All Questions
659
questions
1582
votes
6
answers
164k
views
How do I make a machine "blank screen" for a period of time (as a penalty) if certain noise levels are reached?
My kids (4 and 5) yell a lot when playing games on the computer. I found an effective cure for this. When I hear loud noises, I ssh into the game computer and do:
chvt 3; sleep 15; chvt 7
This ...
- 8,533
116
votes
10
answers
315k
views
Play MP3 or WAV file via the Linux command line
I would like to make an alarm system backed by a Ubuntu (no graphical interface) box, which plays various announcement and alarm audio tracks (.mp3 or .wav) via the command line.
For example:
$ root&...
- 2,453
93
votes
2
answers
267k
views
What do ALSA devices like "hw:0,0" mean? How do I figure out which to use?
I've searched over and over and can't find any explanation of what "hw:0,0" means. How do I determine the number of my USB audio card? MPD requires me to enter something like this:
audio_output {
...
- 7,581
73
votes
2
answers
57k
views
How do ALSA and PulseAudio relate?
While trying to get my sound to work, I was wondering about the roles of ALSA and PulseAudio. I have both installed and was wondering, for example, which of them needs to know about my sound card.
...
- 1,565
63
votes
11
answers
139k
views
Can I increase the sound volume above 100% in Linux?
I am running KDE 4.6 in Debian Testing. Is there a way to increase the sound (i.e. more than the standard 100%)? The current settings with my speakers seem a bit too quiet in some cases.
I found a ...
- 2,977
60
votes
6
answers
91k
views
How to stream my GNU/Linux audio output to Android devices over WI-FI?
I want to stream my audio output over the network (Wi-Fi) to my Android devices. I'm not looking for a music/video streaming solution, but I would stream any audio output of my GNU/Linux desktop to my ...
- 600
59
votes
8
answers
10k
views
How do I check if a 2-track WAV file is "really" in stereo?
I have an audio file (WAV format to be specific). When I open it with an editor (e.g. audacity), I see two channels I suspect that the recording is actually mono rather than audio, i.e. I suspect the ...
- 9,854
40
votes
6
answers
64k
views
Mono sound output in Ubuntu?
Is there an easy way of forcing mono sound output - for one ear, one earphone, one speaker?
user162573
35
votes
6
answers
68k
views
linux arecord: capture sound card output rather than microphone input
I am trying to capture sound card output and encode it in Vorbis ogg format using the following command:
arecord -f cd -t raw | oggenc - -r -o file.ogg
However, the computer's microphone input is ...
- 3,714
26
votes
2
answers
10k
views
Increase Volume of an MKV Video from Linux Terminal
I've got a large amount of .MKV video files which seem to all play at a very low volume - I end up having to turn the TV up all the way to hear them, which is really irritating when I switch to ...
- 6,142
24
votes
6
answers
32k
views
Command line tool to identify audio file specs
I'm looking for an audio file equivalent to ImageMagick's identify command.
For example, with identify, I can get brief information about a bunch of images:
% identify b*
banner1.jpg JPEG 134x614 ...
- 28k
24
votes
1
answer
39k
views
command-line utility to record from microphone
I am looking for command-line utility that monitors the microphone, and if you start to speak, writes the file. Recording period should be adjusted.
Solution is:
sox -t alsa default recording.wav ...
- 351
22
votes
5
answers
26k
views
Ffmpeg Audio Stereo to Mono using only left channel
I use the following command to extract video parts of an '.MTS' record (video).
ffmpeg -i 00402.MTS -s 1280x720 -r 25 -ss 0:00:05.38608 -vcodec libxvid -qscale:v 2 -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 -ab 256k -t 0:...
- 321
22
votes
4
answers
21k
views
How can I find out what programs are using sound in Linux?
Is there anyway of knowing what binaries are using the sound system/server ?
Like seeing something in the /proc directory (or /dev) ?
After a while ALSA stops working , and I would like to know why.
