How can I control Music with arbitrary global hotkeys (SizzlingKeys replacement) on Catalina?

Question

On High Sierra I was able to control the playback of iTunes using arbitrary keys of an external keyboard (one without any Media control keys) using SizzlingKeys.

But SizzlingKeys is a 32-bit app and no longer works on Catalina.

What is the best SizzlingKeys replacement, allowing me to assign arbitrary global keys as hotkeys, allowing me to start/stop playback regardless whether the Music app is in the foreground or not?

Answer 1

Global hotkeys controlling Music even when in the background can be achieved by using a combination of MacMediaForwarder and Karabiner-Elements:

• Install MacMediaKeyForwarder: https://github.com/milgra/macmediakeyforwarder/releases
• Install Karabiner-Elements: https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org
• Configure Karabiner-Elements using "Simple modifications" so that your desired global hotkey maps onto key_code::play_or_pause (or any other action).

This can also be used to map the global volume control to arbitrary global hotkeys which I find very useful when using an external keyboard. (This does not require MacMediaKeyForwarder.)