A lightweight, native macOS app for controlling the LED lighting of the HyperX QuadCast 2 and QuadCast 2 S microphones — a local, secure alternative to HyperX NGENUITY (which is Windows-only).
- Native SwiftUI +
IOHIDManager(no kernel extensions, no drivers, no admin privileges, no network access) - Runs sandboxed on Apple Silicon (M1 and newer), macOS 13+
- Lives in the menu bar (no Dock icon) — controls are one click away and the main window never needs to stay open
- Strict device allowlist and a "nothing is sent until you opt in" model
Grab the latest QuadCastControl-x.y.z.dmg from the
Releases page,
open it, and drag QuadCastControl onto the Applications folder.
First launch: builds are not notarized, so right-click the app in Applications and choose Open once to pass Gatekeeper. After that it opens normally.
Then:
- Click the mic icon in the menu bar (the app has no Dock icon).
- Turn on Lighting control — nothing is sent over USB until you do.
- Optionally enable Settings… → Start at login so your brightness is held automatically (the QuadCast 2 reverts to full brightness whenever the app isn't running — a device limitation, see PROTOCOL.md).
| Device | LED control | Notes |
|---|---|---|
QuadCast 2 (03F0:09AF) |
On/off, brightness | LEDs are red-only in hardware — there is no color to control; no persistence (the mic reverts ~1 s after the app stops, so the app keeps a small keep-alive running) |
QuadCast 2 S (03F0:02B5) |
On/off, brightness, static color, save-to-flash | 108 RGB LEDs, all set to one color |
| QuadCast S / DuoCast | Detected, read-only | Protocol documented in PROTOCOL.md, not implemented yet |
| QuadCast (original) | Detected, read-only | Fixed red LED; no LED control exists in the hardware |
All protocol bytes come from community-verified public sources (quadcastrgb, OpenRGB) — see PROTOCOL.md for every command with provenance.
hyperx/
├── QuadCastControl.xcodeproj # Xcode project (app target)
├── QuadCastControl/ # SwiftUI app (UI layer only)
│ ├── QuadCastControlApp.swift # Entry point: window + menu bar extra
│ ├── AppState.swift # Main-actor view model
│ ├── QuadCastControl.entitlements
│ └── Views/ # Status, Lighting, Diagnostics, Developer, MenuBar, Settings
├── QuadCastKit/ # Swift package: all device logic (no UI)
│ ├── Sources/QuadCastKit/
│ │ ├── HyperXDeviceManager.swift # IOHIDManager discovery + hot-plug
│ │ ├── HIDTransport.swift # Transport protocol + device info
│ │ ├── IOKitHIDTransport.swift # Real IOKit transport
│ │ ├── MockHIDTransport.swift # In-memory transport for tests
│ │ ├── QuadCast2Protocol.swift # QuadCast 2 + 2 S encoders
│ │ ├── LightingService.swift # State, debounce, keep-alive loop
│ │ ├── DeviceIdentity.swift # Strict VID/PID allowlist
│ │ ├── HIDReport.swift # Report types + validation policy
│ │ ├── PacketDiff.swift # RE helper (text-only)
│ │ └── …
│ └── Tests/QuadCastKitTests/ # 53 unit tests, no hardware needed
├── PROTOCOL.md # Verified + unverified HID commands
├── SECURITY.md
└── TROUBLESHOOTING.md
Architecture rules: the UI never touches IOKit; AppState talks to
HyperXDeviceManager (discovery) and LightingService (an actor owning
lighting state, debouncing, and the keep-alive refresh loop); the service
talks to a HIDTransport (real or mock) through a model-specific
LightingProtocolEncoding. Every outgoing report is validated against a
per-protocol HIDReportPolicy (allowed report IDs + max lengths) before it
reaches IOKit.
Requirements: macOS 13+ (Apple Silicon, M1 or newer) and Xcode 16 or newer.
With Xcode: open QuadCastControl.xcodeproj, select the QuadCastControl
scheme, press ⌘R. The project is configured to "Sign to Run Locally" — no
Apple Developer account needed. (To distribute, set your own team and bundle
identifier in the target's Signing settings.)
From the command line:
# Build the app
xcodebuild -project QuadCastControl.xcodeproj \
-scheme QuadCastControl -configuration Debug \
-destination 'platform=macOS,arch=arm64' build
# Run the unit tests (no microphone required)
cd QuadCastKit && swift test- Launch the app and plug in the microphone (USB-C data cable, not just power). The Status screen shows the detected model, vendor/product IDs, and connection state; Diagnostics lists every HyperX HID interface and its report descriptor.
- LED control is off by default — the app sends nothing over USB until you flip Lighting control on (in the Lighting screen, menu bar, or Settings). The choice is remembered.
- Use the LED toggle, brightness slider, and (QuadCast 2 S) color picker. Slider updates are debounced (~80 ms) so the device is never flooded.
- Close the main window freely — the menu bar icon keeps the controls and the device keep-alive running. Return to device default stops the app's traffic so the mic falls back to its own onboard lighting.
- Diagnostics — read-only: HyperX interfaces, usage pages, max report sizes, raw report descriptors, and an in-app hex log of every sent command.
- Developer → Packet diff — paste two sanitized hex captures (before / after changing one setting in NGENUITY); the tool highlights changed bytes and suggests field interpretations. It never sends anything.
- Developer → Manual send — DEBUG builds only, gated behind a developer mode toggle and a per-send confirmation dialog. Compiled out of release builds entirely.
If you verify a command on real hardware (or find a discrepancy), update
PROTOCOL.md — the workflow is described in its last section.
The QuadCast S / DuoCast protocol is fully documented there and would be a
straightforward encoder to add (QuadCastSProtocol + registry entry + tests).
Protocol information is derived from public open-source research by the quadcastrgb and OpenRGB communities. This project contains no HyperX/HP proprietary code.