xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/mixer/mixer.8 (revision 7899f917b1c0ea178f1d2be0cfb452086d079d23)
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22.Dd August 14, 2024
23.Dt MIXER 8
24.Os
25.Sh NAME
26.Nm mixer
27.Nd manipulate soundcard mixer controls
28.Sh SYNOPSIS
29.Nm
30.Op Fl f Ar device
31.Op Fl d Ar pcmN | N Op Fl V Ar voss_device:mode
32.Op Fl os
33.Op Ar dev Ns Op Cm \&. Ns Ar control Ns Op Cm \&= Ns Ar value
34.Ar ...
35.Nm
36.Op Fl os
37.Fl a
38.Nm
39.Fl h
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41The
42.Nm
43utility is used to set and display soundcard mixer device controls.
44.Pp
45The options are as follows:
46.Bl -tag -width "-V voss_device:mode"
47.It Fl a
48Print the values for all mixer devices available in the system
49.Pq see Sx FILES .
50.It Fl d Ar pcmN | N
51Change the default audio card to
52.Ar pcmN ,
53where N is the unit number (e.g for pcm0, the unit number is 0).
54See
55.Sx EXAMPLES
56on how to list all available audio devices in the system.
57.Pp
58There is also the possibility of hot-swapping to the new default device if
59.Xr virtual_oss 8
60exists in the system and is running, in which case the
61.Fl V
62option needs to be specified as well.
63.Pp
64Hot-swapping generally cannot happen with plain
65.Xr sound 4 ,
66so the user has to restart the track in order to get sound coming out of the
67new default device.
68This is because applications usually open a device at the start of the track
69and do not check for default device changes, in order to open the new device
70mid-track.
71.Xr virtual_oss 8 ,
72on the other hand, can do hot-swapping, because it creates a virtual device for
73applications to open, and then does all the necessary routing and conversions
74to the appropriate device(s).
75.Pp
76Note that hot-swapping will work only for applications that are using
77.Xr virtual_oss 8
78devices, and not plain
79.Xr sound 4
80ones.
81.It Fl f Ar device
82Open
83.Ar device
84as the mixer device
85.Pq see Sx FILES .
86.It Fl h
87Print a help message.
88.It Fl o
89Print mixer values in a format suitable for use inside scripts.
90The mixer's header (name, audio card name, ...) will not be printed.
91.It Fl s
92Print only the recording source(s) of the mixer device.
93.It Fl V Ar voss_device:mode
94Specify a
95.Xr virtual_oss 8
96control device, as well as a mode (see below), in order to hot-swap devices.
97This option is meant to only be used in combination with the
98.Fl d
99option.
100.Pp
101The available modes are as follows:
102.Bl -column play
103.It Sy Mode Ta Sy Action
104.It all Ta Playback and recording
105.It play Ta Playback
106.It rec Ta Recording
107.El
108.Pp
109The
110.Pa mode
111part is needed, so that
112.Nm
113will not accidentally hot-swap both the recording and playback device in
114.Xr virtual_oss 8 ,
115if only one direction is to be hot-swapped.
116.Pp
117See
118.Sx EXAMPLES
119on how to use this option.
120.El
121.Pp
122The list of mixer devices that may be modified are:
123.Bd -ragged -offset indent
124.Cm vol , bass , treble , synth , pcm , speaker , line , mic , cd , mix ,
125.Cm pcm2 , rec ,
126.Cm igain , ogain ,
127.Cm line1 , line2 , line3 ,
128.Cm dig1 , dig2 , dig3 ,
129.Cm phin , phout , video , radio ,
130and
131.Cm monitor .
132.Ed
133.Pp
134Not all mixer devices are available.
135.Pp
136Without any arguments,
137.Nm
138displays all information for each one of the mixer's supported devices to
139.Ar stdout .
140If the
141.Ar dev
142argument is specified,
143.Nm
144displays only the values for
145.Ar dev .
146More than one device may be specified.
147.Pp
148Commands use the following format:
149.Bl -column xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -offset indent
150.It Sy Name Ta Sy Action
151.It Ar dev Ta Display all controls
152.It Ar dev Ns Cm \&. Ns Ar control Ta Display only the specified control
153.It Ar dev Ns Cm \&. Ns Ar control Ns Cm \&= Ns Ar value Ta Set control value
154.El
155.Pp
156The available controls are as follows (replace
157.Ar dev
158with one of the available devices):
159.Sm off
160.Bl -column xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -offset indent
161.It Sy Name Ta Sy Value
162.It Ar dev Cm .volume Ta Xo
163.Ar vol |
164.Oo Cm \&+ | Cm \&- Oc Ar lvol Oo % Oc
165.Oo Cm \&: Oo Cm \&+ | Cm \&- Oc Ar rvol Oo % Oc Oc
166.Xc
167.It Ar dev Cm .mute Ta Cm 0 | 1 | ^
168.It Ar dev Cm .mute Ta Cm off | on | toggle
169.It Ar dev Cm .recsrc Ta Cm ^ | + | - | =
170.It Ar dev Cm .recsrc Ta Cm toggle | add | remove | set
171.El
172.Sm on
173.Pp
174The
175.Ar dev Ns Cm .volume
176control modifies a device's volume.
