NAME
rexima - a curses-based (and command-line) mixer
SYNOPSIS
rexima [-hv] [-d mixer_device_file] [device <level | offset |
left,right | rec | norec> [device ...]]
DESCRIPTION
rexima is an interactive mixer which can also be used from the command-
line. It lets you alter levels of all devices, and to set which are
recording sources. It should work on any terminal with at least an
80x24 screen.
Before we go any further, a quick definition:
A device is either an overall control (such as ‘bass’), or an input to
the mixer (such as ‘pcm’), which can be adjusted to alter the overall
mixed result output by the soundcard. I use "mixer device file" to
refer to /dev/mixer and the like.
OPTIONS
-d specify the mixer device file to be used. The default is to use
the usual /dev/mixer.
-h give terse usage help, and also list devices whose settings can
be altered. Which devices are supported will depend upon which
soundcard is installed and/or which mixer is being used.
-v show current mixer settings. Stereo devices have separate
left/right values shown. ‘[ ]’ means the device can be recorded
from but that recording from it is disabled; ‘[R]’ means it can
be recorded from and is enabled.
device device to alter settings of.
level volume level to set device to.
offset amount by which to adjust level. For example, ‘-3’ or ‘+12’.
(Using just ‘-’ or ‘+’ gives an adjustment of 2 in the specified
direction.)
left,right
volume level to set device to, with independent left/right
values. This only works properly with stereo devices, of
course. With mono devices, the left value alone is used.
rec and norec
enable/disable whether device is currently acting as a recording
source.
KEYS
rexima supports cursor keys if your terminal does, and if it was
compiled with ncurses (usually the case). Other than the cursors, the
keys are:
k move cursor up.
j move cursor down.
h decrease level by 2% of maximum (same as cursor left).
l increase level by 2% of maximum (same as cursor right).
H decrease level by 1% of maximum.
L increase level by 1% of maximum.
1-9 set level of current device to 10%, 20%, .. 90% of maximum
(according to the key pressed).
Space toggle whether device is a recording source or not.
^L or ^R
redisplay screen.
Esc, x, q
exit rexima.
SCREEN CONVENTIONS
While the layout of the screen of a mixer program is mostly obvious -
how many ways are there to display a series of ‘sliders’? - some
details need explanation.
While the sound driver supports many separate devices, each having
their own level, usually not all are supported by any given soundcard.
In rexima, unsupported devices are not shown.
Some devices can act as recording sources, such that signals from them
are readable via the card’s sampling hardware. Devices this is possible
for have ‘[ ]’ to the right of the percentage display. An ‘R’ will
appear between the square brackets if the device is acting as a
recording source. This state can be toggled by pressing space.
EXAMPLE COMMAND-LINE USAGE
Since the synopsis above looks confusing, it seems sensible to give
some examples. So, here are two lines I use on startup:
rexima line rec mic rec cd rec igain 100 ogain 0
This makes line-in, mic, and CD input recordable, sets input gain to
maximum and output gain to minimum. (Believe it or not, these gain
settings are actually pretty sensible on an SB16.)
rexima bass 85 treble 100 vol 50 speaker 0 mic 0
This is pretty self-explanatory.
Note that these could have been combined into one (admittedly unwieldy)
invocation of rexima.
BUGS
You can’t set left/right channels independently when using rexima
interactively.
It doesn’t use colour, graphics chars etc. I consider this a feature,
as the screen draws more quickly and the interface is consistent across
all terminals, but others may consider it a bug.
SEE ALSO
aumix(1)
AUTHOR
Russell Marks (rus@svgalib.org).