.TH ALSACTL 1 "25 Nov 1998" .SH NAME alsactl \- command-line control for ALSA soundcard driver .SH SYNOPSIS \fBalsactl\fP [\fIoptions\fP] [\fIstore\fP|\fIrestore\fP] .SH DESCRIPTION \fBalsactl\fP is used to control advanced settings for the ALSA soundcard drivers. It supports multiple soundcards. .SH INVOKING \fBalsactl\fP [\fIoptions\fP] [\fIstore\fP|\fIrestore\fP] .SS Commands \fIstore\fP saves the current driver setup for the selected soundcard to the configuration file. \fIrestore\fP loads driver setup for the selected soundcard from the configuration file. If no soundcards are specified, setup for all cards will be saved or loaded. .SS Options .TP \fI-h, --help\fP Help: show available flags and commands. .TP \fI-f, --f\fP file Select the configuration file to use. The default is /etc/asound.conf .TP \fI-d, --debug\fP Use debug mode: a bit more verbose. .TP \fI-v, --version\fP Print alsactl version number. .SH FILES \fI/etc/asound.conf\fP (or whatever file the user specifies with the \fB-f\fP flag) is used to store current mixer settings. There are two benefits of using alsactl: first, alsactl doesn't force the user to use any particular mixer app; second, alsactl knows about pretty much everything alsa is capable of controlling, which the various mixers (like \fBamixer\fP, \fBalsamixer\fP, or \fBxamixer\fP) might not. The configuration file is generated automatically by running \fBalsactl store\fP. Editing the configuration file by hand is possible and may be necessary for some of the card-specific features that aren't known by the mixer apps (e.g. automatic mic gain, digital outputs, etc.). .SH SEE ALSO \fB amixer(1), alsamixer(1), aplay(1) \fP .SH BUGS None known. .SH AUTHOR \fBalsactl\fP is by Jaroslav Kysela This document is by Paul Winkler . .SH QUESTIONS!!! There are some things in the asound.conf file that I don't understand: --What's the difference between "hardware mute" and "join mute"? --What does "record-by-mute" do? --What does "external-input" do?