Man page 1 : amixer

amixer - command-line mixer for ALSA soundcard driver

amixer [-option] [cmd]

amixer allows command-line control of the mixer for the ALSA soundcard driver. amixer supports multiple soundcards. amixer with no arguments will display the current mixer settings for the default soundcard and device. This is a good way to see a list of the simple mixer controls you can use.

• help
      Shows syntax.
• info
      Shows the information about a mixer device.
• scontrols
      Shows a complete list of simple mixer controls.
• scontents
      Shows a complete list of simple mixer controls with their contents.
• set or sset <SCONTROL> <PARAMETER> ...
      Sets the simple mixer control contents. The parameter can be the volume either as a percentage from 0% to 100% with % suffix, a dB gain with dB suffix (like -12.5dB), or an exact hardware value. The dB gain can be used only for the mixer elements with available dB information. When plus(+) or minus(-) letter is appended after volume value, the volume is incremented or decremented from the current value, respectively. The parameters cap, nocap, mute, unmute, toggle are used to change capture (recording) and muting for the group specified. The optional modifiers can be put as extra parameters to specify the stream direction or channels to apply. The modifiers playback and capture specify the stream, and the modifiers front, rear, center, woofer are used to specify channels to be changed. A simple mixer control must be specified. Only one device can be controlled at a time.
• get or sget <SCONTROL>
      Shows the simple mixer control contents. A simple mixer control must be specified. Only one device can be controlled at a time.
• controls
      Shows a complete list of card controls.
• contents
      Shows a complete list of card controls with their contents.
• cset <CONTROL> <PARAMETER> ...
      Sets the card control contents. The identifier has these components: iface, name, index, device, subdevice, numid. The next argument specifies the value of control.
• cget <CONTROL>
      Shows the card control contents. The identifier has same syntax as for the cset command.

• -c card
       Select the card number to control. The device name created from this parameter has syntax 'hw:N' where N is specified card number.
• -D device
       Select the device name to control. The default control name is 'default'.
• -s | --stdin
       Read from stdin and execute the command on each line sequentially. When this option is given, the command in command-line arguments is ignored. Only sset and cset are accepted. Other commands are ignored. The commands to unmatched ids are ignored without errors too.
• -h
      Help: show syntax.
• -q
      Quiet mode. Do not show results of changes.

• amixer -c 1 sset Line,0 80%,40% unmute cap
      will set the second soundcard's left line input volume to 80% and right line input to 40%, unmute it, and select it as a source for capture (recording).\fR
• amixer -c 1 -- sset Master playback -20dB
      will set the master volume of the second card to -20dB. If the master has multiple channels, all channels are set to the same value.
• amixer -c 1 set PCM 2dB+
      will increase the PCM volume of the second card with 2dB. When both playback and capture volumes exist, this is applied to both volumes.
• amixer -c 2 cset iface=MIXER,name='Line Playback Volume",index=1 40%
      will set the third soundcard's second line playback volume(s) to 40%
• amixer -c 2 cset numid=34 40%
      will set the 34th soundcard element to 40%

None known.

amixer is by Jaroslav Kysela <>. This document is by Paul Winkler <> and Jaroslav Kysela <>.