Audio Device Switcher NG

Simple KDE/Plasma widget (plasmoid) to change the default audio output device (sink) or the default audio input device (source).

Tested on KDE/Plasma 5.27 and PipeWire 1.0.0. Since it uses the PulseAudio API, it should also work under PulseAudio. (Well, a lot of the work is done by KDE's own plasma-pa, as this widget here reuses the PulseAudio integration implemented there.)

How to develop

1. Clone this repository.
2. Create the necessary directory, if needed: mkdir -p ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids
3. Link this repository over there: ln -s path-to-this/repo/package ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/clone.plasma-audio-device-switcher
   • Using a distinct name to install the dev version alongside the stable version.
4. Test it on a stand-alone window:
   • plasmawindowed clone.plasma-audio-device-switcher
   • plasmoidviewer -a clone.plasma-audio-device-switcher
   • plasmoidviewer -a ./package

These steps are inspired by the Plasma Widget Tutorial.

How to install

There are several ways, just pick one:

• plasmapkg2 -i package will install it on ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/.
• plasmapkg2 -g -i package will install it system-wide.
• plasmapkg2 -u package to upgrade it.
• You can also install it manually cp -a package ~/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/org.kde.plasma.audiodeviceswitcher-ng/.
• Or you can unzip the release zipfile onto that directory.

Credits

Originally created by akrutzler and published as https://store.kde.org/p/1195707/.

More than one year after the last commit on that original repository, lolcabanon's fork merged many pull requests, such as #13, #15, #17, plus adding a few extra features.

Almost one year later denilsonsa's fork merged one other pull request, and implemented further improvements.

With thanks to davidosomething, emvaized, Phen-Ro, plachste, xpt3.

Future

I myself won't be able to keep maintaining this code. I'm not sure if I understand it well enough. This project has passed over many hands, and if you are willing to, feel free to adopt it!

Ideas for new features

• Volume control
  • Using the scroll wheel over each button could change the volume level of that device.
  • Middle-clicking could mute that device.
  • Muted devices could have a different background color or different effect. (For the icons-only view; because the "(muted)" text is already shown.)
  • We could have a background bar representing the volume level of each device.
• Other features
  • Somehow be able to switch audio profiles. I have no idea how to make it useful while keeping the interface simple.
  • Add Open Audio Volume Settings to the context menu
• Visual features
  • Let the background to be transparent, as well as disabling the background.
  • The vertical layout should be the default (due to very long device names). Or the icons-only horizontal layout.
  • Custom image at the "Add widget" interface.