VibeServer for macOS — v0.3.3 Alpha
Turn a Mac with an RTL-SDR into a receiver anyone on your network can use, from a browser or from the VibeSDR app.
This is the single v0.3 release. 0.3.0 was pulled for an idle-power bug, and 0.3.1 and 0.3.2 have been folded in here rather than kept alongside — everything below is in this one download.
Faster
- FM stereo costs about a third less CPU. The audio filtering now happens at the audio rate instead of the full channel rate, with hand-vectorised maths in the FM detector. Nothing about the sound changed — stereo separation is identical, and rejection of the 19 kHz pilot tone improved by 22 dB.
- RDS is roughly 8× cheaper. The station-name and now-playing decoder was doing its work at over a hundred times the rate it needed. On a Raspberry Pi that single change is the difference between managing a listener and not: 190% of a CPU core down to 112%, and a Pi can now carry a full RDS listener at 1.024 MSPS where before it couldn't at any rate.
- GPU waterfall. The web client's waterfall renders on the GPU (WebGL) — crisper at any screen resolution and much lighter on the machine, especially in Chrome/Edge and on phones. Resizing keeps your history instead of starting over.
- Idle power. With nobody connected the server stops the dongle instead of quietly processing it for no one. Matters most for an always-on or battery/solar setup.
Media controls
- Safari: the macOS Now Playing card is live and correct — station name, frequency, and the station's own logo from RDS, updating as you tune.
- Chrome / Edge: the media keys now work. Play/pause mutes and unmutes; skip tunes up and down. This has never worked in Chromium before, and unlike the earlier attempt at it, this one costs nothing.
Decoders and controls
- Clearer weather-fax (WEFAX) — decoded charts come in bright and readable instead of dark, in the web client, the app and the watch.
- Save & compare decoder images — WEFAX and SSTV have a Save button and a Previous/Live switch, so a new image starting doesn't lose the one you were about to keep.
- Reworked waterfall controls — separate Speed (how fast it scrolls) and Data Rate (how many frames the server sends), so a slow link stays smooth without looking low-res.
- Audio is Opus (around 4× lighter), which is what lets VibeSDR Jr on the Apple Watch pull decent stereo and a live waterfall over Bluetooth.
- Fixes: the frequency scale stays correct after a sample-rate change; steadier readouts; typing a frequency no longer over-zooms; a station logo no longer flashes into the artwork while tuning past.
Notes
- Alpha: one SDR, one listener at a time. Best on your local network.
- Set a PIN if you port-forward it — listeners can change the dongle's hardware settings otherwise.
- Notarised, so a downloaded copy opens without a Gatekeeper warning. Drag VibeServer.app to your Applications folder.