean support. An installed or running app, or one with a scripting dictionary, is not proof that DarkStage can read its track information. Only Apple Music and Spotify are supported.
- Running is not playing. A player that is open but not the one DarkStage is showing reads UNKNOWN for playback state.
- Nothing is sent automatically. The report stays on your Mac until you click Copy Report and paste it somewhere yourself.
- It asks for no permission, sends no playback command and opens no app. It only reads whether Automation is already allowed, without prompting.
Appearance / Graphics
- Theme: Dark, Light or System, for DarkStage's own windows. Overlays are always dark.
- Quality: Auto matches the Mac (Full on Apple Silicon, Efficient on Intel). Full gives the highest refresh, Efficient suits older or busy Macs, and Recording leaves the most CPU, GPU and thermal headroom for your DAW.
Quality affects drawing only. Metering, LUFS, clip detection and peak capture stay just as accurate.
Editor Sidebar
How the widget groups fold in the Wired Displays and WiFi Remotes editors:
- Auto Collapse — opening a group closes the others, so the list stays short.
- Persistent — groups stay open or closed as you leave them, and are remembered.
Use case
- Tracking a big session on a laptop: set Recording. The meters stay responsive and the DAW gets the headroom.
Shortcuts
App Shortcuts open DarkStage's windows. Shortcuts control each display: toggle its overlay, open its settings, switch it to Transparent, or step through its presets. Click a field and press the key combination you want. Press Esc to cancel, or Clear to remove a shortcut.
Global shortcuts need Accessibility permission. If this page shows Accessibility access required, switch DarkStage on in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility.
Program a spare key on a control surface or Stream Deck to send F16–F19, and you can black out a screen without touching the Mac.
Give the displays you use most a single key with no modifiers. Keep modifier combinations for things you rarely do, such as Cycle Preset.
Remotes Manager
Turns iPads and other browsers on your network into DarkStage displays, and keeps track of the devices that have connected. Nothing leaves your local network.
- Enable DarkStage Remote, then Open Remote Manager… to design what each device shows.
- Connect a Device shows the address, a pairing code and a QR code. Use Copy Address or New Pairing Code.
- Remotes Manager (inside the Remote Displays + Control card) lists your Remotes under Connected and Offline / Remembered, each with Edit Presentation and Forget & Disconnect….
- Forget several at once: Select All, Select Offline or Select None, then Forget Selected… (it reads Forget 2 Selected… and so on when several are ticked). A forgotten Remote loses its name, presentation, Hover Panel and Idle Display; your display presets are kept, and the device can pair again as a new Remote.
- Forget inactive Remotes after: 1 Week, 1 Month, 6 Months, 1 Year or Never (the default). Connected Remotes, and any open in an editor, are never removed automatically.
- Names: DarkStage names each Remote from what the device reports. To rename one, use the Setup panel on the device itself; DarkStage then keeps your name.
More in WiFi Remotes.
Presets
The library of full overlay presets: complete snapshots of a display's layout, widgets and settings.
- All Presets, Favorites, Recent, your User Presets folders, and read-only Factory Presets.
- The display menu in the toolbar sets which display Apply and Save Current act on.
- Import and Share move presets between Macs. Right-click a preset to Rename, Duplicate, Export or Show in Finder.
- Open Inspector at the bottom to add an author and description.
- Factory presets are locked 🔒. Right-click one and choose Duplicate as User Preset to make your own version.
Presets never change your audio source or Where's My Mouse, and never touch a display's Hide Cursor setting. To keep particular display settings too, tick Ignore Preset Recall beside them in Overlay Options.
Use cases
- Keep one preset per job: Tracking, Mix, Master. Recall it from the preset menu at the top of Wired Displays.
- Save a preset per client or studio room, then Share it to the Mac in the next room.
- Start from The Essentials factory preset: a bottom strip of waveform, PPM, spectrum and scope that leaves the rest of the screen free.
License
Shows your edition, and for beta builds the trial status (for example DarkStage Beta — 30 days remaining), the date the beta expires, the Hard build expiry and the Build. A License card lists the Edition, Bundles, Licensed major version and Cached grant for reference. Licence activation isn’t part of the beta — the page reads “This is a beta build. Access is governed by the beta trial shown above; licence activation is not part of this beta.” There is nothing to enter here.
About
Shows your version, build, edition and macOS version. Include these when contacting support.
Stereo Audio
The stereo source for every meter and analyser. DarkStage measures one source at a time and never mixes sources together. Each tile shows its live state, for example Audio Detected, Ready, Available, Switching, Check Signal Path, Unavailable or Failed.
| Source | What it hears |
|---|---|
| Automatic | DarkStage Capture while your DAW is feeding it. Otherwise Mac System Sound, then your remembered device. |
| Mac System Sound | Everything the Mac plays, including any monitor or room-correction processing. Needs macOS 14.2 or later. |
| Choose My Audio Device | A specific device. Choose the Device, then Signal (Device Inputs or Device Outputs) and Channels. |
| DarkStage Capture Plug-in | The signal at the point in your DAW where you insert the plug-in. See Plug-ins. |
Stereo Inputs B, C and D
Up to three more stereo sources, each set up on its own card (Stereo Input B, Stereo Input C, Stereo Input D) with the same choices: a Capture plug-in or an audio device, its signal and channels. Each audio widget has an INPUT switch, A / B / C / D, so one overlay can show up to four signals side by side.
