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Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

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Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#131

Post by korse »

Theodores wrote: post #112
oceliker wrote: post #60

I thought this was going to be an app that emits some kind of inverse sound through the laptop speakers to neutralize the keypress sound in real life. I wonder if that's possible.

Really keyboards should be engineered to be completely silent. Then, under each key there should be a small piezo electric speaker to make a key click noise for reasons of haptic feedback. The app that goes with this should then be able to do things like make the keyboard sound like an Apple keyboard, or a classic IBM one or even a typewriter. It should be one of those features like how digital cameras have a speaker…

Please elaborate on why keyboards should be engineered to be completely silent. I don't think it a bad trait, and it may be beneficial in certain applications but I don't understand why this should be a universal property of keyboards (like suspension is a universal property of cars).

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#132

Post by kitsunesoba »

QuadDamaged wrote: post #86
linux2647 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may still not prevent Cherry MX blues from being picked up by the microphone

Topre, my dude!

Topre is indeed great. The HHKB Pro 2/3 makes an excellent office/WFH board because it's tactile while being relatively silent. Feels nice to use without making a ton of noise.

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#133

Post by Dumbdo »

lawl wrote: post #83
distantsounds wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love these solutions but none are as easy as "install an app and click a button to turn on." RTX Voice has that locked down. I'd use RNNoise instead if there was a standalone app that just "worked" on my mic input. But here I have to jump through hoops for it to work.

Can you elaborate on what hoops exactly you have to jump through? (genuinely curious, i wrote noisetorch and always looking to improve it)

Not the OP, but I'd say noisetorch already works pretty good for that use case. Especially with the recent additions of pre-selecting the last device and stuff like that, I really appreciate those minor QOL improvements.

If I compare it to how RTX voice works, it's _slightly_ more complicated to setup (currently no distribution through standard package managers/simply downloading a file and clicking it to start everything) and it doesn't autostart like RTX voice does on windows startup. But jugding from your issues [0] I understand the decision and I'll set it up manually.

It might be an idea to allow for autostart for users who don't care about the CPU impact because their CPUs are big enough or whatever.

Nevertheless, your solution is actually very close to what OP is describing: "install an app and click a button to turn on". So thanks for maintaining, I use it daily!

[0] https://github.com/lawl/NoiseTorch/issues/6

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#136

Post by ubercore »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #90

The sentence explaining what it does has a typo which makes it confusing: > Unclack is the small but mighty Mac utility that mutes your keyboard while you type. This should say "mutes your _microphone_ while you type". You can't mute a keyboard

Same. I know Apple does software/tactile interactions (firm press, click sound on trackpads for instance) so I assumed this had to do with that, and that new Apple keyboards created an artificial click. "Mutes your call while typing" or something similar would have been more clear. I assumed this app wouldn't apply to me, but it does.

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#137

Post by robbrown451 »

boxed wrote: post #113
shawabawa3 wrote: post #90

The sentence explaining what it does has a typo which makes it confusing: > Unclack is the small but mighty Mac utility that mutes your keyboard while you type. This should say "mutes your _microphone_ while you type". You can't mute a keyboard

You can't mute a microphone. Mute is when something can't make a sound. You put a mic on mute. So no, the text is correct. But obviously it's wrong. It doesn't ONLY mute the keyboard, it mutes everything for the person typing. The keyboard, the person, the squeaking chair.

"Mute your microphone" is quite standard.

Most UIs show a microphone, that you can click on to disable. A circle with a slash through it will appear on top of the picture of the microphone. This is referred to as "muting."

This should be enough to see why it is called "muting your microphone." While you could say "disable your microphone," this can lead to confusion, such as thinking that you are talking about more permanently disabling it, such as you do in your computer settings.

The most important thing about language is that it is understood. "Mute your microphone" is going to be understood.

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#138

Post by Wowfunhappy »

sgustard wrote: post #121
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often are you typing and speaking at the same time though? I’m not talented enough to do that, personally. :) I think this app is really clever. I would definitely use it if my version of macOS wasn’t nearly a decade too old.

I may not type, but I certainly shift-tab while I talk and need to reference something in another window.

Hm... I suppose it depends on what this app's threshold is muting the mic...

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#139

Post by robotsquidward »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #90

The sentence explaining what it does has a typo which makes it confusing: > Unclack is the small but mighty Mac utility that mutes your keyboard while you type. This should say "mutes your _microphone_ while you type". You can't mute a keyboard

Thanks so much for your feedback! I actually just pushed an update to the homepage to make that tweak - you're right that it was a bit misleading.

Re: Show HN: Unclack – a macOS app that mutes your microphone while you type

#140

Post by pkamb »

oceliker wrote: post #60

I thought this was going to be an app that emits some kind of inverse sound through the laptop speakers to neutralize the keypress sound in real life. I wonder if that's possible.

top answer on this famous Stack Overflow post about muting the iPhone camera shutter sound:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4401232/avfoundation-how...

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