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jvfc678

Member

Registered: 2015-07-27

Posts: 14

Alsa switch output without closing and reopening programs?

In alsa how can I switch between speakers to my usb sound card (for example while) some sound is still playing?
And I know its possible to do this because you have to mess around with .asoundrc, but changes only take effect after you restart a program. Any way to do this otherwise?

Here's my "aplay -L" output 

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
sysdefault:CARD=MID
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, ALC662 rev1 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=MID,DEV=0
    HDA Intel MID, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=2
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=3
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
sysdefault:CARD=Device
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    Front speakers
surround21:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    2.1 Surround output to Front and Subwoofer speakers
surround40:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Device,DEV=0
    USB PnP Sound Device, USB Audio
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

Last edited by jvfc678 (2016-08-21 17:37:18)

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Alsa switch output without closing and reopening programs?

The problem is that ALSA-using apps generally don't add this ability.

Try Jack audio.