- Inputs C and D work exactly like B. Each starts unconfigured, never borrows another input's selection, and a widget set to an input never quietly falls back to A.
- These inputs only feed meters and analysers. They never pass audio anywhere.
Use cases
- Room correction on your monitors? Mac System Sound would meter the corrected signal. Use Automatic or the Capture plug-in to meter the actual mix.
- Mix vs. reference: Input A on your mix bus and Input B on the reference track, each on its own LUFS Meter.
- Pro Tools HDX: choose a 2ch Pro Tools Audio Bridge as your DarkStage input device. Send to it from Pro Tools.
Device Outputs can't see audio that is mixed inside an interface's own DSP. To meter that, route it to an input.
Read Current Meter Path (for example Apple Music → Universal Audio Thunderbolt → DarkStage Meters) to check exactly what you're metering before trusting a number.
Inputs B, C and D only run while a widget set to them is on a display (or their settings page is open), so setting them up costs nothing until you use them.
Multichannel Audio
The feed for the two Meter Bridge widgets.
- Choose a Bridge Device, for example Pro Tools Audio Bridge, BlackHole 64ch or your interface.
- Choose Signal: Device Inputs (what's coming in) or Device Outputs (what's being sent out). Each keeps its own channel selection.
- Click Choose Channels…, tick the channels you want and click Save. Or use Use All Channels.
- Every channel is listed with its number and the driver's own name. Search channel names to find one fast.
- ⇧-click a checkbox to tick a range; Select All and Clear All act on the rows shown.
- The ticked channels become Meter Bridge channels 1…N in order. You can tick up to 64, and they can be any channel numbers, such as outputs 65–128.
Next, name them and choose which ones each bridge shows: see Wired Displays ▸ Multichannel Audio.
Use case
- Tracking a band: tick just the 16 record inputs of a 64-channel interface, then put a Meter Bridge on the live room TV so players can watch their own levels.
The bridge only runs while a Meter Bridge widget is showing, so leaving a device selected costs nothing.
Capture Plug-ins
Installs DarkStage Capture for every user on this Mac. Click Install Capture Plug-ins. The macOS Installer asks for your password; DarkStage never sees it. The installer offers Audio Unit (AU), VST3 and AAX, all ticked, so you can untick any you don't need — see Choosing formats. The page shows one status line each for Audio Unit, VST3 and AAX, and its single button changes to Update or Reinstall; the three formats are choices inside one installer, not separate installers. When to use Capture is explained in Plug-ins.
When an orange Update available line appears, quit your DAW before clicking Update Capture Plug-ins, so it loads the new version next time.
DAW Sync
Choose the DAW that DarkStage follows. Under the picker are an Integration card (with an Install button if one is needed) and numbered Setup steps for that DAW. Most DAWs also get an If something does not follow card. Full steps for every DAW are in Setup.
The menu bar shows DAW Sync status: Waiting for DAW, Stopped, Playing, Armed or Recording. If the counter isn't moving, check it there first.
MIDI
DarkStage's MIDI output, used by Button Panel MIDI keys and knobs and by the MIDI Piano widget.
- DarkStage MIDI: a virtual MIDI input that appears in your DAW's MIDI inputs. Inside DarkStage, MIDI keys, knobs and the MIDI Piano reach it by choosing DarkStage MIDI Bus as their destination; no IAC Driver is needed. It's hosted by a small DarkStage MIDI service that runs as a login item, and is on by default. The Status row reads Available when it's ready. If it reads Waiting for approval, allow it in System Settings ▸ Login Items.
- MIDI Outputs: choose the Default for New Controls, the destination new MIDI keys start with. Click Refresh after connecting a device.
- Troubleshooting: Turn Off DarkStage MIDI and Turn On DarkStage MIDI.
One-time, on upgrade: the first time DarkStage MIDI appears on a Mac (the first launch of a build that includes it), DAWs that react to MIDI device changes, FL Studio in particular, may reset their transport or need the MIDI input re-selected once. It does not happen on later launches: the endpoint is hosted by the persistent login-item service, so it stays put when DarkStage quits or relaunches.
In your DAW, enable DarkStage MIDI as a MIDI input and record-arm a track; MIDI Piano notes and MIDI keys then reach it whichever app is in front.
WiFi QR Generator
Enter the network name, security type and password to get a QR code that joins guests' phones and iPads to your WiFi. Click Print to print it. Nothing is saved: the details are kept only while DarkStage is running. Under QR Code Shortcuts, Remote QR Code and Shared Display QR Code open the existing QR Connect page in WiFi Remotes.
Use case
- Print the WiFi code here and the Shared Display code from QR Connect, and pin them on the lounge wall. Clients join the network, scan, and watch the session counter on their phone.