Shortcut to switch between Analog Stereo output & HDMI audio output

Question

To switch to HDMI audio output (of monitor) and back to normal audio output from system audio jack (for headphones, as my monitor doesn't have audio out), I find myself opening up sound preferences and selecting the right channel everytime. Is there any way I can create a toggle button in the panel or assign some shortcut key to toggle since I do the switching so often.

:aplay -l 
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 7: STAC92xx Digital [STAC92xx Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Answer 1

With pulseaudio we are able to select the output sink from the command line:

pacmd set-default-sink "SINKNAME"

This command can be used in a launcher, script or even assigned to a keyboard shortcut for fast switching between different sinks. Please replace "SINKNAME" by the name or number of your desired sink. A list of known sinks with their associated numbers and names is given by the command:

pacmd list-sinks

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Note: Changing the output sink through the command line interface can only take effect if stream target device reading is disabled. This can be done by editing the corresponing line in /etc/pulse/default.pa to:

load-module module-stream-restore restore_device=false

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Alternatively we could run pulseaudio to simultaneously output sound to the internal audio device, and to the hdmi-device by running paprefs with the option to add a virtual output device:

Answer 2

I've been trying to find a solution to this problem as well. As of Ubuntu 11.04 this does not seem to be possible directly, I only found this guide to add both HDMI and Analog as separate outputs, so pacmd shows 3 sinks now. Then it is possible to switch between sinks using the above commands. (see also https://vaioubuntu.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/hdmi-sound-output-switcher-for-pulseaudio/) But apparently Ubuntu 11.11 will gett a PulseAudio with jack detection system. According to the website below, David Henningsson has coded a detection via udev so pulse audio automatically gets switched to the last added output, including switching between different profiles of the same soundcard (as is the case with your and my setup). (see http://voices.canonical.com/david.henningsson/2011/09/06/pulseaudio-with-jack-detection/) So I'm hoping this will work, when I try the final version next Friday.

Answer 3

If you are using Gnome Shell instead of Unity you can install the extension below. You'll then be able to switch from the volume short-cut in the top panel. https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/142/output-device-chooser-on-volume-menu/

Answer 4

Since there is only one soundcard visible in the screenshot, I think the output of this soundcard should be switched.

For example: I have a Notebook with one integrated soundcard, but it has a digital output (SPDIF) when docked.

So what I wanted to do is switch the active output or "Profile" in pulseaudio.

I found the commands that do exactly that:

pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo
pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:iec958-stereo+input:analog-stereo

What I did to get the correct names for my desired output-setting--here, digital output, but analog (micro) input--was:

pacmd list | grep output

Answer 5

I found this very annoying myself and wrote a script to toggle the output:

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT_PROFILE=$(pacmd list-cards | grep "active profile" | cut -d ' ' -f 3-)

if [ "$CURRENT_PROFILE" = "<output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo>" ] ; then
        pacmd set-card-profile 0 "output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo"
else 
        pacmd set-card-profile 0 "output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo"        
fi

and then bound an unused key on my keyboard to execute it (see How to bind custom commands to keyboard shortcuts?)