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 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 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 can be:

                 • _verb - return current verb

                 • [=]{NAME}[/[{modifier}|{/device}][/{verb}]]  (For  valid  NAMEs  look  at  the  ALSA Use Case
                   Interface)

          geti IDENTIFIER
                 get integer value.

                 the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can can be:

                 • _devstatus/{device}

                 • _modtstaus/{device}

          set IDENTIFIER VALUE
                 set string value

                 The value of the IDENTIFIER argument can 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+

                                                   2016-09-22                                         ALSAUCM(1)