diff --git a/external/mallocng/CMakeLists.txt b/external/mallocng/CMakeLists.txt
index c3d2422a..ffe6d8b8 100644
--- a/external/mallocng/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/external/mallocng/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
 add_library(external_mallocng INTERFACE IMPORTED GLOBAL)
 add_library(desktop-app::external_mallocng ALIAS external_mallocng)
 
+set(DESKTOP_APP_USE_MALLOCNG ON CACHE BOOL "Prefer mallocng by musl or use system memory allocator?")
+if (NOT DESKTOP_APP_USE_MALLOCNG)
+    return()
+endif()
+
 add_library(external_mallocng_bundled STATIC)
 init_target(external_mallocng_bundled "(external)")
 
diff --git a/external/rnnoise/CMakeLists.txt b/external/rnnoise/CMakeLists.txt
index 3bba8169..56a9fc85 100644
--- a/external/rnnoise/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/external/rnnoise/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,9 +9,18 @@ if (DESKTOP_APP_USE_PACKAGED)
     add_library(desktop-app::external_rnnoise ALIAS external_rnnoise)
 
     find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
-    pkg_check_modules(RNNOISE REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET rnnoise)
+    if (NOT DEFINED DESKTOP_APP_USE_RNNOISE)
+        pkg_check_modules(RNNOISE IMPORTED_TARGET rnnoise)
+    elseif (DESKTOP_APP_USE_RNNOISE)
+        pkg_check_modules(RNNOISE REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET rnnoise)
+    endif()
+    set(DESKTOP_APP_USE_RNNOISE ${RNNOISE_FOUND} CACHE BOOL "Compile against RNNoise or not?")
 
-    target_link_libraries(external_rnnoise INTERFACE PkgConfig::RNNOISE)
+    if (RNNOISE_FOUND)
+        target_link_libraries(external_rnnoise INTERFACE PkgConfig::RNNOISE)
+    else()
+        target_compile_definitions(external_rnnoise INTERFACE USE_RNNOISE=0)
+    endif()
 else()
     add_library(external_rnnoise STATIC IMPORTED GLOBAL)
     add_library(desktop-app::external_rnnoise ALIAS external_rnnoise)