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ljwagerfield

Member

Registered: 2013-07-30

Posts: 8

Toggling ALSA mute without specifying exact SCONTROL

I am trying to bind the mute button on my keyboard such that it mutes the currently active playback device.

When running off my laptop speakers, the SCONTROL I need to mute is Master. There is a PCM, but it cannot be muted.

However, when running off my USB speakers, the SCONTOL I need to mute is PCM since there is no Master.

Any ideas how do I do this? Am I forced to run the following trial-and-error style script each time?

amixer sset Master toggle
amixer sset PCM toggle

ljwagerfield

Member

Registered: 2013-07-30

Posts: 8

Re: Toggling ALSA mute without specifying exact SCONTROL

Possibly answering my own question here, but after some reading it sounds like I need something like PulseAudio: a virtual sound card which I can assign once in ALSA, and then have everything routed through this central sound server. That way the only thing I need to mute is PulseAudio, right?