ALSACTL(1)                           General Commands Manual                           ALSACTL(1)

NAME
       alsactl - advanced controls for ALSA soundcard driver

SYNOPSIS
       alsactl [options] [store|restore|init] <card # or id or device>

       alsactl monitor <card # or id>

DESCRIPTION
       alsactl  is  used to control advanced settings for the ALSA soundcard drivers. It supports
       multiple soundcards. If your card has features that you can't seem to control from a mixer
       application, you have come to the right place.

COMMANDS
       store saves the current driver state for the selected soundcard to the configuration file.

       restore  loads  driver  state  for  the selected soundcard from the configuration file. If
       restoring fails (eventually partly), the init action is called.

       nrestore is like restore, but it notifies also the daemon to do new rescan  for  available
       soundcards.

       init  tries  to  initialize  all devices to a default state. If device is not known, error
       code 99 is returned.

       daemon manages to save periodically the sound state.

       rdaemon like daemon but restore the sound state at first.

       kill notifies the daemon to do the specified operation (quit, rescan, save_and_quit).

       monitor is for monitoring the events received from the given control device.

       If no soundcards are specified, setup for all cards will be saved, loaded or monitored.

OPTIONS
       -h, --help
              Help: show available flags and commands.

       -d, --debug
              Use debug mode: a bit more verbose.

       -v, --version
              Print alsactl version number.

       -f, --file
              Select the configuration file to use. The default is /var/lib/alsa/asound.state.

       -l, --lock
              Use the file locking to serialize the concurrent access to the state file (this op‐
              tion is default for the global state file).

       -L, --no-lock
              Do  not  use  the file locking to serialize the concurrent access to the state file
              (including the global state file).

       -O, --lock-state-file
              Select the state lock file path.

       -F, --force
              Used with restore command.  Try to restore the matching control elements as much as
              possible.  This option is set as default now.

       -g, --ignore
              Used  with store and restore commands. Do not show 'No soundcards found' and do not
              set an error exit code when soundcards are not installed.

       -P, --pedantic
              Used with restore command.  Don't restore mismatching control elements.   This  op‐
              tion was the old default behavior.

       -I, --no-init-fallback
              Don't  initialize  cards  if restore fails.  Since version 1.0.18, alsactl tries to
              initialize the card with the restore operation as default.  But this can cause  in‐
              compatibility  with  the older version.  The caller may expect that the state won't
              be touched if no state file exists.  This option takes the restore behavior back to
              the older version by suppressing the initialization.

       -r, --runstate
              Save  restore  and init state to this file. The file will contain only errors.  Er‐
              rors are appended with the soundcard id to the end of file.

       -R, --remove
              Remove runstate file at first.

       -E, --env #=#
              Set environment variable (useful for init action  or  you  may  override  ALSA_CON‐
              FIG_PATH  to  read  different or optimized configuration - may be useful for "boot"
              scripts).

       -i, --initfile
              The configuration file for init. By default, PREFIX/share/alsa/init/00main is used.

       -p, --period
              The store period in seconds for the daemon command.

       -e, --pid-file
              The pathname to store the process-id file in the HDB UUCP format (ASCII).

       -b, --background
              Run the task in background.

       -s, --syslog
              Use syslog for messages.

       -n, --nice
              Set the process priority (see 'man nice')

       -c, --sched-idle
              Set the process scheduling policy to idle (SCHED_IDLE).

FILES
       /var/lib/alsa/asound.state (or whatever file you specify with the  -f  flag)  is  used  to
       store  current  settings for your soundcards. The settings include all the usual soundcard
       mixer settings.  More importantly, alsactl is capable of controlling  other  card-specific
       features that mixer apps usually don't know about.

       The  configuration  file  is generated automatically by running alsactl store. Editing the
       configuration file by hand  may  be  necessary  for  some  soundcard  features  (e.g.  en‐
       abling/disabling automatic mic gain, digital output, joystick/game ports, some future MIDI
       routing options, etc).

SEE ALSO
        amixer(1), alsamixer(1), aplay(1), alsactl_init(7)

BUGS
       None known.

AUTHOR
       alsactl    is    by    Jaroslav    Kysela    <perex@perex.cz>    and    Abramo     Bagnara
       <abramo@alsa-project.org>. This document is by Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>.

                                           07 May 2014                                 ALSACTL(1)

Usage: alsactl <options> command

global options:
  -h,--help        this help
  -d,--debug       debug mode
  -v,--version     print version of this program

Available state options:
  -f,--file #      configuration file (default /var/lib/alsa/asound.state)
  -l,--lock        use file locking to serialize concurrent access
  -L,--no-lock     do not use file locking to serialize concurrent access
  -O,--lock-state-file #  state lock file path (default /var/lock/asound.state.lock)
  -F,--force       try to restore the matching controls as much as possible
                     (default mode)
  -g,--ignore      ignore 'No soundcards found' error
  -P,--pedantic    do not restore mismatching controls (old default)
  -I,--no-init-fallback  
                   don't initialize even if restore fails
  -r,--runstate #  save restore and init state to this file (only errors)
                     default settings is 'no file set'
  -R,--remove      remove runstate file at first, otherwise append errors
  -p,--period #    store period in seconds for the daemon command
  -e,--pid-file #  pathname for the process id (daemon mode)

Available init options:
  -E,--env #=#     set environment variable for init phase (NAME=VALUE)
  -i,--initfile #  main configuration file for init phase
                     (default /usr/share/alsa/init/00main)
  -b,--background  run daemon in background
  -s,--syslog      use syslog for messages
  -n,--nice #      set the process priority (see 'man nice')
  -c,--sched-idle  set the process scheduling policy to idle (SCHED_IDLE)

Available commands:
  store     <card>  save current driver setup for one or each soundcards
                      to configuration file
  restore   <card>  load current driver setup for one or each soundcards
                      from configuration file
  nrestore  <card>  like restore, but notify the daemon to rescan soundcards
  init      <card>  initialize driver to a default state
  daemon    <card>  store state periodically for one or each soundcards
  rdaemon   <card>  like daemon but do the state restore at first
  kill      <cmd>   notify daemon to quit, rescan or save_and_quit
  monitor   <card>  monitor control events