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AUDIOCTL(1)                 General Commands Manual                AUDIOCTL(1)

NAME
     audioctl - control software audio format

SYNOPSIS
     audioctl [-n] [-d device] -a
     audioctl [-n] [-d device] name ...
     audioctl [-n] [-d device] -w name=value ...

DESCRIPTION
     The audioctl command displays or sets the parameters that determine the
     playback and recording format for software using an audio device.  It is
     most useful when the full audio(4) API is not available, e.g. when
     playing or recording raw audio data from a sh(1) script, or from the
     command line.  It does not control the underlying hardware format, which
     can be changed with audiocfg(1).

     The variables that can be inspected and changed with audioctl are
     normally per-application and are reset when a /dev/audioX device is
     opened.  This can be circumvented by using /dev/soundX instead, which
     retains global state.

     If a list of variables is present on the command line, then audioctl
     prints the current value of those variables for the specified device.  If
     the -a flag is specified, all variables for the device are printed.  If
     the -w flag is specified audioctl attempts to set the specified variables
     to the given values.

     The -d flag can be used to give an alternative audio control device, the
     default is /dev/audioctl0.

     The -n flag suppresses printing of the variable name.

ENVIRONMENT
     AUDIOCTLDEVICE  the audio control device to use.

FILES
     /dev/sound0     audio I/O device
     /dev/audioctl0  audio control device

EXAMPLES
     To set the playing sampling rate to 11025, you can use
           audioctl -w play.sample_rate=11025
     To set all of the play parameters for CD-quality audio, you can use
           audioctl -w play=44100,2,16,slinear_le

COMPATIBILITY
     The old -f flag is still supported.  This support will be removed
     eventually.

SEE ALSO
     audiocfg(1), audioplay(1), audiorecord(1), mixerctl(1), audio(4),
     sysctl(8)

HISTORY
     The audioctl command first appeared in NetBSD 1.3.

CAVEATS
     Since the parameters controlled by audioctl are global, they can be
     changed unexpectedly if another application uses the same audio device.

     It is always preferable to use AUDIO_SETINFO on a per-process /dev/audioX
     device, if the audio(4) ioctls are available in the programming
     environment.  Similarly, audioplay(1) and audiorecord(1) are more safe
     for use in scripting.

NetBSD 10.99                    March 21, 2021                    NetBSD 10.99