[LAU] Amixer lowest level

[Clemens Ladisch]

Peter Plessas wrote:
> when decreasing the master volume of my HDA-Intel [1] card using amixer:
> [1]Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)

That is the controller, but the mixer controls are implemented in the
codec.  Anyway, there is no codec that implements a combined volume/mute
control.

> I can't get to minus infinity (silent). -46.50dB is the lowest possible
> value, and I can still hear sound coming from its output. I know that I
> can mute the output but want to do this with one single key shortcut
> (hence executing one command as the one above) to fade down the master
> volume until silence.
> 
> Does anyone have an idea how to make this work? Is there a script around
> that queries the actual value of the master volume and decides whether
> to decrease it further or issue the 'mute' command from amixer?

You can easily write such a script.  The current volume is available
with "amixer get ..."; use something like this:

if amixer get Master | grep "Front Left: Playback 0 " > /dev/null; then
	amixer set Master mute
else
	amixer set Master 3- dB
fi


Best regards,
Clemens