- 438
22
votes
4
answers
23k
views
Monitoring the microphone level with a command line tool in Linux
I am looking for a tool that will tell me, in less than half a second, if the microphone is picking up any sound above a certain threshold. (I plan to then mute the Master channel with another command ...
21
votes
3
answers
23k
views
Linux Ubuntu Speakers Popping every few seconds
I'm new to Linux Ubuntu, long time Windows User, and glad I'm making the switch. When setting up my desktop PC, I am subjected to an annoying and repetitive speaker 'pop' about every 2 seconds. This ...
- 641
21
votes
3
answers
93k
views
Headset microphone not detected by Pulse und Alsa
I have an Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Laptop that only sports a combo jack for both microphone and headphones at the same time. It was always a bit tricky but worked until I reinstalled Arch Linux recently.
...
21
votes
4
answers
54k
views
Linux realtime audio visualizer
I'm looking for a program that will visualize anything that goes through my audio-output (in this case it's Spotify) and display it on the screen. Does this exist?
I'm running Ubuntu.
- 211
19
votes
4
answers
41k
views
how to hear mic sound over speakers- Ubuntu karmic
I want to hear the sound that goes into the notebook's mic from the notebook's speaker itself.
I am on Ubuntu 9.10
- 734
18
votes
7
answers
89k
views
How do I restore the Gnome Panel volume control in Ubuntu?
I use alsa, and I don't have a volume control applet on my Gnome Panel.
When I right click and select "add to panel", there is nothing that has to do with "sound", "audio" or "volume" in the list, ...
- 5,659
17
votes
4
answers
13k
views
How to know whether an audio file is CBR or VBR?
File size of a CBR(Constant bitrate) audio recording can be calculated using a formula:
File Size (Bytes) = (sampling rate) × (bit depth) × (number of channels) × (seconds) / 8
E.g., a 70 minute long ...
- 12.9k
16
votes
9
answers
21k
views
Linux command to concatenate audio files and output them to ogg
What command-line tools do I need in order to concatenate several audio files and output them as one ogg (and/or mp3)?
If you can provide the complete command to concatenate and output to ogg, that ...
- 5,239
16
votes
2
answers
18k
views
Add silence to the end of an MP3
Do any of you know of a way of adding silence of a fixed duration to the end of an MP3, in Linux? For example using MEncoder, FFmpeg, etc?
It needs to be command line as it will be scripted and ...
- 3,039
16
votes
1
answer
13k
views
Linux - Creating Virtual Audio Device
My question here is rather simple. How does one create a purely virtual audio device in ALSA that would be capable of:
being used as an audio output destination,
being used as an audio input source, ...
- 277
15
votes
4
answers
15k
views
Skype 4.3 without PulseAudio, only ALSA. Any options?
I have been using Skype for over 10 years now, almost since the initial release, and most of my friends/family/colleagues use it too. So switching IM is not an option.
Microsoft has recently changed ...
- 7,309
15
votes
3
answers
22k
views
setting audio balance from command line
I'd like to set audio balance from command line (linux), I'v looked at 'aumix' (and googled around) but it seems it does not have an option... can you suggest any method?
- 153
15
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Headphones not reproducing bass under GNOME
I have a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro running Arch Linux with GNOME. Normally, I listen to music using the analog audio I/O interface -- the 3.5mm socket.
Recently, I had to attach a USB microphone to the ...
- 698
15
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How can I increase the A2DP bitpool on Linux?
I recently bought a Bluetooth headset (Philips SHB4000), and got it to stop sounding like a phone after I told Linux (Mint) to use A2DP rather than HSP/HFP.
However, there's still an annoying ...
- 176
14
votes
4
answers
13k
views
Sound volume increase beyond 100% whenever possible on Linux
Some audio output from files or streams is too low. It is obvious that hardware is able to play the same sounds but louder but because of the data it just plays it at some low level even at 100% ...
- 933
14
votes
2
answers
8k
views
How to play a movie listening to two sound tracks simultaneously?
I have movie files with multiple audio tracks (in the MKV container). I want to watch a movie while sending one language to the speakers (for the kids) and another language to the headphones (for ...
- 314