ossmix(1)

✨ ossmix — the Open Sound System command-line mixer program, bestie edition ✨

okay so. hi. you're here because you want to talk to your sound card from the terminal, and ossmix is literally the way. it's a simple command-line mixer utility, and it's what you use to display the mixer settings of your physical and virtual audio devices. and here's the tea: OSS version 4 has an extended mixer API that supports some device-specific features which lowkey might not even be available in other mixer applications. so like, this one goes harder. periodt. 💅

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🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

ossmix [-d <dev#>] [-achqD] [control name] [value]

that's it, that's the whole vibe. 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

ossmix is a simple command-line mixer utility, and its whole job is displaying the mixer settings of your physical and virtual audio devices. no cap.

and then, the glow-up: OSS version 4 has an extended mixer API that supports some device specific features that may not be available using other mixer applications. it's giving main character energy, fr fr. 🦋

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -D — Display device information. 👀
• -a — Dump mixer settings for all mixers (normal format).
• -c — Dump mixer settings for all mixers (command format).
• -h — Display usage information.
• -q — Quiet mode. 🤫
• -v[1|2] — Verbose mode. -v2 prints more detailed information than -v1.
• ctrl# value — Change value of a mixer control.
• <no arg> — Display current/possible settings.

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🎀 USAGE 🎀

so if you run ossmix with no arguments at all, it displays the current settings of the default mixer device (usually the motherboard sound chip). and bestie, that printout is also how you find out the supported control names and their possible values. two birds, zero stress. 🐦

right now, all controls accept one of these:

• an ON/OFF value
• a mono value (0 to 100)
• a stereo value (left:right where both channel volumes can be between 0 and 100)

and the value can also be expressed in a relative form — e.g. +1 to add 1 to the previous volume. ✨

an ON/OFF control can also receive a TOGGLE value. 🔁

and if a control has a name in quotes following the normal output, then that name can be used instead of the control when setting a value. iykyk.

here's a sample printout produced by ossmix:

Selected mixer 0/Creative AudioPCI
Known controls are:
vol <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 50:50)
pcm <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 50:50)
speaker <monovol> (currently 21)
line <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 32:32)
line.rec ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mic <monovol> (currently 16)
mic.rec ON|OFF (currently ON)
cd <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
cd.rec ON|OFF (currently OFF)
pcm2 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 75:75)
line1 <both/leftvol>[:<rightvol>] (currently 32:32)
line1.rec ON|OFF (currently OFF)
line2 <monovol> (currently 32)
line2.rec ON|OFF (currently OFF)
line3 <monovol> (currently 0)
line3.rec ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mic.micboost ON|OFF (currently ON)
mic.micbias ON|OFF (currently ON)
mute.pcmmute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.pcm2mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.micmute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.cdmute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.linemute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.line1mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.line2mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
mute.line3mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)

look at all those little darlings. 🫶

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🌸 SELECTING MIXER DEVICE 🌸

you can pick your mixer device with the -d<mixernumber> command line argument. and heads up: this argument (when used) should be the first one on the command line. ⚠️

by default the mixer number 0 will be accessed.

to find the available mixer devices, type ossinfo -x and look under the Mixers heading for available mixer devices. slay. 💅

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💜 CHANGING MIXER SETTINGS 💜

changing the values is done just like with the original "mixer" applet. for example:

ossmix pcm 50:60

the above sets the pcm control (audio playback volume) so that the left channel volume is 50 and the right channel volume is 60. with just ossmix pcm 50 the both channel volumes will be set to 50. easy. 😌

in addition to the old mixer there are now some (usually ON/OFF) settings. these settings are device specific and don't work with all soundcards. the easiest way to find them out is to start ossmix without command line arguments (other than -d#).

and here's a little gotcha you need to know: some control names contain a dot ("."). this dot is required when changing the value. for example: ossmix -d0 mic.micboost ON. do not skip the dot, bestie, i'm begging. 😭

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

• ossmix vol 50 — Set the vol control volume to 50. If the pcm control is a stereo control, than both channels will be set to 50.
• ossmix vol 50:60 — Set the vol control so that the left channel volume is 50 and the right channel volume is 60.
• ossmix vol +2 — Raise vol volume by 2.
• ossmix -- vol +2:-2 — Raise the left channel volume by 2, and lower right channel volume by 2. The "--" is needed on some systems so that the "-2" won't be mistaken for a parameter.
• ossmix micboost ON — Set micboost to ON.
• ossmix micboost TOGGLE — Toggle micboost.
• ossmix mplayer +2 — Raise mplayer volume by 2. This would only work if mplayer is using the virtual mixer.

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🦋 FILES 🦋

• /usr/bin/ossmix

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• ossdevlinks(1)
• ossxmix(1)
• savemixer(1)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

4Front Technologies

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okay that's the whole page, you're basically a mixer girlie now. this fine piece of documentation was brought to you by OSS User Commands, dated 11 February 2015, and honestly? iconic of it. go forth and adjust ur volumes, bestie 💖🎀✨