Switching output devices [$15]

[alexyalinc]

Can you make switching output devices? In volume indicator menu.

[eljefuri]

Is all that you would want, the simple switching of devices? Would you want any combined? I have not yet setup an Elementary system for audio production and I was wondering how I would cope with this. Modern macOS systems have a menu-bar tool for changing the output device to e.g. an AirPlay device:

And there have historically been tools like Soundflowerbed which have provided more robust access to changing audio devices and mappings on the fly (I am of course not advocating a level of control this granular, just pointing it out):

[alexyalinc]

@eljefuri It would be convenient to change current devices like indicator-sound-switcher. https://github.com/yktoo/indicator-sound-switcher

I can run indicator-sound-switcher and it don't show on wingpanel

[danirabbit]

Some other things other designers have done for reference:

[GammaGames]

I wanted to see if I could hack a prototype, so I grabbed some of switchboard-plug-sound's files and put this together really fast:

Some notes about the design:

• I tried to copy wingpanel-indicator-network's design for the wireless network selector
• The icon to the right of each item changes based on the device's form factor (headset, headphone, etc)
  • Is there a way to get bluetooth form factors? That would be nice to show too
• The output selector is beneath the output volume, while the input selector would be beneat the input volume
• If there are one or no devices, hide the picker
• I think an expandable section would work nice too, something similar to the sidebar in files with the "Available Output Devices" acting as the toggle

If anyone wants to look, I have it over at GammaGames/wingpanel-indicator-sound. I didn't add output device and the volume slider doesn't change with the devices, but other than that it seems to work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Addvilz]

I'd like to suggest something here, if I may. I think this should apply to both input and output devices. As far as design goes - there are a couple of concerns here:

1. How to deal with large lists of devices (audio production, many "potential" outputs that are not usable e.g. HDMI screens that support audio output but will never be used that way.
2. How to deal with non-friendly names for input/output devices? Ex HDMI / Display Port 4 - xxx and Digital Output (S/PDIF) - Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) HD Audio Controller is probably not something a non technical user should see. Is there a way to get a less technical, more descriptive name? Maybe to allow users to name devices? Perhaps using a "display name" for HDMI/DP outputs, like Samsung TV, Headphones etc. I do not know.

To solve the first one, and perhaps to have it less confusing for non-technical users, perhaps there should only be 2 items in the initial drop-down sound control? 1 for input, 1 for output - each with separate icons (e.g. sound device icon (??? of current output type? Headphones? Generic?) and microphone icon) with short name of current device, and a click on the item would reveal a list of available outputs as a selector somehow (scrollable slide down maybe?).

Disclaimer: personal interest. I need to switch between devices quite often and going to settings is really tedious.

[DropsOfSerenity]

@danrabbit could I get some design direction and comment on pr #156 I would be happy to bring the proof of concept up to production quality after some input.

[DropsOfSerenity]

Current state of the pull request in image form: Just waiting on a maintainer to give some feedback.

[DropsOfSerenity]

This is hanging there for more than 2 weeks without feedback of any kind. I'm sorry to say that it is probably not worth me continuing investing time into this project as it seems unmaintained or only lightly maintained. 💔

I will leave my fork and pull request up for anyone who wants to pick up where I left off. Wishing you all the best of luck.

[DevAlien]

Unfortunately @DropsOfSerenity decided to don't continue this. It is a feature that I use all the time when using other OSs. @danrabbit what do you think of the design? Is it something we can polish and deliver?

[BAProductions]

Unfortunately @DropsOfSerenity decided to don't continue this. It is a feature that I use all the time when using other OSs. @danrabbit what do you think of the design? Is it something we can polish and deliver?

I agree as I find it super useful

[danirabbit]

Hey @DropsOfSerenity, I left some comments on the PR a while ago. I'm not sure if you're still interested in working on this feature. There's a lot of work going on in a lot of places and my notifications usually float somewhere around 700-800 unread so it may take time for me to notice a ping :)

[bluesabre]

Switching input and output devices was merged in #187, closing this issue out.