177The optional
178.Ar lvol
179and/or
180.Ar rvol
181values have to be specified.
182The values should typically be decimal numbers between 0 and 1 with at most 2
183digits after the decimal point.
184A trailing percent sign indicates that the value should be treated as a
185percentage of 1.0, rather than an absolute value.
186Thus, 70% means the same as 0.7.
187If the left or right volume values are prefixed with
188.Cm +
189or
190.Cm - ,
191the value following will be used as a relative adjustment, modifying the
192current settings by the amount specified.
193Note that relative percentages are still relative to 1.0, not to the current
194value.
195If the volume is currently 0.40 and an adjustment of +20% is specified, then
196thet final volume will be set to 0.60.
197.Pp
198Volume can also be set using the shorthand
199.Ar dev Ns Cm =value .
200This syntax does not apply to other controls.
201.Pp
202The
203.Ar dev Ns Cm .mute
204control (un)mutes a device.
205The following values are available:
206.Bl -tag -width "xxxxxxxxxx" -offset indent
207.It Cm 0 | off
208unmutes
209.Ar dev
210.It Cm 1 | on
211mutes
212.Ar dev
213.It Cm ^ | toggle
214toggles the mute of
215.Ar dev
216.El
217.Pp
218The
219.Ar dev Ns Cm .recsrc
220control modifies the recording sources of a mixer.
221.Nm
222marks devices which can be used as a recording source with
223.Sy rec .
224Recording sources are marked with
225.Sy src .
226To modify the recording source you can use one of the following modifiers
227on a
228.Sy rec
229device:
230.Bl -tag -width "xxxxxxxxxx" -offset indent
231.It Cm ^ | toggle
232toggles
233.Ar dev
234of possible recording devices
235.It Cm + | add
236adds
237.Ar dev
238to possible recording devices
239.It Cm - | remove
240removes
241.Ar dev
242from possible recording devices
243.It Cm = | set
244makes
245.Ar dev
246the only recording device.
247.El
248.Sh FILES
249.Bl -tag -width /dev/mixerN -compact
250.It Pa /dev/mixerN
251The mixer device, where
252.Ar N
253is the number of that device, for example
254.Ar /dev/mixer0 .
255PCM cards and mixers have a 1:1 relationship, which means that
256.Pa /dev/mixer0
257is the mixer for
258.Pa /dev/pcm0
259and so on.
260By default,
261.Nm
262prints both the audio card's number and the mixer associated with it
263in the form of
264.Ar pcmN:mixer .
265The
266.Pa /dev/mixer
267file, although it does not exist in the filesystem, points to the default
268mixer device and is the file
269.Nm
270opens when the
271.Fl f Ar device
272option has not been specified.
273.El
274.Sh EXAMPLES
275List all available audio devices in the system:
276.Bd -literal -offset indent
277$ mixer -a | grep ^pcm
278.Ed
279.Pp
280Increase the
281.Cm vol
282device's volume by 5%:
283.Bd -literal -offset indent
284$ mixer vol=+5%
285.Ed
286.Pp
287Change the volume for the
288.Cm vol
289device of the
290.Pa /dev/mixer0
291mixer device to 0.65:
292.Bd -literal -offset indent
293$ mixer -f /dev/mixer0 vol.volume=0.65
294.Ed
295.Pp
296Increase the
297.Cm mic
298device's left volume by 0.10 and decrease the right
299volume by 0.05:
300.Bd -literal -offset indent
301$ mixer mic.volume=+0.10:-0.05
302.Ed
303.Pp
304Toggle the mute for
305.Cm vol :
306.Bd -literal -offset indent
307$ mixer vol.mute=toggle
308.Ed
309.Pp
310Add
311.Cm mic
312and remove
313.Cm line
314from the recording devices:
315.Bd -literal -offset indent
316$ mixer mic.recsrc=add line.recsrc=remove
317.Ed
318.Pp
319Dump
320.Pa /dev/mixer0
321information to a file and retrieve back later:
322.Bd -literal -offset indent
323$ mixer -f /dev/mixer0 -o > info
324\&...
325$ mixer -f /dev/mixer0 `cat info`
326.Ed
327.Pp
328Suppose
329.Xr virtual_oss 8
330is running with
331.Pa /dev/vdsp.ctl
332as its control device, and
333.Pa pcm0
334as the playback device.
335Change the default device to
336.Pa pcm1 ,
337and hot-swap to it for both recording and playback in
338.Xr virtual_oss 8 :
339.Bd -literal -offset indent
340$ mixer -d pcm1 -V /dev/vdsp.ctl:all
341.Ed
342.Sh SEE ALSO
343.Xr mixer 3 ,
344.Xr sound 4 ,
345.Xr sysctl 8 ,
346.Xr virtual_oss 8
347.Sh HISTORY
348The
349.Nm
350utility first appeared in
351.Fx 2.0.5
352and was rewritten completely in
353.Fx 14.0 .
354.Sh AUTHORS
355.An Christos Margiolis Aq Mt christos@FreeBSD.org
356