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Accepted
Takkat
Asked: 2012-02-25 05:07:04 +0800 CST

How do I switch to another audio output sink in XFCE?

  • 772

From the command line I can easily create another pulseaudio sink and switch to that but I have not found a way how to do this using a GUI from the Xfce desktop.

In GNOME I use gnome-volume-control from audio settings to switch to another audio output sink.

Is there anything similar in Xfce?

sound pulseaudio xfce xubuntu

5 Answers

  1. After installing pavucontrol you have graphical access to several useful settings for pulseaudio including a choice for your output device. Choose the default output device in the Output Device tab:

    enter image description here

    A currently playing stream of a given application can also be moved to another device in the Playback tab from the dropdown menu next to Playback Stream on:

    enter image description here

    • 28

  2. The pavucontrol answer is correct. However I encountered difficulties to use is out of the box. I had to type the following before using pavucontrol to use my bt headphone:

    pactl load-module module-alsa-sink device=btheadset

    You can control if this was successful by typing:

    pactl list short sinks

    Output should look similar to:

    0 alsa_output.pci-0000_03_04.0.iec958-stereo module-alsa-card.c s16le 2ch 44100Hz SUSPENDED

    2 alsa_output.btheadset module-alsa-sink.c s16le 2ch 44100Hz IDLE

    I also have a short script to move sound from alsa/pulseaudio to bt that I called 'toBt.sh':

    #!/bin/bash

OCHANNEL=`pactl list modules short | grep btheadset | cut -f 1`
for i in $OCHANNEL; do
        echo "altes module $i"
        pactl unload-module $i
done
CHANNEL=`pactl load-module module-alsa-sink device=btheadset`
echo "neues module $CHANNEL"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "No bt connection"
        exit -1
fi
SINK=`pactl list sinks short | grep btheadset | cut -f 1`
INPUTS=`pactl list sink-inputs short | cut -f 1`
for i in $INPUTS; do
        echo "Verschiebe in $i nach $SINK"
        pactl move-sink-input $i $SINK
done

    To return to alsa/pulseaudio sound I've got 'toAlsa.sh':

    #!/bin/bash

SINK=`pactl list sinks short | grep alsa-card | cut -f 1`
INPUTS=`pactl list sink-inputs short | cut -f 1`
for i in $INPUTS; do
        echo "Verschiebe in $i nach $SINK"
        pactl move-sink-input $i $SINK
done
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  3. Sound Switcher Indicator

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yktooo/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-sound-switcher

    enter image description here

    While pavucontrol provides more differentiated options (default/fallback device versus per-application device), this tool simply changes all the above to one device, but provides easier access. Its unilateral setting can be refined in pavucontrol if necessary.

    • 5
  4. Best Answer

    Testing Xfce panel version 4.12.2: the volume indicator already has that feature. It is a pulseaudio plugin (xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin) for the Xfce panel.

    enter image description here

    The output device is listed under the main scroll given more than one sink is available; on mouse hover a list of available output devices is displayed.

    enter image description here

    So, no external application is needed for the purpose discussed here, although pavucontrol may be useful (especially given that Xfce has no specific audio settings like other desktops have).

    Non-Xfce-specific tools can be also used like pasystray(PulseAudio System Tray), as explained here, similar to Sound Switcher Indicator, already mentioned under this question; pasystraydoesn't need a new PPA to be added.

    • 3

  5. I am on Xubuntu and i also faced this problem. I installed pulseaudio's manager and it works fine!

    HTH

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