dotfiles/media.md

Media control in i3

There are multiple choices of audio program available, the i3 config file I followed at beginning using amixer, while I choose PulseAudio. Please check "addy-dclxvi/i3-staterpack"

His volume/music control config is shown as below:

# change volume
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec amixer -q set Master
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec amixer -q set Master 5%-
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec amixer set Master toggle

# music control
bindsym XF86AudioNext exec mpc next
bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec mpc prev
bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec mpc toggle
bindsym XF86AudioStop exec mpc stop

Following are the process I used in my Media/Volume control in i3

Volume Control using PulseAudio

• Install PulseAudio (Pulse Audio Sound server system)
• Install pactl as commandline controller PulseAudio
• Install pavucontrol as GUI controler of PulseAudio

Check pactl controller is working and learn how to use it and add to i3

1. Play music on youtube or Spotify
2. Open pavucontrol to check sound is player correctly
3. Find correct Sink by pactl list, the playing one should be the "Sink" that has "State: Running"
4. Increase volume by pactl set-sink-volume <sink number> 70%, which change volume and should be reflected on pavucontrol and your ear
5. Now you know which sink is using and add the command line into i3 config

Check playerctl controller is working and learn how to use it and add to i3

1. Play music on Spotify
2. Pause the music by playerctl play-pause, and check whether the music stopped
3. After confimring this commandline worked, add it to with keybind in your i3

Media control in separate mode

1. Create a mode "media" in i3 configuration
2. In the mode, add bindsym to control media flow

Media control using TUI

1. Install pulsemixer
2. Use pulsemixer TUI to change volume, this program cannot do single channel change, it can only do change on both channel at once

Media control using GUI (Suggested in Ubuntu Distro)

1. Install pavucontrol
2. Use pavucontrol to change volume