Standard ALSA Control Names

This document describes standard names of mixer controls.

Standard Syntax

Syntax: [LOCATION] SOURCE [CHANNEL] [DIRECTION] FUNCTION

DIRECTION

<nothing> both directions
Playback one direction
Capture one direction
Bypass Playback one direction
Bypass Capture one direction

FUNCTION

Switch on/off switch
Volume amplifier
Route route control, hardware specific

CHANNEL

<nothing> channel independent, or applies to all channels
Front front left/right channels
Surround rear left/right in 4.0/5.1 surround
CLFE C/LFE channels
Center center cannel
LFE LFE channel
Side side left/right for 7.1 surround

LOCATION (Physical location of source)

Front front position
Rear rear position
Dock on docking station
Internal internal

SOURCE

Master  
Master Mono  
Hardware Master  
Speaker internal speaker
Bass Speaker internal LFE speaker
Headphone  
Line Out  
Beep beep generator
Phone  
Phone Input  
Phone Output  
Synth  
FM  
Mic  
Headset Mic mic part of combined headset jack - 4-pin headphone + mic
Headphone Mic mic part of either/or - 3-pin headphone or mic
Line input only, use “Line Out” for output
CD  
Video  
Zoom Video  
Aux  
PCM  
PCM Pan  
Loopback  
Analog Loopback D/A -> A/D loopback
Digital Loopback playback -> capture loopback - without analog path
Mono  
Mono Output  
Multi  
ADC  
Wave  
Music  
I2S  
IEC958  
HDMI  
SPDIF output only
SPDIF In  
Digital In  
HDMI/DP either HDMI or DisplayPort

Exceptions (deprecated)

[Analogue|Digital] Capture Source  
[Analogue|Digital] Capture Switch aka input gain switch
[Analogue|Digital] Capture Volume aka input gain volume
[Analogue|Digital] Playback Switch aka output gain switch
[Analogue|Digital] Playback Volume aka output gain volume
Tone Control - Switch  
Tone Control - Bass  
Tone Control - Treble  
3D Control - Switch  
3D Control - Center  
3D Control - Depth  
3D Control - Wide  
3D Control - Space  
3D Control - Level  
Mic Boost [(?dB)]  

PCM interface

Sample Clock Source { “Word”, “Internal”, “AutoSync” }
Clock Sync Status { “Lock”, “Sync”, “No Lock” }
External Rate external capture rate
Capture Rate capture rate taken from external source

IEC958 (S/PDIF) interface

IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Switch turn on/off the IEC958 interface
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Volume digital volume control
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Default default or global value - read/write
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Mask consumer and professional mask
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Con Mask consumer mask
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] Pro Mask professional mask
IEC958 […] [Playback|Capture] PCM Stream the settings assigned to a PCM stream
IEC958 Q-subcode [Playback|Capture] Default Q-subcode bits
IEC958 Preamble [Playback|Capture] Default burst preamble words (4*16bits)