Alsa

Contents

alsamixer graphical interface for ALSA
amixer command-based utility for ALSA
alsactl to store and restore a full configuration

amixer

amixer -c [card-number] set [control] [value]

Set the volume on the Master control/property of the first sound card to 100%
amixer -c 0 set Master 100%

Set the volume on the Speaker control/property of the second sound card to 50%
amixer -c 1 set Speaker 50%

Set the volume on the Speaker control/property of the second sound card to 3db
amixer -c 1 set Speaker 3db

Increase the volume on the Speaker control/property of the second sound card by 2db
amixer -c 1 set Speaker 2db+

Mute and unmute a property
amixer -c 0 set Mic mute
amixer -c 0 set Mic unmute

alsactl

By default the config is stored in /var/lib/alsa/asound.state
sudo alsactl store
sudo alsactl restore

The configuration can be stored somewhere else, for instance
alsactl --file ~/.config/asound.state store
alsactl --file ~/.config/asound.state restore

IMPORTANT

At startup, pulse audio may load configuration.
see /etc/pulse/client.conf
and check for autospawn

Walkaround:

#!/bin/sh
restore_alsa() {
    while [ -z "$(pidof pulseaudio)" ]; do
        sleep 1
    done
    alsactl restore 
}
restore_alsa &

crontab -e:
@reboot ~/alsarestore.sh 2>/dev/null