macos Automator

Is it possible to assign sound samples to functions on your Mac just like you could back in the 90s? Please tell me this can be done!

Yes and no. The advancement of macos has closed the door on the third-party apps of old that allowed you to assign samples to things such as startup and shutdown. However, there is a way to have your Mac play a sound file, such as a sample, when you start it up – it just takes a little knowledge of your Mac’s built-in Automator app.

You need to have your preferred sound file to hand, create a script to run the sound effect in Automator and then add it to your Mac’s startup items. We’ll show you how to do all of that here…

1 Create an action

In Automator, choose ‘Application’ and make sure that ‘Actions’ is highlighted in the top-left corner. Select ‘Utilities’ from the Library menu.

2 Find the pathname

Select and drag ‘Run Shell Script’ into the workflow and then find the sound effect that you would like to use. You will need the pathname for this file (see Knowledge Base).

3 Enter the pathname

In the Run Sheel Script bos, enter the following: Afplay [pathname of your sound file]. Select ‘Run’ to test it and go to File>save to save your script.

4 Add startup item

Go to System Preferences>users & Groups, select your username in the left column then select ‘Login Items’ and click the ‘+’ icon below the window.

5 Try it out

Navigate to your script and highlight it, then click ‘Add’ to include it in your Startup Items. Now you can restart your Mac and see if your sound file is played during startup.