alsaucm(1)

Name
alsaucm - ALSA Use Case Manager

SYNOPSIS

alsaucm <options> [command]

DESCRIPTION

alsaucm (ALSA Use Case Manager) is a program to use the ALSA Use Case Interface <http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/group__ucm.html> from the command line.

On complex sound cards, setting up audio routes is not trivial and mixer settings can conflict one another preventing the audio card to work at all.

The ALSA Use Case Manager is a mechanism for controlling complex audio hardware establishing a relationship between hardware configurations and meaningful use cases that the end-user can relate with.

The use case manager can also be used to switch between use cases when necessary, in a consistent way.

At a lower level, the use case manager works by configuring the sound card ALSA kcontrols to change the hardware digital and analog audio routing to match the requested device use case.

The use case manager kcontrol configurations are stored in easy to modify text files. An audio use case can be defined by a verb and device parameter.

The verb describes the use case action i.e. a phone call, listening to music, recording a conversation etc. The device describes the physical audio capture and playback hardware i.e. headphones, phone handset, bluetooth headset, etc.

OPTIONS

Available options:

            -h, --help
                this help

            -c, --card NAME
                open card NAME

            -i, --interactive
                interactive mode

            -b, --batch FILE
                batch mode (use '-' for the stdin input)

            -n, --no-open
                do not open first card found

Available commands:

            open NAME
                open card NAME.

                valid names are sound card names as listed in /usr/share/alsa/ucm.

            reset
                reset sound card to default state.

            reload
                reload configuration.

            listcards
                list available cards.

            list IDENTIFIER
                list command, for items returning two entries (value+comment).

                the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can be:

                •   _verbs - get verb list (in pair verb+comment)

                •   _devices[/{verb}] - get list of supported devices (in pair device+comment)

                •   _modifiers[/{verb}] - get list of supported modifiers (in pair modifier+comment)

            The forms without the trailing /{verb} are valid only after a specific verb has been set.

            list1 IDENTIFIER
                list command, for lists returning one item per entry.

                the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can vary depending on the context, it can be:

                •   TQ[/{verb}] - get list of Tone Quality identifiers

                •   _enadevs - get list of enabled devices

                •   _enamods - get list of enabled modifiers

                •   _supporteddevs/{modifier}|{device}[/{verb}] - list of supported devices

                •   _conflictingdevs/{modifier}|{device}[/{verb}] - list of conflicting devices

            get IDENTIFIER
                get string value.

                the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can be:

                •   _verb - return current verb

                •   [=]{NAME}[/[{modifier}|{/device}][/{verb}]] (For valid NAMEs look at the ALSA Use Case Interface <http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/group__ucm.html>)

            geti IDENTIFIER
                get integer value.

                the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can be:

                •   _devstatus/{device}

                •   _modstatus/{device}

            set IDENTIFIER VALUE
                set string value

                The value of the IDENTIFIER argument can be:

                •   _verb - set the verb to VALUE

                •   _enadev - enable the device specified by VALUE

                •   _disdev - disable the device specified by VALUE

                •   _swdev/{old_device} - switche device:

                    •   disable old_device and then enable the device specified by VALUE

                    •   if no device was enabled just return

                •   _enamod - enable the modifier specified by VALUE

                •   _dismod - disable the modifier specified by VALUE

                •   _swmod/{old_modifier} - switch modifier:

                    •   disable old_modifier and then enable the modifier specified by VALUE

                    •   if no modifier was enabled just return

            Note that the identifiers referring to devices and modifiers are valid only after setting a verb.

            h, help
                help

            q, quit
                quit

FILES

The master use case files for each supported sound card are in /usr/share/alsa/ucm.

For example, the master use case file for the Pandaboard card is in /usr/share/alsa/ucm/PandaBoard/PandaBoard.conf, this file lists all the supported use cases, e.g.

            SectionUseCase."HiFi" {
                            File "hifi"
                            Comment "Play HiFi quality Music."
            }
            ...

Each use case defines a _verb, which is described in the file specified in the File directive, like above.

The HiFi verb above is described in /usr/share/alsa/ucm/PandaBoard/hifi.

For more details on the syntax of UCM files, see the alsa-lib source code: <http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-lib.git;a=blob;f=src/ucm/parser.c>

EXAMPLES OF USE

Some commands, like for instance list _devices, can only work after setting a _verb in the same execution, for instance this sequence doesn't work:

            # alsaucm -c bytcr-rt5640 set _verb HiFi
            # alsaucm -c bytcr-rt5640 list _devices

However this command does:

            # alsaucm -n -b - <<EOM
            open bytcr-rt5640
            set _verb HiFi
            list _devices
            EOM

An example of setting the Speaker device for the HiFi verb of the bytcr-rt5640 card:

            # alsaucm -n -b - <<EOM
            open bytcr-rt5640
            reset
            set _verb HiFi
            set _enadev Speaker
            EOM

SEE ALSO

    •   Use Case Interface: <http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/group__ucm.html>

BUGS

None known.

Author
Antonio Ospite <ao2@ao2.it>

Copyright
GPLv2+