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← JSK SoundShape

JSK SoundShape documentation

Installation

Install from the Chrome Web Store, Microsoft Edge Add-ons, or Firefox Add-ons. On first
install a documentation tab opens once — updates never reopen it.

Nothing else is required. There is no configuration step and no first-run wizard: open a
tab that is playing audio, click the toolbar icon, and the extension attaches.

Setup and account

SoundShape works fully without an account. Everything that changes how audio sounds —
the ten bands, the volume booster, the presets, per-site profiles, the visualizer, the
diagnostics — is available on install with no sign-up, no key and no permission dialog.
You never need to read the rest of this section.

To connect a JSKAPPS account, open Settings, paste the key from your JSKAPPS dashboard
and press Connect. Keys begin with jsk_live_ and are created at
jskapps.com/dashboard/api-keys.
Scope the key to SoundShape if you prefer least privilege; an account-wide key also works.

If a key is refused, the message tells you which of three things went wrong: the key is
malformed, the key was rejected by the server (revoked or rotated), or the key is scoped
to a different JSKAPPS product. A refused key is never stored.

Press Disconnect to return to the Instant tier. Your saved profiles remain; only the
account-tier features become unavailable.

Note that connecting an account does not add any browser permission. The licence
check reaches api.jskapps.com without host access, so the install prompt stays clean
on every tier.

Core concepts

Four ideas make everything else obvious:

  • The tab is the unit. SoundShape processes one tab at a time — the one you invoked
    it on. Other tabs are untouched.
  • A profile belongs to an origin. Settings are saved against https://www.youtube.com,
    not against "YouTube". http:// and https:// are different origins and do not share
    a profile; so do different ports on localhost.
  • Precedence: tab, then site, then global, then flat. A per-tab override wins over
    the site profile, which wins over your global default, which wins over a flat curve.
  • A named failure is a feature. When a tab cannot be processed you get a specific
    reason, not silence. Most causes are properties of the site, not faults you can fix.

Feature guide

The 10-band equalizer — Instant

Ten sliders at 32, 64, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000 and 16000 Hz, each ±12 dB.
Changes are ramped rather than applied instantly, so dragging a slider does not click or
pop. Lower bands control weight and body; the top two control air and sibilance.

Presets — Instant

Six built in: Flat, Auto, Music, Movie, Voice and Bass. Selecting
one sets all ten bands. Moving any slider afterwards clears the preset label, because
what you are hearing is no longer that preset.

Volume boost — Instant

0% to 300%. A limiter sits permanently after the gain, so boosting makes the tab louder
without clipping it into distortion. At the top of the range, quiet material may sound
noticeably compressed — that is the limiter preventing damage to the signal.

Per-site and per-tab profiles — Instant

Changing anything saves it for the current site. Returning to that site re-applies it
with no action from you. To give one tab different settings from another on the same
site, change it in that tab — the override applies to that tab only and is discarded
when the tab closes.

Spectrum visualizer — Instant

A live view of the frequencies in the tab, so you can see what you are shaping. It
redraws at up to 30 frames per second and stops entirely when the popup is closed, so it
costs nothing while you are not looking at it.

Hold to compare — Instant

Press and hold to hear the tab with all processing bypassed; release to return. Your
hearing adapts to a new curve within about a minute, so this is the only dependable way
to judge whether a change is an improvement.

Mono and balance — Instant

Collapse to mono, or shift the balance left or right. Useful for single-ear listening
and for badly mixed sources where one channel dominates.

Diagnostics — Instant, never gated

When a tab cannot be processed, SoundShape names the cause and explains it. Every message
carries the browser's own error text behind a Technical details disclosure, so a
support report can be acted on immediately. This is never gated behind any tier —
knowing why something failed is not a premium feature.

Settings export — Instant

Writes a JSON file containing every saved profile and preset. Available with no account,
deliberately: you should always be able to leave with your own data.

Preset library — Free

Name and save a curve you like, then apply it on any site. Saved presets appear beside
the built-in chips.

Saved-sites manager — Free

Search, review and remove your saved site profiles in one list. Sites where a previous
attempt failed are labelled with what was observed, so you know which are permanently
out of reach.

Import and migration — Free

Restore a previously exported backup, or import an EqualizerAPO / AutoEQ profile text
file. The parser reads preamp, peaking and shelf filters, and reports what it could not
use rather than silently dropping it. No headphone database is bundled — bring your own
file from a source such as the AutoEQ project.

Preset packs, themes and visualizer modes — Free

Two curated packs: six genre curves (Rock, Electronic, Jazz, Classical, Hip-hop,
Acoustic) and five device curves (Laptop speakers, Earbuds, Over-ear, TV/monitor, Calls).
Three accent themes and three visualizer modes (bars, wave, spectrogram).

Loudness levelling — Pro

Holds quiet and loud passages at a steadier level, so dialogue stops disappearing and
advertisements stop startling you. Adjustable in strength rather than on/off, because
music generally wants less of it than spoken content.

Parametric EQ — Pro

Eight filter slots, each with its own frequency, gain and Q, on top of the ten fixed
bands. Use this to notch a specific resonance the fixed bands are too broad to catch.

Headphone correction — Pro

Apply an imported AutoEQ or EqualizerAPO curve for your exact headphone model to every
site automatically.

Night mode — Pro

Lifts dialogue and restrains peaks, for watching late without reaching for the volume.

Crossfeed and stereo width — Pro

Crossfeed blends a little of each channel into the other, which makes hard-panned stereo
less fatiguing on headphones. Width narrows or broadens the stereo image.

Advanced site rules — Pro

Match sites with wildcard patterns such as *.youtube.com, and restrict a rule to a
time-of-day window.

Studio panel — Pro

The side panel that holds every advanced control, alongside Settings.

Settings and options

  • Theme — accent colour for the interface. Default: Ember. Free tier.
  • Visualizer mode — bars, wave or spectrogram. Default: bars. Free tier.
  • Reduced motion — quietens animation, and is also honoured automatically if your
    operating system requests reduced motion. Default: off.
  • Global default profile — the curve used on sites with no saved profile of their
    own. Default: none, which means flat.
  • Account — connect or disconnect a JSKAPPS key. Default: not connected.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts ship with no keys assigned, deliberately: a default binding would collide
with something you already use. Assign your own at chrome://extensions/shortcuts
(Chrome/Edge) or through the add-ons manager (Firefox).

  • Open SoundShape for the current tab — opens the popup and attaches to the tab.
  • A/B bypass — toggles all processing off and on, to compare against the original.

Limitations and known issues

Being straight about these prevents most support tickets:

  • DRM-protected audio cannot be processed by any browser extension. Sites that
    encrypt their audio are unreachable by design. SoundShape names the cause; an extension
    that appears to work on such a site is showing you a control that does nothing.
  • Chrome and Edge require a toolbar click per tab. The browser only permits audio
    capture right after you invoke the extension on that tab. No permission changes this.
  • Only one extension may capture a tab. If another audio extension or a screen share
    holds it, SoundShape will say so.
  • Browser-internal pages are off-limits — chrome://, about:, and the extension
    stores. This applies to every extension.
  • Firefox works differently. It has no tab-capture API, so it processes the page's
    own media elements, needs page access at the moment of use, and cannot route media that
    a site serves without the necessary cross-origin headers.
  • Extreme boost sounds compressed. The limiter prioritises not distorting over
    absolute loudness.
  • No cross-device sync in this version. Use Export and Import to move settings
    between machines.
  • Desktop only. Mobile browsers are not supported in this release.

Troubleshooting

  • Sliders do nothing; the popup says "Waiting for audio". Nothing is playing yet.
    Press play — it is already attached and will apply the moment sound starts.
  • "This tab is muted." SoundShape follows the browser's mute. Unmute the tab.
  • "Could not reach its audio engine." The message could not get through to the
    background. Reload the tab, then reopen SoundShape.
  • "Starting the audio engine…" The engine was still coming up. It retries by itself.
  • Pro controls have stopped applying. Check Settings → Account. If your plan lapsed,
    Pro processing stops even on profiles saved while you were subscribed.
  • A key is rejected. Read the message: malformed, rejected by the server, or scoped
    to a different product each mean something different.

Uninstalling

Remove SoundShape from your browser's extensions page. All locally stored settings are
removed with it — export first if you want to keep them. A short feedback page opens;
answering it is entirely optional.

Release notes

0.1.0 — 2026
First release, in testing. Ten-band equalizer, 300% volume boost with limiter, six presets,
per-site and per-tab profiles, live spectrum visualizer, A/B bypass, mono and balance,
settings export, and named failure diagnostics — all with no account. Free tier adds the
preset library, saved-sites manager, import and migration from EqualizerAPO/AutoEQ,
preset packs, themes and visualizer modes. Pro adds loudness levelling, parametric EQ,
headphone correction, night mode, crossfeed, stereo width, advanced site rules and the
Studio panel. Chrome, Edge and Firefox.